Most people look at being bored as wasted time, time that could have been spent experiencing, making memories or learning. Sure. Sometimes that’s true but by embracing and seeking intentional boredom I believe that boredom can become a high ROI activity.
When you don’t give your brain any stimulation it starts to create its own. This often manifests as either organizational or creative thought patterns. Only when you’re bored and not being stimulated can you really digest the information you’ve been consuming. You’re forced to think about the things you’ve been avoiding and have no choice but to sort your shit out.
You also don’t need to know more things to have more good ideas you just need to connect what you know in a new way. You’ll notice that a lot of your great ideas happen in the shower, or just before bed. That's because these are some of the only times of the day that we aren’t stimulated and give ourselves time to think. Being bored is what allows your brain to have the chance to use what it knows to come up with new creative solutions and ideas.
Another big thing that I’ve used boredom for is resetting when I find myself either not knowing what to do next or when I’m just fed up and want to stop working. There's a difference between relaxing and rejuvenating activities. and although sitting back and watching an episode of a TV show might seem like a great way to rest after a long study or work block it's actually a horrible thing to do. Sure it’s relaxing, but it's not rejuvenating and afterwards you’ll feel lethargic and won’t want to get back into your workflow, which makes sense. You’re going from an enjoyable activity to a less enjoyable one. But after being intentionally bored for 20-30 minutes you’ll start to miss your work and the stimulation it provides you with. Making it much easier to get back into being productive. This works for almost anything, when you’re doing nothing a lot more things suddenly become more fun than what you’re doing right now. Intentionally being bored is a good way to get yourself to start doing something.
Get a timer, set it anywhere from 10-30 minutes, choose a wall, stare at said wall. Don’t look anywhere but straight and move as little as possible.
I’ve really found doing this a few times a week to be super beneficial for my mental if you found any value from this or want to talk about it, send me an email.
Published on 21/10/2023