Boredom might just fix you.
Yes, you read that right.
What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘boredom’? Probably doing nothing, scrolling mindlessly, having nothing better to do? Well we’re all bored at some point of the day, except those extremely stimulated people who have something to do every waking moment of their lives. This is a slightly detailed post on the same topic after my last email, so if you’re in for it, here are some positives that boredom can bring into your life.
The problem with the world
The current lifestyle is that of instant gratification and immense stimulation. In just a day, you’re fed so much information that a person about a century ago wouldn’t have gathered up within their entire lifetime. YouTube shorts, Instagram reels, the news, short form content, podcasts, have evolved us into creatures that walk around like information overloaded idiots.
Don’t get me wrong, having information doesn’t go vain. But it has got to stay regulated. You cannot make any progress in what you want by staying up to date with something, you do so by putting that information to a better use.
But you’re supposed to take some time off from this to know what you really want out of your life, whether it be through an impulse of self-realization, or a build up of an activity that is over-hated — boredom.
“Better bored than busy.”
-Naval Ravikant (entrepreneur)
My story
I’ve always been a master procrastinator. The feeling of guilt when I’d done nothing all day, wasted it away doing literally nothing but scroll memes, was a constant. Doing nothing was never an option, I always had something to do.
Having cheap internet and a phone in your hand seldom lets you sit down and have some time to get bored. I swear, I have felt like I am busy when my schedule literally had nothing lined up for the next few hours, days, or even weeks. The feeling of being busy while having some menial tasks to do is just another way of jerking around with your time. And I was doing the same.
However, after I read James Clear’s Atomic Habits, I developed a sense of detachment with whichever system I was in. My system was that of procrastinating for longer durations, and I started accepting it. There wasn’t any other way around it, I had to accept that I love to procrastinate. I kept finding ways to keep myself distracted while all I needed was to rest and reset with intention. And that’s where boredom came in.
The initial days where you disconnect from the constant stimulation are hard, and they should be hard. After all, you’re giving up on habits that have taken a long time to form, and will take a long time to break. The idea that doing nothing literally means doing nothing, in order to let some ideas float, was far away from my comfort zone of stimulation.
However, some habits allowed me to get bored in a positive way.
Removing distractions: The number one action to achieve a feeling of being bored was to remove everything that didn’t allow me to get bored. Keeping my phone inside my drawer, not having any books lying around, no headphones on, no shows on my watchlist.
Mindfulness and Journaling: Like a broken record, these activities are shoved into our faces every single day by every self-help guru out there. But they’re activities that provide so much freedom and clarity in terms of managing how you go about in your day, they did the same for me.
Making time for a walk outside: A 15 minute long walk without any distractions was one of the best things that came out of boredom. Apart from keeping my health in check, it helped me get better ideas and articulate them so that when I’m actually busy, I’m getting things done in a productive way. It also promoted social interactions, and helped me build a sense of community.
Reading books: This activity is so underrated. Get bored while you read. Or read while you get bored.
Study: Whether you want to upgrade in your career, or your business, or if you are a student and just want to have good grades, studying will help you. Don’t just study because you’re told to, actually make time to learn about stuff. It sounds very boring — that’s the point. That’s what I ended up doing too, and the results have always been great every time I went in with good preparation.
Cooking: In the f*cked up Covid-19 times, when I had nothing to do, learning how to cook came purely out of boredom. Now I have an additional skill and I enjoy doing it.
"Boredom is the mother of invention."
- Austin Kleon (an author, that draws)
Great things have come out of Boredom
The overwhelming majority of people nowadays would not agree with the fact that you have to be ‘bored’ in order to get and stay ahead of the curve. Alexander Graham Bell got bored with the telegraph and ended up inventing the telephone, that literally changed the world. Spencer Silver, the inventor of ‘Post-Its’ (or sticky-notes) was given the task of making a strong adhesive, but he got bored with it and ended up making a weaker one. Unintentionally, he discovered that it can be used to make temporary notes and memos that can easily be peeled off.
I am certainly not the first person to talk about the benefits of boredom, as this excerpt from this article by Austin Kleon states:
Neil Gaiman: “The best way to come up with new ideas is to get really bored.”
Steve Jobs: “I’m a big believer in boredom. Boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity, and out of curiosity comes everything.”
Peter Bregman: “Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that’s where creativity arises.”
Scott Adams: “I’ve noticed that my best ideas always bubble up when the outside world fails in its primary job of frightening, wounding or entertaining me.”
Joseph Brodsky: “Boredom is your window… Once this window opens, don’t try to shut it; on the contrary, throw it wide open.”
Albert Einstein: “Creativity is the residue of time wasted.”
The trouble is that we live in an age in which we never get ourselves the chance to be bored. All the entertainment we could ever dream of is at our fingertips, waiting on the phone in our pants pocket.
I think the time is ripe for us all to recognize boredom as the delicacy it is. Here’s a quote from Leslie’s piece, “How Boredom is becoming anything but boring” :
“I think boredom might make a comeback,” he says from his home in Austin. “I think it’s almost a luxurious thing, a decadent thing. To allow yourself to be bored is almost like a pampering thing. I can see a boredom ranch: ‘Come here and be bored!’ ”
Differentiate between Constructive and Destructive Boredom
Constructive Boredom happens when you do it intentionally, and want to reap the benefits. It can make you skip the procrastination — make you clean your room, buy the grocery, work on the project you’ve been sleeping on, or just be mindful in the present moment.
However, Destructive Boredom is something out of your control and is possible due to underlying issues. It can lead to activities like substance abuse, overeating or just scrolling mindlessly on social media. It can also lead to anxiety, loneliness, and addictions. That’s why, navigating through boredom is such a difficult thing to do. You need to identify your type of boredom and go ahead accordingly.
If you’ve made it this far, congrats! You have a decent attention-span. The next time you’re bored, think of this article. You will get so much done when you’re not busy with the most idiotic tasks that your brain or schedule comes up with.