THE GIFT OF BOREDOM

There are two kinds of boredom:

Mind-wandering – a lack of stimulus when completing tasks that require very little mental attention, like taking a shower or a long walk;

Tedious – when one is required to focus cognitively on uninteresting or meaningless tasks.

Researchers have found that both can increase creativity. Emerging from being bored, people often engage in more divergent thinking, make connections between seemingly unrelated topics and generate creative ideas. Unusual and unexpected thoughts arise. One problem in today’s world is that we’ve succeeded in reducing boredom through constant digital stimulation. It is not that people are unable to do deeply creative work but that they don’t experience the mental rest of mind-wandering boredom that may be necessary to engage in such work.

“The Gift of Boredom” by John Spencer in Educational Leadership, December 2018