It’s all stuff that will make my life better, but it also gives me something to focus on while I wait for inspiration to strike.īinx says being less concerned about being productive is when she actually ends up being most productive. She does this by cleaning her house, reorganizing her pantry, going through her closet-anything that’s especially mundane and boring. Instead of worrying about when that new idea will pop up, I should instead make it my project to hit Peak Boring.Īchieving Peak Boring, for Binx, means boring herself so much that she eventually gets so motivated by a new, creative idea, that she can’t wait to start working on it.I will come up with a new idea eventually.I am a creative person who enjoys working on projects.Seeking out boredomįor Rachel Binx, design technologist at Netflix, seeking out boredom has become key to overcoming the anxiety of being between projects that makes her “feel out of ideas and worry that I will never come up with another project.”īinx avoids this anxiety while waiting for new project ideas to pop up through something she calls “Peak Boring.” This approach is built on three ideas: Seeking out boredom-or, at least, not actively avoiding it-could be the boost in creative thinking we all need. “We try to extinguish every moment of boredom in our lives with mobile devices,” she says, which is “like eating junk food” for your brain. So you’re seeking, you’re engaged.” Being bored is a way to induce a wandering mind, which is why showering and doing housework are so successful at generating creative ideas.īut Sandi Mann, psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire, says we don’t let ourselves get bored enough these days. Another experiment bored participants by having them watch a dull screensaver, and again proved boredom = more creative ideas.Īccording to Texas A&M University psychologist Heather Lench, “Boredom becomes a seeking state. Those who did the boring exercise performed better on the test of creativity than a control test who weren’t primed by being bored. (Not that rest isn’t important- it is!)Īnother study used a similar creativity test after asking participants to do a boring exercise, like copying numbers out of a phone book.

Other research has also backed up this finding by showing that undemanding tasks are more likely to induce a wandering mind than when we do nothing at all. Researchers believe this is because an undemanding task encourages your mind to wander. When resuming the creative thinking task, those who had done an undemanding task (think unpacking the dishwasher or walking the dog) performed best.

After working on this task for a short time, participants were given a break to either do a demanding memory task, an undemanding task, or sit quietly doing nothing. One study showed how allowing the mind to wander can improve creative thinking by having participants come up with unusual uses for familiar objects, which is a commonly-used task to measure creativity. It’s these times when we move away from focused thought and let our minds wander that new ideas and solutions occur to us. Most of us have had the experience of coming up with a new idea or solving a problem when we’re in the shower, or walking the dog, or unpacking the dishwasher. There’s a reason the subreddit Showerthoughts exists.

The benefits of boredom for creativity, productivity, and focus How a wandering mind can improve your creativity

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