I am a person who is almost never bored. I have an active mind and plenty of projects and plans to keep myself busy. I am also a voracious reader, so something new is always absorbed in my mind.
No – never boring.
But now I think that might not be a good thing.
Nicola Heath, writing for In the Black, a website for accountants, writes that boredom is not only not bad, but perhaps even desirable. She quotes Dr. Agustin Chavez, associate research fellow at the Center for Design Innovation at Swinburne University, as saying, “If managed well, boredom can be a beautiful tool of thought that allows us to see the world differently.”
Boredom is the feeling experienced when the human brain’s search for neural stimulation is unfulfilled. You can get bored in the midst of chaotic stimulation, if it’s not the stimulation your brain connects to and craves in the moment. According to webmd.com (Who Knew Doctors Care About Boredom?), “Boredom is based on attention. Someone who feels bored may not feel stimulated. You may feel unsatisfied and unable to feel connected to your surroundings. Boredom can manifest itself in two ways: Fatigue (feeling tired) or agitation (sensation of irritation).”
I definitely fall into the second category. On the rare occasion that I’m bored (for example, watching a show I just don’t connect to), I feel restless and irritable. I have to get up and walk around, or risk throwing something at the TV or at my suffering husband.
Heath writes that boredom at work can be a good thing, pushing us toward change and more meaningful work. “It arouses curiosity – it leads us to change careers and jobs,” she writes. “Paradoxically, it’s quite an arousing emotion.”
Productive people rarely admit to being bored (see one paragraph above.) Being bored feels like a moral failure—there must be something important or useful I can be doing right now. But if we can hit the sweet spot of being bored, with the right amount—or lack—of stimulation, we can free up space in our brains to be more creative.
Albert Einstein, famously, chose to work as a clerk in the patent office precisely because it was so boring. The mundane tasks he worked on during the day to earn a living took up very little of his mental bandwidth. His mind was free to think about the theories he was developing for his thesis. He could do good work in the patent office with one half of his brain tied behind his back, so to speak, so that the other half could be brilliant during what he considered his real work.
This is why many creative people choose to work in fields that do not drain their creative juices. Players waiting for tables. Writers work in construction. Musicians work as bicycle messengers. You rarely see a fine artist who works as a designer in her day job. She will not want to waste her creative energy on commercial ventures that take away from her true artistic vision.
A few decades ago, when I was earning a little more than minimum wage in a national clerical position, I was bored out of my mind. I told myself I needed a hobby to keep me busy at work. My boredom led me to volunteer in the evenings and weekends. I started doing work that interested me and gave me something to think about during the mind-numbing hours at my desk. Boring started my foray into gig work, which changed the course of my career and eventually led me to a series of interesting and challenging jobs.
Being bored, come to think of it, was the best thing that could have happened to me.
The next time you’re bored, instead of looking for stimulation—or reaching for your phone—try sitting with the feeling for a while. Let your opinion wander; See where your thoughts lead you.
Something interesting could happen.
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Candace’s background includes human resources, recruiting, training and evaluation. She spent several years at a national staffing company, serving employers on both coasts. Her writing on business, career and employment topics has appeared in the Florida Times Union, the Jacksonville Business Journal, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and 904 Magazine, as well as several national publications and websites. Candice is often quoted in the media on local labor market and employment issues.
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