The next installment of the curated creativity posts series focuses on the theme of boredom. To help you explore this theme further I’ve curated these posts to assist you to review your approach to creativity as it intersects in all aspects of life. The posts cover what you can action today including practical tools in your pursuit of enhancing your creativity and problem solving skills.
Boredom is associated with negative consequences including poor work performance, job dissatisfaction, stress related health problems, even accidents from not being able to sustain attention. In education boredom has been linked to lower academic achievement and general school dissatisfaction.
But we also know that undertaking boring activities can put us into state of daydreaming. This suggests that boredom can lead us to search for variety, by shifting us into a state of internal focus. This could involve thinking about unrelated problems or at least more appealing thoughts than the boring task at hand.
The following posts explore how we can recognise boredom as a signal and a means to enable us to enter into a state of mind wandering, exploring seemingly illogical or unresolved ideas. Plus the links between boredom and daydreaming, explore how this could be assisting with creative problem solving.
Redefining creativity: is tech killing the imagination?
Critics say that technology is compromising our ability to be creative but, if used correctly, it could have the opposite outcome entirely. I'm intrigued by this question about whether new technology like smartphones is getting in the way of creativity. The detractors say that tech does this in different ways for example by keeping us 'entertained' by cat videos so we avoid the valuable space of boredom, day dreaming or unconscious thinking. But others say that information is power leading to new ideas. This piece provides a strong argument for technology being the enabler of creativity.
The Value of Solitude in Creativity and more from Mason Currey on Daily Rituals
Introducing restorative techniques into our lives to enable us to be more creative is not a new idea. In Mason Currey’s ‘Daily Rituals’ he explores the fascinating and varied activities history’s greatest creatives used to enable them to get their work done. Reviewing these stories emphasises that, like us, they all had to work with the same limited resources- ‘that of time, the most limited resource of all, as well as willpower, self-discipline and optimism’
Giving ourselves permission to daydream and the value of boredom
A couple of great articles on the positive and negative effects of daydreaming and its relationship to boredom, a state of mind we need to maintain.
How Being Bored Out of Your Mind Makes You More Creative
Boredom might spark creativity because a restless mind hungers for stimulation. Have you ever thought that boredom could be a meaningful experience—one that propels us to states of deeper thoughtfulness or creativity? That’s the conclusion of two fascinating recent studies
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How the Goldilocks Principle can help us be better creatives … and reach a state of flow.
The many forms of creativity have at their foundation two distinct ways of problem solving.
Consider what happens when you’re confronted with a problem. Do you sit down and analytically work through it, or do you just wait for a sudden insight where a solution pops into your head out of mid-air? More often than not you probably have experienced both when tackling problems or bringing creative ideas, products and services to life. These are the so called ‘analysis verses insight’ creative modes. Read on to see how this relates to mind wandering and boredom.
Book Review
Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Harford
I was instantly attracted to this title. More and more we read about the value of a less structured or improvised approach to our work and lives. But with the negative connotations , messy is often associated with untidy, vague and imperfect. This book builds a strong case for the values found in the way we can improvise when placed in near impossible situations that appear ‘messy’ and the links to boredom are surprising.
Book Review
The Runaway Species by Anthony Brandt and David Engleman
I knew I’d enjoy ‘The Runaway Species’ when I saw who the authors were, a composer named Anthony Brandt and a neuroscientist , David Eagleman, a true intersection of the brains behind art and science.
The authors show how we spend our lives creating and seeking novelty, by building on the best of existing ideas and making then better. To innovate is human starts with how our brains strive to conserve energy by predicting what comes next, but as we get bored easily, we seek surprise. Creativity lies in that tension.
You can also check out Chapter 9 of The Creative Advantage (book 1) to find out more about how to understand boredom to enhance your creative practice.
