Boredom would generate more creativity and productivity, as long as we get bored in the right way… Be careful, sweeping your smartphone screen with vague eyes is, however, a false impression of boredom.
You will no longer see the long moments spent in waiting rooms in the same way. According to a study, published in the magazine Academy of Management Discoveries, boredom could boost your creativity as well as your productivity. To reach this conclusion, the researchers formed two groups of people: the first was to perform a boring task, such as sorting beans to divide them into colorful bowls, the second was dedicated to an interesting and stimulating craft activity.
The participants were then subjected to a questionnaire (eg: “What excuses to use when you are late, without appearing to be a bad person?”). Imagine that people who were bored before the test outperformed others in terms of the quantity and quality of ideas. We explain why.
Boredom breeds creativity is good for our mental health
“The boredom is based on the search for a neural simulation that is not satisfied”, explains to the Time Sandi Mann, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK and author of The Upside of Downtime: Why Boredom Is Good. “If we can’t find a stimulus, our mind will create it,” she adds. Letting your mind wander would therefore generate “spontaneous creativity”, which would make it possible to find inspiration, but also solutions to our problems.
However, for it to work, you have to be bored in the right way: in fact, dreaming allows you to escape our daily life and all its stressors: screens, work, untimely notifications … Getting bored with your smartphone in your hand is therefore not “good” boredom. To be really bored, you would have to get away from modern life long enough.
How to be bored the right way
To find true boredom, Sandi Mann explains that you have to choose an activity that requires little or no concentration. Walking a familiar route, swimming, or just sitting with your eyes closed and letting your mind wander (without music or stimulation) are good ways to start.
It is also crucial to log out during this time. Our cultural attachment to our phones destroys, according to Sandi Mann, our ability to be bored: “We try to sweep and scroll through the boredom, but every time we pull out our phones we don’t let our mind wander and resolve our problem, ”she explains. “Our tolerance for boredom is completely changing and we need more and more to stop being bored.” To spark your creativity, think about this the next time you have some time to spare: resist the urge to scroll your screen.
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