DOES BOREDOM MAKE YOU MORE CREATIVE?

By Akande Aanuoluwapo Favour.

Have you ever felt guilty about being idle or bored?

We have been conditioned to feel guilty when we find ourselves doing nothing because we tend to associate hard work with success.

What if it’s the other way around? what if lazing around as it is usually called makes one more productive? Can daydreaming be one of the ways you can unlock your creativity?

We will look into how valuable creativity is and how your idleness has a profound effect on your productive life.

Either you belong to the camp of those who believe that boredom enhances creativity or you stand firm against the fact that idleness increases creativity, there’s no middle ground for the opposing factions. It is interesting to note that researchers have found and are still looking for evidence to show that boredom/idleness enhances creativity.

The Research that was carried out to support this claim was carried out 9 years ago: 

In a 2014 study, participants were divided into two groups. A group was given a boring task to write down phone numbers from a phone book and another group was given the task of calling the numbers out loud.

 Their task is considered more boring than the former group since they were not writing anything down. Writing is usually considered a more engaging task than calling numbers.

Anyways, in the second stage of the study, researchers tested the two groups and the control group (that didn’t take part in any boring activity) in a fluency test. They were asked to come up with as many creative ways to use to create a brick as possible.

It was found out that the two groups who took part in the boring activities came up with more creative examples than those who just dived straight into the test. The group which participated in the least boring activity (the ones that called out numbers) gave more creative answers than the other group.

It was then said that boredom boosts your creativity. 

 Does Boredom Brood Negativity When We Embrace It?

It’s easy to choose mindlessly scrolling through social media instead of being idle and experiencing boredom because we are scared of allowing ourselves to overthink what may be going on around us. However, according to researchers, boredom is not always paired with negative feelings. In a research called “Why being bored may not be a bad thing after all,” participants were involved in several boring activities, afterwards, the participants didn’t show any signs of negative emotions like anger or fear. 

So, sitting down to do nothing (without your phone) will not necessarily make you sad, depressed or frustrated. It’s even better when we embrace boredom.

You know, when we think of boredom, we should instead, think of many great ideas that were born as a result of letting one’s mind wander. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” begat as a result of a 4-hour journey on a train with no social media or phone. ( It was 1990 then). 

The same could be said for other creative persons like Agatha Christie and Quest Love. So, clarity, the ability to solve problems and the birthing of ideas are among the wonderful things that would happen when you give in to boredom more frequently.

Why You Need to Set Time Aside to Embrace Boredom? 

The thing is, creativity is important in today’s society. Business owners are looking for new ways to make more profit, teachers are looking for creative ways to improve effective teaching and learning and most people are looking for ways to do something easier as well as well as faster. So, creativity is a big deal. 

A creative person is seen in organizations, schools and offices as a productive person so if creativity is seen as a big deal, boredom should also be seen as one. Taking that little time to let your mind wander off isn’t a waste of time at all, instead, it may ironically make you achieve more.

How to invest in the right kind of boredom

Since we now know the benefits of boredom, here are some tips to invest in the right kind of boredom:

● Queue for something or wait for classes to start without being on your phone.

● Take walks without earpieces or phones plugged into your ears 

● You can decide to switch off your notifications to stay off social media for some time. 

● You can also go for runs or you can hit the gym.

On a final note, work hard but also work smart. Most times, the best ideas come when we least expect them so prioritize time for spacing out and letting your mind wander. We can always set our brains up to be open to creative ideas even though we can’t control when they come.