Blog Short #247: Embrace Boredom to Realign Yourself with Your Purpose and Increase Your Focus

Photo by seb_ra

Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Yes, it does, but let’s come back to that in a bit. Let’s start by considering this question:

“Are you a stimulation junkie?”

In other words, do you need to be busy all the time to keep yourself emotionally comfortable?

The tell is that if you become anxious or even antsy when you have nothing to do, you’ve probably become somewhat addicted to stimulation.

It’s hard to live in our digital culture and not succumb to that.

Stimulation is served up every moment via your phone. And then there’s social media and a constant influx of news whether you want or not, not to mention endless chores to be done.

We’ve increased our workloads and expectations of ourselves.

So, where does all that leave you? Feeling tired, often overwhelmed, and sometimes burned out.

Although the environment you live in makes it challenging to create space to avoid burnout, you have choices. You can make that space if you want it.

This is where boredom comes in. There are six ways boredom can help you recover your balance. And in the process, help you accomplish more. You wouldn’t think that would be true, but it is.

Let’s start with definitions.

What is Boredom?

Boredom occurs when you feel understimulated and disengaged.

Conversely, when you’re fully engaged in an activity, your mind is focused and absorbed. But once you complete it, your brain reverts to your default network.

Think of it as having your foot fully pressed on the gas pedal when you’re moving, and then coming to a stop and letting the engine run idle. Nothing seemingly happens when you’re idling, but the engine’s still operating, although differently than when you’re moving.

Many people feel uncomfortable in the default network because when you’re stuck in idle, your mind wanders, and emotions arise without permission.

In this state, you may become bored because you’re not fully engaged in an activity, and there’s a lack of external stimulation.

However, there is much value in this state of mind. Let’s explore.

1. Restoration and Rest

Our brains have limits on how much stimulation they can handle at once. When we overload ourselves, our brains become exhausted and less efficient.

Boredom allows your brain to rest, although not in the same way as sleep does. It puts you in a state of “restful wakefulness” where there is still conscious activity.

And therein lies the problem, because you’re aware of boredom and have to struggle to deal with how it feels. The key is to use that awareness.

2. Self-Reflection

When you’re bored and operating in default mode, you focus inward instead of outward.

Your thoughts turn toward yourself. Existential questions and concerns pop up. You reflect on your life, where you are, your purpose.

Does your current life align with who you want to be, your values, or your aspirations?

When you’re busy all the time, you don’t have the bandwidth to consider these questions. You’re focused on “doing” rather than “reflecting.”

But when you have nothing to do or no outside stimulation, your mind naturally goes there.

You may initially feel uncomfortable if these are questions you’d rather avoid or if the answers are unsatisfactory. However, spending time in reflection is the first step toward making changes.

That leads us to the next benefit.

3. Increased Creativity

When you’re bored, your mind tends to wander. You reflect on the past and imagine the future. You might conjure up future scenarios or ideas about what you’d like to do.

For example, when I was sitting on the couch the other day and feeling bored, I imagined a vacation in France. It was a rather elaborate fantasy because I had pictures in my mind from travel videos, and experiences I’d heard from family members who had been there.

That’s one of the real benefits of being lost in the default mode for a while: your subconscious connects dots for you between pieces of information and experiences you have stored away. It consolidates those memories so you can access and use them.

It was quite a delightful fantasy, and perhaps I’ll make it happen!

The point here is that boredom allows mind-wandering, which can piece together information, emotions, ideas, and experiences to create something new that’s more reflective of your true desires and values.

4. Problem-Solving

Likewise, boredom helps you come up with new solutions to old problems.

Sometimes this occurs while you’re doing something that doesn’t require much mental engagement, like taking a shower. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of coming up with solutions to problems or new ideas while in the shower.

The same thing can happen when you’re sitting on the couch staring outside, or doing something mechanical like mopping the kitchen floor. Neither of those activities requires much brain power, so your mind is free to wander.

More importantly, solutions often won’t come up when you overfocus and stress over a problem. You apply too much mental strain, which blocks the power of your imagination and stifles your subconscious from helping you connect the dots.

5. Resetting goals.

Setting goals is a more focused activity, but it’s also an internal task that works best when you’re relaxed and able to take your mind off the tight leash required for focused tasks.

To reset your goals, you need to reflect again on your purpose, meaning, desires, and values. It’s challenging to do when you’re actively engaged in a focused activity.

In fact, the busier you are, the more likely you are to stray away from goals because busyness takes you further away from the bigger picture.

Boredom allows new ideas to surface, which may motivate a change of goals, streamlining, or taking entirely new directions.

When you’re bored, novel ideas arise. You become more curious and more likely to challenge the status quo.

6. Increased self-regulation.

You would think that being bored would reduce your self-discipline. It can if you’re chronically bored, but if you use boredom in the ways we’ve been discussing, it actually helps you learn to delay gratification.

Instead of getting that immediate dopamine hit from the phone in your hand, you learn to be quiet and wait. You’re comfortable with thinking, reflecting, and creating with your imagination. You can self-entertain.

How Do You Cultivate Boredom?

In a few words, be quiet.

Start by reducing the time you spend looking at your phone.

The smartphone is the greatest enemy of boredom, and with it, self-awareness, self-reflection, imagination, and ultimately, focus.

The cell phone is the drug that stimulation junkies use.

Don’t get me wrong – I love my cellphone. And, it’s extremely useful. However, the automatic desire to pick it up and look at it when I’m bored is problematic. It is for everyone.

Become aware of moments when you can be quiet without accessing your phone.

Drive your car without listening to anything. Sit idly at home with your phone across the room, where you can’t easily access it. Watch TV without playing on your phone or computer at the same time. Go on an errand and leave your phone at home.

You can start with smaller steps, like not pulling out your phone when waiting for something. Most of us will reach for our phones at a red light or while standing in the checkout line. We quickly scan our email or social media.

All of that extra stimulation creates mental clutter. It slows you down and wears you out. It makes you less efficient, not more. And more anxious, which most people don’t realize.

The more you get comfortable with boredom and quiet, the better you’ll be able to focus when you want to. And, you’ll break your addiction to constant stimulation. You’ll also be more aligned with your goals, values, and purpose.

That’s all for today!

Have a great week! There’s a little touch of Fall in the air. Enjoy it!

All my best,

Barbara