“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” Albert Einstein

The words “I’m bored” must come out of a child's mouth every day. That feeling of needing to be entertained stimulated and engaged. Quite often this is met with an exasperated, “go and play”, or “find something to do”. Within minutes, suddenly a fortress is being made with sofa cushions, the once table is now the lava from the active volcano, outside the lounge door is the gateway to the fire-breathing dragon and the only escape route is the meticulously planned stepping stones (books) through the lake (carpet) to free the unicorn (the cat) from the aforementioned dragon (dad). If not bored, would this playful scene ever occur? The creativity to build a dream world and evoke play is incredible. Having the time to be bored, lends itself to such creativity and imagination. 

“Adults are 98% less creative than they were as children”. NASA study

But fast-forward to adult life and boredom is quite often seen as being lazy, unproductive and having lack of focus. Unless we are seen to be moving, filling our time with activities, constantly engaged, it is not seen as fulfilling. Even the notion of reading a book, a solitary and restful activity, is seen as useful time spent. But what about sitting with your thoughts, allowing yourself to be bored, allowing yourself to think, to let the mind wander…

Theorists and neuroscientists have said for years that boredom leads to creativity. In a series of studies, researchers found that subjects asked to do mundane and boring tasks were more creative afterwards. The theory is it allows openness, and ready openness can foster new experiences and thus creative insight. Dr Sandi Mann (Senior Psychology Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire) describes it as ‘you have to switch off to switch on’ however ‘in a world of constant stimulation switching off is harder than it has ever been’.

Maybe this is why you often hear of authors who shut themselves away in remote log cabins for months on end writing their next memoir. Is it the escapism away from distractions or is it the mere fact that isolation could cause boredom leading to inspiration? 

“Want to increase your creativity? The answer may not be more stimulation, but less” Psychology Today

Therefore, why, in such a creative industry that we work in, are we not allowing time for boredom? We are dictated by timesheets, the requirement to fill a working day, a working week with job numbers, endless tasks, tasks relating to profitability, profitability relating to a client code or project. But what does that mean in relation to our creativity? We join a creative industry based on an innate desire or need to be creative, however, when life is ruled by numbers, what happens to our ability to be inventive and original? Our clients need us to be thinking differently, especially in a saturated world where originality can sometimes be difficult. Therefore, why do we have the need to constantly feel engaged?

According to Forbes, it is often in moments of disengagement and rest that people find their most creative ideas. Their eureka. Their insight. It is this insight that builds the next big innovation, an experience or just a clever use of language to portray a message.  

This is why, at Lively Worldwide our perm staff only timesheet a maximum of 3-4 days of our working week allowing time for people’s own discovery into passion projects; giving time to reflect, to be bored, to be mindful, to be creative. This helps us to be innovative, to be future-focused; giving our clients and ourselves the best of us and our minds.

So, let’s disengage to re-engage. Next time you feel bored and want to reach for the remote control or the phone, why not just allow yourself to be bored, you never know what you might come up with. Maybe you’ll find a way to navigate through the stepping stones to save the unicorn from a fire-breathing dragon. 

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash