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"Boredom can be a stimulus for change, leading you to better ideas, higher ambitions, and greater opportunities. Most of our achievements, of man’s achievements, are born out of the dread of boredom." 

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"Boredom can be a stimulus for change, leading you to better ideas, higher ambitions, and greater opportunities. Most of our achievements, of man’s achievements, are born out of the dread of boredom." 

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"A good bout of boredom shouldn’t be viewed as a bad circumstance but rather as an opportunity to unplug, daydream, and let your creative juices flow." 

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"A good bout of boredom shouldn’t be viewed as a bad circumstance but rather as an opportunity to unplug, daydream, and let your creative juices flow." 

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"Boredom, Gasper and Middlewood sugest, motivates people to approach new and rewarding activities."

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"Boredom, Gasper and Middlewood sugest, motivates people to approach new and rewarding activities."

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Despite being viewed in a negative light, boredom has many benefits such as cultivating creativity, shaping our inner, and giving us a break from our chaotic lives. 

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Despite being viewed in a negative light, boredom has many benefits such as cultivating creativity, shaping our inner, and giving us a break from our chaotic lives. 

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In a past life, I used to be required to participate in quarterly sales meetings. These meetings followed a typical format: fly everyone in the company to an amazing destination, then lock them inside a hotel ballroom for 10 hours a day and force them to listen to speeches from sales leadership, as well as marketing, research, and legal departments (usually with a motivational speaker to close it all out). Try as they might, these meetings were boring. The real shame was that they were intended to rally troops and get the sales organization excited about new initiatives, as well as inspire them to think up new and better ways to increase sales in the field. The only saving grace: the late-night dinners. After 10 hours of being talked at, my colleagues and I would escape the hotel, find a local restaurant and talk to each other. Despite our best efforts, these dinner conversations were always about work - and good thing too. These chats were filled with new ideas for dealing with problem clients or increasing sales of new products. Late-night dinners became the source of the new and exciting our meetings were supposed to elicit.

Boredom at work (and meetings) is something nearly all of us feel at times, but admitting that boredom to coworkers or managers is likely something few of us have ever done. It turns out, however, that a certain level of boredom might actually enhance the creative quality of our work. That's the implications of two recently published papers focused on the link between feeling bored and getting creative.

In the first paper, researchers Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman, both at the University of Central Lancashire, explained the creativity-boosting power of boredom in two rounds of studies. In both rounds, participants were either assigned the boring task of copying numbers from a phone book or assigned to a control group, which skipped the phone book assignment. All participants were then asked to generate as many uses as they could for a pair of plastic cups. This is a common test of divergent thinking-a vital element for creative output that concerns ones ability to generate lots of ideas. Mann and Cadman found that the participants who had intentionally led to boredom through the phone book task had generated significantly more uses for the pair of plastic cups.

Next, Mann and Cadman wanted to see what would happen when they really bored people out of their minds. So in a second round of their study, they created three groups-one control group, one phone-number-copying group, and a third group given the even duller task of simply reading the phone book. All three groups completed another task requiring creativity. In this case, the most bored group - the completely passive group of phone-book-readers - scored as the most creative, even out-scoring those assigned to the same phone book copying task from the first study. The findings suggest that boredom felt during passive activities, liking reading reports or attending tedious meetings, heightens the "daydreaming effect" on creativity-the more passive the boredom, the more likely the daydreaming and the more creative you could be afterward.

In another paper, this one from Karen Gasper and Brianna Middlewood at Penn State University, founding a similar effect using a different mundane task and a different type of creativity test. In their study, Gasper and Middlewood assigned participants to watch a video clip designed to "prime" participants by eliciting feelings of relaxation, elatement, distress, or boredom-depending on which video was watched. (Participants were told, however, that the clip was random.) They then had their subjects take what's known as a remote associates test, where participants are given three seemingly unrelated words (for example: string, cottage, and goat) and asked to think of a fourth word that links the three (in this example: cheese). Remote associates tests are commonly used to measure convergent thinking, a different but complimentary element of the creative process that concerns ones ability to figure out the single, correct idea for a situation.

Just as in the Mann and Cadman study, participants in the bored category of this study outperformed the participants in the other three categories. Gasper and Middlewood suggest that boredom boosts creativity because of how people prefer to alleviate it. Boredom, they suggest, motivates people to approach new and rewarding activities. In other words, an idle mind will seek a toy. (Anyone who has taken a long car ride with a young child has surely experienced some version of this phenomenon.)

Taken together, these studies suggest that the boredom so commonly felt at work could actually be leveraged to help us get our work done better...or at least get work that requires creativity done better. When we need to dream up new projects or programs (divergent thinking), perhaps we should start by spending some focused time on humdrum activities such as answering emails, making copies, or entering data. Afterward, as in the Mann and Cadman study, we may be better able to think up more (and more creative) possibilities to explore. Likewise, if we need to closely examine a problem and produce a concise, effective solution (convergent thinking), perhaps we should schedule that task after a particularly lifeless staff meeting. By engaging in uninteresting activities before problem-solving ones, we may be able to elicit the type of thinking we need to find creative solutions.

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In a past life, I used to be required to participate in quarterly sales meetings. These meetings followed a typical format: fly everyone in the company to an amazing destination, then lock them inside a hotel ballroom for 10 hours a day and force them to listen to speeches from sales leadership, as well as marketing, research, and legal departments (usually with a motivational speaker to close it all out).

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The modern concept of boredom goes back to the 19th century. For Erich Fromm and other thinkers, boredom was a response to industrial society, in which people are required to engage in alienated labor, and to the erosion of traditional structures of meaning.

Yet, it seems that boredom of some form is a human universal. On the walls of the ruins of Pompeii, there is Latin graffiti about boredom that dates back to the first century. And the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas spoke of an affliction of monks called acedia, a state of listlessness or torpor that could have been related to melancholy. Aquinas opposed this "sorrow of the world" to spiritual joy, and, revealingly, the "noonday demon" came to be understood as "the sin that inspires all other sins."
A definition of boredom
What, exactly, is boredom?

It is a deeply unpleasant state of "unmet arousal": you are aroused rather than despondent, but, for one or more reasons, your arousal cannot be met or directed. These reasons can be internal-often a lack of imagination, motivation, or concentration -or external, such as an absence of environmental stimuli or opportunities. So while you want to do something stimulating, you find yourself unable to do so; moreover, you are frustrated by the rising awareness of your inability.

Awareness, or consciousness, is key, and may explain why animals, if they get bored at all, generally have much higher thresholds for boredom. So while most animals may dislike boredom, humans, as writer Colin Wilson says, are "tormented" by it.

Boredom is often brought about or aggravated by a lack of control or freedom, which is why it is particularly common in children and teenagers, who, in addition to being dictated to, lack the resources, experience, and discipline (the mind furnishings) to cope with boredom.
Stuck at the airport
Why is it so damned boring to be stuck in a departures lounge while your flight is increasingly delayed? You are in a high state of arousal because you are anticipating your arrival in a novel and therefore stimulating environment. You do have plenty of shops and newspapers, but shopping or the news is not what you are interested in at this particular time, and the shops and newspapers succeed only in dividing your attention and so promoting your boredom.

To make things worse, the situation is out of your control, unpredictable-the flight could be delayed further, or even cancelled-and inescapable. As you can do nothing but check and re-check the monitor, you become painfully aware of all these factors and more.

Apart from shops and newspapers, you also have alcohol, which could dull your consciousness; but at the same time you cannot afford to sleep because sleep may lead you to miss your flight. So here you are, caught between Scylla and Charybdis.

If you really need to catch the flight because your livelihood or the love of your life depends on it, you will get much less bored than if you don't really need to go to wherever it is you are headed. Thus, boredom is an inverse function of need or perceived need.

If, in addition, you don't want to catch the flight (perhaps because you would rather be going somewhere else, or staying at home), then you will get all the more bored, and perhaps also angry.

You might even develop an aversion to flying, just like the child who is bored at school might develop an aversion to learning.
Effects of boredom
But why exactly is boredom so unpleasant? So unpleasant that the problem is hardly ever recognized, still less addressed; so unpleasant, in fact, that I am finding it hard to write this article, over which I have procrastinated longer than usual.

For philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, boredom was evidence of the meaninglessness of life; because, if life were intrinsically meaningful or fulfilling, there could be no such thing as boredom.

So what boredom does, effectively, is to open the shutters on some very uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, which we normally block out with a flurry of activity or with the opposite thoughts or feelings.

This is the essence of the manic defense, which consists in preventing feelings of helplessness and despair from entering the conscious mind by occupying it with opposite feelings of euphoria, purposeful activity, and omnipotent control. (See more here.)

Boredom is so unpleasant that we expend considerable resources on preventing or reducing it. The value of the global entertainment industry is poised to top $2 trillion in 2016, and entertainers and athletes are accorded impiously high levels of pay and social status.

The technological advances of recent years have put an eternity of entertainment at our fingertips, but, paradoxically, this has only made things worse, in part, by removing us even more from reality. Instead of being satiated, we are desensitized and in need of ever more stimulation-ever more war, gore, and hardcore.

If we cannot escape boredom by engaging in intentional activity, we escape it through daydreaming or sleeping.

People prone to boredom are also prone to mental disorders such as depression, overeating, substance misuse and dependence, and gambling. And they often prefer pain to boredom-not only suffering pain, but inflicting it as well. For them, the choice is simply one of boredom and pain, a choice between pain and pain.
Benefits of boredom
Yet boredom can also be your way of telling yourself that you're not spending your time as well as you could, that you should rather be doing something else, something more enjoyable or more useful, or more important and fulfilling.

And so boredom can be a stimulus for change, leading you to better ideas, higher ambitions, and greater opportunities. Most of our achievements, of man's achievements, are born out of the dread of boredom.

Indeed, the philosopher Bertrand Russell, who spent time in prison, intimated that prison may be the ideal setting for a creative person. Said Russell, "A generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men, of men unduly divorced from the slow process of nature, of men in whom every vital impulse slowly withers as though they were cut flowers in a vase."
Dealing with boredom
There are many ways of reducing the propensity to boredom.

If boredom is an awareness of unmet arousal, you can minimize boredom by avoiding situations over which you have no or little control- cutting out distractions, motivating yourself, expecting less, putting things into their proper perspective (realizing how lucky you really are), and so on.

But rather than fighting a constant battle against boredom, it is easier and much more productive to actually embrace it. If boredom is a window on the fundamental nature of reality, and, by extension, on the human condition, then fighting boredom amounts to pulling the curtains. Yes, the night outside is pitch black, but the stars shine all the more brightly for it.

For just these reasons, many Eastern traditions embrace and encourage boredom, seeing it as the pathway to a higher consciousness.

So instead of fighting boredom, go along with it, make something out of it; in short, be yourself, less boring.

Schopenhauer said that boredom is but the reverse side of fascination, since both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other. So instead of being outside a situation, learn to get inside it, however hard this may be.

In The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh advocates appending the word " meditation" to whatever activity it is that you find boring, for example, "waiting in an airport-meditation." (British psychiatrist Russell Razzaque's Mindful Moment Training is a free online resource that aims to reconnect you with the real you.)

In the words of Samuel Johnson, "It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible."

Neel Burton is author of Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions and other books.

Find Neel on Twitter and Facebook.

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The modern concept of boredom goes back to the 19th century. For Erich Fromm and other thinkers, boredom was a response to industrial society, in which people are required to engage in alienated labor, and to the erosion of traditional structures of meaning. Yet, it seems that boredom of some form is a human universal.

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One morning during my commute, I found myself without my usual literary distractions. Instead, I had the rare opportunity to observe my fellow New Yorkers in their most natural and probably most frequented habitat: the subway. Most were glued to their screens, in the middle of vigorous games of Candy Crush or Words with Friends, or engulfed in digital reading materials. They were doing everything they could to avoid being present with the drudgery of a long subway ride.

Digital technologies have enabled constant engagement, and it now seems like we have entered a battle with boredom (either actual or anticipated), and that any moment without distraction or entertainment signifies a "loss" in the duel.

But as it turns out, we might be thinking about boredom all wrong. Research suggests that boredom (in moderation) should be embraced. The happy balance between chronic boredom and constant engagement can prove beneficial for our minds and even our careers.

What It Means to Be Bored

Though boredom may seem like a phenomenon of the 21 st century-an unfortunate consequence of briefly unplugging from our seemingly endless connectivity-it's actually been recorded for centuries. The doldrums that are familiar to us were illustrated in Pompeian graffiti, described in Roman philosophy as a kind of nausea, and documented in Christian tradition as a "noonday demon." Virtually everyone-from Socrates to the kid on the subway-gets bored.

While the concept of boredom is as old as time, scientists are just chipping away at what it means, how it occurs, and how to classify different "types" of boredom. The most widely accepted definition is described in terms of attention: Boredom is the frustrating experience of wanting but being unable to engage in satisfying activity, meaning a bored person cannot engage the internal (thoughts or feelings) or external (environment) factors necessary to produce a satisfying activity.

For instance, if you're sitting in your room watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians (but the fact that Kim is picking out her 100 th Gucci onesie is not interesting) while checking Instagram (but the photos of your friends' lunches or engagement rings are not stimulating), you might end up feeling bored because you can't find something that adequately captures your attention at the moment. Once an engaging activity is found (say, you start planning the healthy meal you're going to bring to the work potluck), the sense of boredom seems to disappear.

Bored to Tears Genius

Boredom may seem like an annoying feeling that we should avoid at all costs, but science says it can actually benefit our thoughts and lives. Researchers have found that passive, so-called "boring" activities, such as reading or attending meetings at work, can lead to more creativity. That's because being bored can promote daydreaming, which allows us to make new, innovative connections.

It's a novel concept to accept in the modern, workaholic world. Many of us feel the pressure to always be engaged with something for fear of appearing lazy-whether it's researching, calling clients, or asking for more work if we finish our share. No one wants the boss to walk by their desk while they're staring into space. And the boss probably doesn't want that, either: One survey found that many companies view boredom as an obstacle to organizational efficiency and innovation.

But occasional, passing boredom (not the chronic kind) that increases daydreaming can actually help achieve the ingenuity that organizations seek. And it's in desperate demand: Psychologists have found that America is experiencing a creativity decline, with scores decreasing each year since 1990 (even while IQ increases).

Other research suggests that boredom encourages the pursuit of new goals when a previous objective is deemed no longer interesting. If you're disinterested with your job, it may be a sign that the job isn't the right fit or you're not being challenged. Realizing this, you might ask the boss for more responsibility or seek other opportunities. It's not to say anyone should call it quits after a couple of uninspiring days at the office (or dates with a significant other), but being aware of the caliber and frequency of boredom can serve as the catalyst for bettering a situation.

Bored to Death Bad Health

While occasional boredom can inspire creativity and deliberate action, it can also lead to less healthy behaviors. One of the most common examples is mindless snacking or eating, which occurs both in obese and non-obese individualsBoredom and eating in obese and non-obese individuals. Abramson EE, Stinson SG. Addictive behaviors, 1978, Apr.;2(4):0306-4603.. Researchers speculate that our mind enjoys eating while bored because preparing, cooking, and chewing food shifts our mind away from the bored state to a highly sensory one, which temporarily alleviates our doldrumsGreat expectations. Eating expectancies as mediators of reinforcement sensitivity and eating. Hennegan JM, Loxton NJ, Mattar A. Appetite, 2013, Aug.;71():1095-8304..

Chronic boredom has also been linked to more serious mental health issues. One study revealed that participants' predisposition to boredom was a strong predictor of paranoia. Another study found that those most prone to boredom also tended to be at a greater risk for mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorderBoredom proneness: its relationship to psychological- and physical-health symptoms. Sommers J, Vodanovich SJ. Journal of clinical psychology, 2000, Feb.;56(1):0021-9762.. The research doesn't imply causation, but it suggests that boredom may be a component of some more serious mental health conditions. The key, it seems, is moderation.

Embracing Boredom-The Takeaway

Occasional boredom is pretty much inevitable and can occur in many situations for many different reasons. The point is not to eradicate boredom or to be bored all the time, but rather to aim for a healthy dose. A good bout of boredom shouldn't be viewed as a bad circumstance but rather as an opportunity to unplug, daydream, and let your creative juices flow. Need more proof? Newton was purportedly just sitting under an apple tree when he discovered gravity.
Originally posted September 2013. Updated May 2015.

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The Science-Backed Benefits of Being Bored

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One morning during my commute, I found myself without my usual literary distractions. Instead, I had the rare opportunity to observe my fellow New Yorkers in their most natural and probably most frequented habitat: the subway. Most were glued to their screens, in the middle of vigorous games of Candy Crush or Words with Friends, or engulfed in digital reading materials.