Why you should embrace boredom to be more creative at work

Good morning,

As someone who writes for my job, instilling creativity into my workday is a non-negotiable. But creativity is something every person needs, especially when it comes to solving complex work issues.

With everyone returning to work today, I thought I’d spend today’s edition on looking at how to break away from distractions (caused by our smartphones) and instill more creativity into your work day.

I also break down a simple step process to foster greater creativity at work.

Let’s jump right into it.

— Geoff Sharpe, Log Off co-founder

Why you should embrace boredom to be more creative at work

There’s a period of work in a day that’s hard to define. Some call it being in “groove”, “locked in” or “focused.” It’s that period where creativity is highest, helping you work through challenges, and think differently about a problem. Regardless, you know when you have it, and when you don’t.

My co-founder Kian broke down in a recent edition how breaks are critical to building momentum to help you stay productive and focused. What he didn’t mention, and I would argue is equally as important for being productive, is bringing a creative focus to problem solving.

That level of creativity is one of the most critical part of any person’s job. One study said 70% of companies are most interested in employees who can think creatively, and will be the most in-demand skill in the coming years.

It’s not just creativity that improves work. There is evidence that being creative improves relationships with work colleagues. By engaging in creative approaches to solving problems together, employees are forced to collaborate, share ideas and discover the value that each person provides.

It’s not hard to see why. In an age of AI, where all the world’s information can be synthesized and summarized, where rout tasks are increasingly replaced, the ability to approach work creatively will be more important than ever, and differentiate you from your colleagues (whether human or eventually AI!).

But every day we’re actually degrading our ability to be creative by injecting more and more content into our brains. And it partially has to be with being bored.

Studies have shown that being bored has a direct connection to being creative. Letting your brain exist without engagement creates a deeper ability to foster creativity. Your brain sits there, ready to be engaged, with the opportunity to discover something new.

Yet our always-on world is breaking our ability to foster deeper creativity. Studies have looked at the rate of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), and how that impacts a person’s ability to be creative. One study looked a person’s ability to think of different uses for every day objects. Those with a high SAS score performed worse for, amongst other things, flexibility and originality.

Remember how I mentioned boredom matters for creativity? Not only do smartphones reduce the potential to be bored, but it creates a vicious cycle — the use of smartphones to address boredom makes you more susceptible to being bored, which makes you seek out your phone… You can see the problem.

I see the impact of this in my own life every single day. Sometimes it takes a few seconds for new tabs to load as I research for stories just like this. Within that delay, there is a split second of boredom, a period of micro-waiting. I am so impatient, unable to sit with that boredom, that I open a new tab on Twitter, Facebook, literally anything to inject stimulation into my life.

There’s also the employment challenge of being bored at work. Jobs are supposed to be fulfilling and stimulating. Boredom is for people without purpose! Imagine even voicing that you are bored to your boss…

The death of boredom can be directly blamed on our incessant use of technology. But that boredom may be critical when it comes to creativity at work. The very thing that leads to fulfilling work, and of course, life, is paradoxically embracing that feeling of boredom, ruminating on it, and setting the stage for greater creativity and problem-solving.

Taking the argument Kian made further about needing better breaks, think about the periods of work that require the most creativity and build in not only breaks, but boredom breaks. Plan your most challenging work without distractions beforehand, freeing up your brain to maximize your creative potential on the task at hand.

Encouraging boredom isn’t the only way to foster creativity. But it’s one way that is lacking in our always-on society. The next time you feel like you have nothing to do, try embracing it, if only for a few minutes and see where your creativity leads.

TIPS & TRICKS

How to instill more boredom (and, of course, creativity)

I certainly won’t say that being more bored is the only answer to greater creativity. But I would argue that in our always-on, always-scrolling lifestyles, it’s one of the aspects of creativity we’ve really lost.

Add boredom blocks: If you live and die by your calendar, add 15-20 minute boredom blocks. If you’re at your work desk or home, just sit and think. It could be about work, another challenge you face, but give it some time to think through any problem that needs a creative approach.

Embrace micro-boredom: Sometimes you’re waiting for a response, a meeting to start, or a colleague to show up. Rather than reach for your phone, take a few minutes to relax. Wallow in the brief boredom before your next task. Maybe you’ll think of something new!

Build into your mornings: I’ve found the best time to add blocks of boredom to foster creativity is in the morning. It’s before the day has gotten busy and I’ve still got my energy. You’ll find these far more productive than at the end of the day when all you want to do is finish work.

RESOURCE & RECOMMENDATIONS

• Those of us with non-creative jobs could learn a lot from those in the creative sector. Here are 20 ways, many practical, you can instill more ways to be creative (and apply it to work)

• I’ve been listening to Rick Rubin a lot lately and plan on reading his biography. His focus on how anyone can be creative, and why that matters for everything, is empowering.

• Side hustles aren’t a distraction, they may be key for better creativity at your main job

• If you want to be more creative at work, then this interview with the former head of Apple design is a great place to start

• Parents are always trying to keep kids entertained. But maybe what they actually need is a little more boredom

COMMUNITY CORNER

Weekly challenge: Keep your phone away from your bed

That’s a wrap on our first weekly challenge. Last week we asked readers to do one of two things, to try and foster better sleeping habits.

1. Turn your phone silent an hour before going to bed

2. Put your phone in another room than the one you sleep in an hour before you get into bed.

Now we want to hear if anyone tried this. If you already do this, we want to hear from you too. Share any tips or strategies you use, or let us know if you struggle. We’ll share any responses we get in our next edition, as well as any advice or tips.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Are dumbphones the answer to our phone problems?

Back in 12th grade I had a cell phone. It would be unrecognizable to many of you now. A sturdy, plastic flip device, it featured little pushable button letters for supposedly quick texting friends.

It didn’t email and it didn’t have internet. It was for texting and calling, little else. Nowadays, we’d call that a dumbphone. A few years later I bought the second generation iPhone and never looked back.

Every societal trend sows the seeds of its own backlash. Something takes over our lives, we recognize the problems, and a small subset of people are brave enough to challenge it. Dumbphones are one answer to our smartphone fixations.

And they’re making a comeback.