I was at a business summit, listening to the talk of a CEO of one of the world’s largest creative technology companies. They told the crowd: “Let the kids have free time,” suggesting that creativity emerges from intentional moments of nothingness. The other businesspeople I sat with of course really liked that guidance. Yes, totally agree, my kids should get away from their iPads and devices and just be. But what about you, I asked? Definitely no time for that. Too busy being productive, I assume.
Great, but is boredom a luxury or a necessity?
It’s peculiar that we’ve now swung so far into the stretches of hustle culture that any action that doesn’t drive very obvious and fast outcomes are deemed frivolous and unimportant. (And in response, we got the 180: a counterculture of ‘self care days’ that look nice on Instagram but miss the point that real restoration requires real presence. But I digress.) All the while, it is a very real concern to ensure your company performs such that your stakeholders are happy, and certain cultures therefore are easy to see as luxuries.
While I applaud productivity – and its brothers, data-driven evidence and measurable outcomes – we’ve strayed so far into the theatre of work that we’re losing touch with actual productivity.
At this same summit, I listened to prominent figures in business quizzed on their latest hacks for efficacy and performance. The 5am club. Meeting-free Mondays. And on. These are a good start, but they are also tactics, and tactics must be grounded in strong foundations to be effective in the long haul. When we ignore one’s foundations – physical health, emotional and mental wellbeing, social support – productivity hacks serve only as a myth for constant optimisation.
What if your actual productivity looked like nothingness?
This obsession with optimising is often just a fear of stillness. Top leaders may not be role models for creative flow if they only know how to manage their calendars and not also their internal state. Steve Jobs famously walked around his office barefoot, just thinking. Not because it was efficient, but because it wasn’t. Moments of clarity usually arrive when you are doing absolutely nothing.
Boredom is not to be mistaken for unfulfillment. Be present and allow your mind to not work for a brief time. After practicing small bursts of this (a few seconds or minutes), start tracking what ideas emerge for you.
Some ways you can create nothingness in your life:
Go for a walk or run without headphones. That is, no music or podcast to distract you, and allow your mind to float.
Have a shower (which I’m guessing you do regularly anyway, well done).
Eat your lunch away from your desk or phone. Focus on your sandwich, and that alone.
You’ll start to notice your creativity kicking in slowly because, like money, creativity responds to clarity.
If you’d like to dial your creativity further than that, there are ways to cultivate your boredom.
Cook at home more. Let’s not forget that this humble activity for daily sustenance is also an exercise in creativity.
Garden, paint, or play an instrument. Essentially, any activity that demands slowness from you, which theoretically should be a nice change from whatever fast-paced work environment you’re coming from. (Although, depending on how addicted you are to that pace, might be excruciating instead. If this is you, no judgement. Persevere and it will get easier.)
Talk to your plants. Yes, we can call the author crazy for this one, but have you actually tried this? Suddenly nothing else is important and you can bask in a blissful pool of boredom.
The ancient Greeks would elaborate on creativity as a gift imparted by The Muses, these etheric beings who would choose what ideas would be allowed to filter into whom. When you listen to modern artists speak, the very successful ones often describe their creativity as moving through them, that they are only the vessel. To put more grounded, most of us have experience of feeling real clarity after an activity that had no outcome.
And that’s the key: engaging in activities not tied to performance pressure or outcomes is vital, and boredom is what unlocks it.
So, audit your lifestyle. What might you incorporate now into your life that has no sense of outcome attached whatsoever? An activity or habit that is done for the sake of it.
Yes, agreed that we must “let the kids have free time”. And let’s remember that we’re also just kids in suits. And our boredom is the crucible for creativity and the precognition for innovative breakthroughs. We praise springtime for its blossoms but forget that nothing blooms without winter. Boredom is your winter. Let it come. Let it be quiet. This is where your next breakthrough is born.
Big yes to this! As a writer, I found that I need to have time with just my thoughts or else I can't write as well. I started trying to drive home from work a few days a week with just silence. Or taking a long shower without music playing. It feels weird to have to "schedule" in time to be bored, but it makes a big difference!