I had planned on sending out a newsletter last week, but then I didn't. I didn't do anything, really. I walked around my neighborhood at sunset. I took a socially distanced road trip with a friend Upstate and walked around a different neighborhood. I ate a bag of M&M's and drank wine. I stared through a window looking out to a gingerbread cottage across the street. I imagined a spooky, fictional history of the Victorian home we were staying at — one that could explain the little footsteps and the flickering of the depression glass lighting fixtures.
I lounged. I loafed, I sauntered.
And then I was inspired to finish a travel essay that I had been avoiding for the last six months. It stared at me every time I opened my laptop, but I had no inspiration. Then I did. I wrote it in two days.
Turns out all that lounging was exactly what I needed to get my brain working again. At least that's what the science says.
According to smart people, there are many benefits to boredom, including the ability to spark creativity. Sandi Mann, author of The Upside of Downtime: Why Boredom Is Good gave several interviews last year following the release of new research, and she highly encourages entering a state of boredom. Here's why:
At its core, boredom is “a search for neural stimulation that isn’t satisfied,” Mann says. “If we can’t find that, our mind will create it.” As demonstrated by the new study and plenty of others before it, boredom can enable creativity and problem-solving by allowing the mind to wander and daydream. “There’s no other way of getting that stimulation, so you have to go into your head,” Mann says. You may be surprised by what you come up with when you do.
On the flip side, constant engagement from social media, checking emails, or glancing at our smartphones basically kills it, and all that fun we have distracting ourselves actually makes us dull.
When it comes to creativity at work, the same principles apply. There's grim news for productivity gurus: the more productive you are, the less creative you are. Basically, we all need to piss off for an afternoon or we'll all keep producing absolute crap.
In commenting on the above research, another expert noted that while CEOs and other executives say they value creativity as an important job skill, most workplaces aren't very good at creating an environment that fosters true creativity.
"Work warrior" culture "promote[s] productivity at the expense of creativity."
Turns out my favorite character on The Crown, agrees. In Season 4, Episode 2, The Balmoral Test, Helena Bonham Carter who plays Princess Margaret has the following exchange with Gillian Anderson, playing Margaret Thatcher’s doppelganger.
Margaret Thatcher: [hidinig in the corner working]
Princess Margaret: This is supposed to be a bank holiday.
Margaret Thatcher: It is hard to have a holiday when the country is in its current state.
Princess Margaret: The country has been in a state before. It will doubtless be in a state again. One learns, when one has the benefit of experience, that sometimes time off is the most sensible course of action.
Margaret Thatcher: I'm not best suited to time off. It gives me no pleasure.
Princess Margaret: It might give you something more important than that — perspective.
Margaret Thatcher: [blank stare]
And a timely reminder of why conservatives are dull.