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Subscribe to RSSDon’t dread tedious workplace assignments like reading reports or sitting through meetings — they’re making you more productive.
Boring, monotonous tasks help you become a better problem-solver, new research finds, because our brains use that unstimulating “down time” to branch out and think in more creative ways.
“Boredom has always had such bad press, but some boredom is possibly good... especially if it gives us the opportunity to daydream,” said Sandi Mann, senior psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire in the U.K. Mann's research was presented this week at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology.
“Being able to have that down time when you let your mind wander can be great for creativity,” Mann said.
Americans are getting less creative overall, according to a landmark 2010 study. Kyung-Hee Kim, an associate professor at the college of William & Mary’s School of Education, analyzed results from creativity tests and found that our creativity has been on the wane for more than 20 years now, even though IQ scores are climbing.
Experts say one reason for our collective dearth of creativity is the increased stimulation we get in our everyday lives: We can watch Netflix while we wait for a bus and play Angry Birds when we're stuck in a checkout line.
No one likes being bored, but it's a mental state we shouldn't be so quick to eliminate. The reason we get bored is that our brains don’t have enough neural stimulation, Mann said, and the act of daydreaming is the mind’s attempt to self-stimulate.
Related story: Meetings can make you, uh, stupid
Subjects in Mann’s experiments who were assigned boring tasks, like reading or copying down phone book entries, performed better on a subsequent creative task — coming up with as many different uses for two Styrofoam coffee cups as they could — than those in a control group.
Reading something boring increased creativity more than writing something boring, Mann found. She theorized that the more passive nature of reading lent itself better to daydreaming.
“Once we’re allowed to daydream, our heads are free to think in different ways,” Mann said, which leads to more creative problem-solving.
But your boss might not see it that way. “In the workplace, daydreaming is not considered a positive,” said executive coach Lisa Garcia Jacobson. You can’t stare off into space at meetings or otherwise visibly display your boredom. “[You] have to practice it in a focused way,” Jacobson said.
If you’re trying to solve a problem at work, spend some time on a task that doesn’t require much concentration, skip the audiobook on your ride home or take a short walk (and leave the smartphone behind) to alleviate a cognitive logjam, Mann suggested. “Definitely, if you’re looking for a solution to something, giving yourself the opportunity to let your mind wander a bit will probably help,” she said.
Another thing that could bring you to a solution faster: Cut out the multitasking, Jacobson said. Studies have shown that when you try to focus on too many things at once, they all get the short shrift.
Focusing on the task at hand, even if it’s mind-numbing, is a better alternative. You’ll get the job done more effectively, and if a part of your mind does start to wander, those unscripted thoughts could be the key to solving your next workplace challenge.
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I certainly have moments at work where I want to leave, wish I had the day off or was on vacation, could leave early, etc....
The thing is, when I'm at home and the weather isn't nice.....I DON'T DO ANYTHING. I literally sit around, watch movies, cook food, and smoke weed all day. Yes, it's very relaxing, but also very lazy and unproductive. I NEED to work just so I don't fall into the mode of living my life like that. Thankfully I've been lucky enough to work in a job I love for the past 17 years.
Ah the weed! Manna from heaven, cursed by man.
WORK WORK What about first amendment rights--CASE NO.6:09-CV-0134-28-KRS--Judge John Antoon,II-IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA--It seem if you are southern and white --you have not rights--SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS requested a car speciality tag--with two Confederate battle flags on it--the Federal court said to issue it--The State of Florida said no--it is racist aganist immigrants and others--Sad- to go to Viet Nam to do battle and come back and you are a second class citizen
The confederates lost the war. Get over it!
dave-735909 --Right! And also, tell them that renacting Civil War battles isn't going to change the ending.
Anyone who advocates treason deserves to be treated like a second class citizen. And certainly advocating armed insurrection against the United States is treason.
Did I miss something or did some of the comments fall into the wrong thread?
The article I see is about daydreaming at work.
Sounds like someone's bored at work
When I was a kid, my mother's punishment for misbehavior was grounding, and also because she grew up so poor in a third world country, she didn't think to go out as a family to places that cost a lot, including restaurants. During those times at home, as a kid, I would write scripts and make plays with my stuffed animals, rearranging furniture to make it like Sesame Street, and do lots of things like that, but also do things like chores and cleaning which I believe builds character. I noticed now as an adult, how people don't have the discipline to do much at all unless it is fun fun fun and then they are very much in debt paying for things and experiences that are in the long run, a waste of time. It just depends if you have something to offer others, like writing books and sharing information with other generations, or if you like being frivolous and luxurious with nothing to show for it, but that might be putting it too harsh. Sometimes living within your means is boring but it can also make you a disciplined person and more responsible in the end, and more prepared for when better things come along that you'll be able to handle it better than if you don't have self-control. my 2 cents.
That's interesting. I daydream all the time, even when I try to look like I'm paying attention, and am known to be very creative in problem solving.
So it appears that all those elementary school teachers were wrong for chastising me so harshly for daydreaming, LOL.
I fell asleep four times reading this; and I'm a Chicago bus driver.
I am so so thankful to have a job to be bored at, but I sure wish it weren't so boring. I would look for a different job, but there isn't much out there, and my boss works with me to have a flexible schedule, so I shouldn't really complain. But. OH. MY. it is boring most of the time!
I'm not sure that I really get bored at work. Maybe I do. The biggest issue I have is my mind wanders off and I day dream. There is nothing unpleasant about that. It's rather enjoyable.
This is an assumption that people will actually go into a creative mode. Maybe some are just flat out bored and their brains chooses to shut off.
A job for your mind, a job for your body. I had a professor who split wood with an axe when he was trying to problem solve. It wasn't like he had to heat with wood, it was the repetition of the wood chopping which allowed for his mind to wander on the issues he was paid to use his intellect on. He said he did his best thinking splitting wood, alone at his own pace... and he did end up with firewood too!
I am a night shift security guard. I check rig workers in and out of gas wells. The hardest part? Staying awake for 12 hrs, especially when there is nobody coming through. You get bored, you get sleepy. We can read, watch movies, work puzzle books, scroll the net.... just about anything except video games. I usually crochet while watching movies. I get bored with that and find myself getting sleepy, I do something else. Cleaning is a great way to wake up. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE my job!!!! How often can you get paid for doing what you would do at home? Just make sure you do what your job requires - sign the people in when they come in and out when they leave. Don't let people through that aren't suppose to going in. Easy....
How I wish I had gone into ANYTHING but Nursing, after reading some of these comments. Once upon a time in the world of Nursing there was enough staff and enough "doing OK" patients, that a real lunch (half) hour, a real break, and actual interaction with colleagues led, not to actual boredom, but to enough 'down time', to be able to think a few private thoughts.
Now it is hit the ground running, and don't stop until the shift is over. Management considers the charting to be 'down time' enough. Woe to any Nurse who is lucky enough to get all their work done ahead of time consistently (there ARE ways, but we won't go into THAT). If management notices, guess what, they cut some more staff and load you down with more patients.
Boredom!?, well, I guess the mandatory in-services and monthly Unit Meetings are boring-after all, the underlying subject never changes-how we are going to do more, (meet more guidelines, fill out more paperwork), with less, (staff, time and enthusiasm). In a bone mill like Nursing a person learns to appreciate boredom; excitement junkies burn out fast.