Jan 17th 1-2-3: Do Something Boring
1: Do Something Boring ( 2 minute read )
Did you know that boredom is awesome for creativity?
It’s true, you would be surprised how true this is. When we are busy with more complex work our minds tend to be so occupied with what we are doing that fresh ideas oftentimes stay under the surface. I personally haven’t ever come up with an idea for a piece of art, or poem, or novel when taking care of the business administration needs.
It is the stillness that guides us.
This happens for a few reasons:
Daydreaming
Breaking the Routine
Building Patience
It is like sitting in the DMV for hours waiting for your number to be called. You can do something to try to pass the time, or you can do what I did the last time I was there. I sat there with a pad of paper and just observed.
So odd right?
Here’s the thing, while that was a tad excruciating at first, my mind relaxed INTO the boredom after about 5-10 minutes. Then I started to daydream. Worlds I had been building started popping into my mind with a vividness that had not previously existed.
So cool!
This is not unusual. Albert Einstein, you know the guy that everyone knows as being that “smart guy”? Well he loved to be bored. In fact, he would credit his thought experiments to moments of mental drifting. I guess he wasn’t just studying and working all day!
The other thing that occurred while I was sitting at that DMV, is it broke my routine.
I don’t often go to the DMV, and funnily enough I went simply as a way to break up my day as it was my brother who needed to be there, not me. Filmmaker David Lynch actually recommends breaking your routine up by embracing mundane tasks like sweeping to allow your brain to wander while your body is active and moving. This breaks the routines of your daily study and work time to facilitate new connections and inspirations from within. The DMV did this for me this day.
Now anyone who has been to the DMV knows, it can test your patience.
Mine was certainly tested, and in being tested, my patience grew along with my creative ability. The stillness gave me a newfound endurance that is ever so important when working on complex projects. This made my subsequent drawings more rich in detail, since I was able to focus on the parts that I would normally try to speed through.
The DMV taught me a lot about boredom that day:
It taught me that boredom allows me space to daydream, and in the right quantities that is exactly what you would want to create fresh works.
It taught me that breaking my daily routine up with boring environments is a good thing, and that mixing things up mixes up my mind and shuffles out new ideas.
And lastly it taught me that boredom is great for strengthening my patience, and in turn my resolve when it comes to creating better, more complex works.
So I suppose boredom isn’t so bad after all!
In a world so focused on productivity and output, it is refreshing to realize that boredom and mundane tasks are equally important to the creative process.
This leads right into your mission for this weekend, the creative prompts!
2: Creative Prompts From Us (ex. Write a short story, a poem, a song, or draw a quick illustration of these! Let your imagination run free.)
I. Go do something boring this weekend! Find a mundane task in your home and do it without music. What new ideas or solutions come to mind?
II. Find a quiet place to sit and set a timer for 15-30 minutes and allow yourself to daydream. See what this sparks in you!
3: Inspirational Quotes From Others
I. “Boredom is the key to great ideas. When you’re bored, your mind starts to wander, and when it wanders, you find ideas.” - David Lynch, Filmmaker
II. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have—but sometimes you need to sit still for it to find you.” - Maya Angelou, Poet
III. “Boredom can be a very good thing for someone in the creative arts. It’s the lull that lets the storm brew.” - Stephen King, Author
Thank you so much for reading!