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Can the Simple Pursuit of Total Boredom Make You Smarter?

When I was a kid, around six million years ago, we had lots of time to be bored. There were no play dates, our parents didn’t drive us to ballet lessons, and our play was mostly unstructured. Sitting or lying around with nothing to do was a common occurrence. We didn’t have all the distractions that not just children, but adults have now. And by the way, I count myself in this group of people who now have no time to be bored.

Too Busy to Be Bored?

Think about it. When was the last time someone said: “I’m bored.” At least, someone who’s not a teenager. People saying they’re bored have been replaced by people who say they’re too busy. Everyone’s too busy! And it’s usually followed by, “that’s a good thing, right?” But is it a good thing really? After all, we have YouTube, podcasts, online gaming, social media, and a million other things to entertain us now.

Photo by Bautz Adventure

What If You Had Time to Be Bored?

How different would your life be if you had time to pursue boredom? By that, I mean having breaks in your day and in your life. Recently, I was at a friend’s house, knitting (a hobby I’ve taken up recently). There was no music and no background noise at all. And there were some long silences. Maybe it’s because we’re all introverts, but everyone seemed really comfortable with the lack of distractions and yes, the boredom. By the way, you might enjoy this article about introverts: Six Facts About Introverts and Social Media That Will Impress Your Friends. But those long silences made me realize how unusual it is to have long silences at all anymore.

The Focus on Mindfulness

Over the past few years, there’s been a real focus on mindfulness. Meditation and yoga classes have been sprouting up all over the place. So now we’ve scheduled the time to just sit, or to sit and stretch, or to meditate. Is it any coincidence that the focus on mindfulness comes when we’re so very busy all the time? Did you know that the number of people doing yoga grew by 50% between 2012 and 2016? That’s quite a staggering increase and maybe we should all be investing in yoga stock!

The Question of the Day

The really important question is whether the pursuit of boredom can make you smarter. Many studies have shown that taking time out to meditate can make you smarter. Perhaps there is a correlation. According to Robert Puff, Ph.D, in this article in Psychology Today, Meditation Can Make You Smarter (and Happier). His article is a summary of articles about the subject.

Work-Life Balance

What things do you do to achieve work-life balance? Is work-life balance really the unicorn of the working world? And do you ever add in some unstructured time to your schedule? Or just not stuff it to the gills all the time? It might be worth the peace of mind.

Ten Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Daredevil

Fearlessness Leads to Great Learning

Richard Branson once said “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” With that in mind, here are ways that you can tap into that most enviable of business traits: fearlessness. Failure and fearlessness are intricately linked. For more on failure, you might want to read my previous post What if Failure Didn’t Exist?

Hero Vs. Psychopath

Hero Versus Psychopath

People often think that daredevils are psychopaths. When Batman jumps off a tall building with no regard for his own life, we’re all rooting for him. (Not the Ben Affleck Batman, though. We’re not rooting for him.*) Some measure of risk is important to a solid business; fearlessness in its pure form of boldness is what people need.

*With apologies to Ben Affleck

Get Through Tough Times

Get through Tough Moments

If you were brave in the forest and no one was watching, would it count for anything? Probably not. But what about when you have to speak in front of 600 people with no script and explain your startup’s mission? Being fearless, if only for an hour or two, would be no small feat.

It’s Lonely At the Top

Being fearless might necessitate taking “the road less traveled” more often than not. Indirectly, this could lead to a lonely existence. However, this is 2015. Surely there is a closed Facebook group where daredevils of all sorts could congregate.

Lets You Be the Boss

When someone threatens to eat your chicken tenders, you’re going to have to fight back. Slap that chicken thief right across the jaw and show him who’s boss! Whose chicken is it anyhow?

Chicken or Egg?

Being a daredevil in business involves taking on more risk. But what if fear itself is what’s keeping you from taking on that risk? You could theoretically “fake it til’ you make it” and pretend to have the confidence needed, charging ahead and shoving that fear aside in a temporary show of bravado. Stepping up when the risk is great doesn’t always result in success, so your being fearless will surely be appreciated by all the chickens. (Do you “get” that one?) And you might like to read my post Six Amazing Social Media Startup Secrets, by the way.

Confidence Emerges Once Fear is Stripped Away

Tony Robbins encourages participants in his Unleash the Power Within seminars to walk on fire as a metaphor for facing and overcoming personal fears. He gets the crowd ready by having people chant, stamping out fear with positive thoughts the way Smokey the Bear would stamp out a forest fire. Robbins says “In order to get people to know that the techniques they are learning work, I like to use a physical metaphor that tests them to be able to take action in spite of fear.”

Drunken Scorpion

People talk about committing to success like it’s easy. It’s similar to my yoga instructor who bends into a crazy ball and stands on one arm. I think the pose is called “Drunken Scorpion.” The point is, once she’s halfway there, she might as well go the rest of the way.

Fearlessness is the Ultimate Joy

Thich Nhat Hanh says that fearlessness is not only possible, it is the ultimate joy. We might not go so far as to make friends with a murderer on our daily walk as Thich does, but it’s something to consider, if only for the sake of overcoming our fear.

Deep Thoughts

What would you do if you had no fear? What would your business look like? Would you want to expand and outsource some of the chores that don’t interest you? Please leave a comment!