Embrace boredom and begin daydreaming to get unstuck in life and work.

I couldn’t remember the last time I was bored.

Boredom had become a relic of the past for me. Gone were the days when I would lie awake in bed in the morning, bored out of my mind, and daydream for a while before deciding to immerse myself into reality. I’d no longer twiddle my thumbs while waiting for a haircut or strike up a conversation with a stranger waiting in line at a coffee shop.

A pic I took while on a walk at my parents cabin on Wilderness Road in Pillager, MN

I know I’m not alone here. We have a tendency to fill every moment of our day with activity. We switch from one form of social media to the next, check our email, catch up on the news—all within a span of twenty minutes. 

We prefer the certainty of these distractions over the uncertainty of boredom (I don’t know what to do with myself, and I’d rather not find out).

When I do take time for myself, I feel almost guilty. I feel like I should be working. Should be trying to make my business better, trying to work on self improvement, trying to get stronger, faster. You know the drill. 

I am starting to feel that I am endlessly rolling a boulder up an impossible hill.

I am starting to realize that this is a problem in my life. I’ve spent the last 6 years devoting my entire life to my business and my clients while neglecting my own health and family. 

Anyone else with me in this?

I see two major problems with this trend.

The decline of boredom undermines our ability to think. I find that I spend double the time on something that would normally take me 30 mins. I can’t make a decision. I can’t be strategic. 

Have you ever noticed when your best ideas come to you? For me it's when I am in the shower or right before bed when my brain has had time to decompress.

It’s the silence, generated by embracing boredom, that spurs innovation and catalyzes creative thinking. Even when it appears to be idling, the brain is still active. As you get bored, your subconscious kicks in and begins forming new connections.

This is why numerous creatives and entrepreneurs credit boredom for their success. 

“Ideas come from daydreaming,” the author Neil Gaiman explains. “They come from drifting, that moment when you’re just sitting there.” When people ask Gaiman for advice on how to be a writer, his answer is simple: “Get bored.”

I decided to rekindle my long-lost affair with boredom. I am now deliberately building time into my day that I call “airplane mode” when I sit on my couch (right now it's on my patio in my backyard) doing nothing but thinking and daydreaming. 

The next time you feel boredom arising, resist the temptation to reach for your phone. Instead do what you did as a six-year-old: Embrace boredom and begin daydreaming.

The results will surprise you.