I’m Bored…

Sometimes I get incredibly bored with things.. and that’s a good thing.

I’m not the first person to have this idea, but boredom is an essential aspect of creativity. If no one got bored with the way things were done, we’d all still be doing things the same way for generations. Most unique and groundbreaking art is the result of people becoming horribly bored with how things were being done and deciding they could do it differently. Look at someone like Pablo Picasso or James Joyce or The Beatles. They all started out being more traditional in their art but quickly evolved to doing more and more experimental works. I think a big part of that was they simply became bored with what they were previously doing.

I feel personally that boredom spurs me on to doing things differently. It’s always easier to do things the traditional way, but I feel like I want to scratch my eyes out after awhile if I don’t add something different, something unique. It’s led me to write some of my more experimental posts (this and this and this) and to always search for different ways to do things. I realize I’m probably still not reaching outside the box enough most of the time, but at least I’m cognizant of that fact and striving to do better.

I think many people feel this boredom and react by complaining; this is the wrong thing to do. Don’t just complain that tech podcasts are boring, create your own tech podcast that you don’t find boring. Don’t just complain that most blogs are posting such boring echo chamber posts, post more interesting posts that explore new topics. That is what the great visionaries in history have done, fought the boredom and let it push them into areas that they didn’t find boring. That’s creativity, pushing the boundaries of what came before and creating new and interesting things.

So, embrace your boredom, don’t merely see it as a nuisance and something that needs to be immediately alleviated. Sit inside that boredom and question things. Why are you bored? What is boring about what you are doing? What can change? What can make things more interesting? That is the key to pushing things forward and making an impact on the world.