How To Be Bored (And Get Massive Results)

If there's one thing that hurts entrepreneurs and creators more than anything else, it's probably this:

Fear of boredom.

We live in a world that is riddled with dopamine addiction. At any given time in the day, you probably have a phone, tablet, computer, or TV remote within reach.

And it's all too easy to grab a device or something to entertain yourself the moment your brain starts freaking out because it doesn't have anything to do.

But the problem goes so much deeper than that. Because we are so addicted to this habit-forming drug called dopamine, as a society we've forgotten how to be bored. Or rather, we're just avoiding it. And it's hurting our creativity.

What is boredom, really?

Let's call boredom what it really is, shall we?

Boredom is a physiological and emotional reaction to unresolved trauma or pain that we experience in life.

Or in simpler terms, it's the uncomfortable feeling we feel when we don't have anything to distract ourselves from emotional pain.

All of us have emotional pain that we experience in our bodies. For some, it's a result of physical abuse, losing a loved one, or another traumatic experience. For others, it's simply a result of going through life and having difficult experiences that shape us.

Either way, those pains tend to come to the surface when we're bored. And it's uncomfortable. And that's the reason why as a society we are so addicted to dopamine hits, because we want to avoid feeling the pain of boredom.

So we go from waking up, to checking our phones, right to work on our computers, then straight to Netflix in the evening, and then right to sleep. Only to start it all over again the next day.

But the problem is, as creators, when we run our lives that way, we starve ourselves of the one thing that we need most to be able to operate: creative space.

Creators need to be bored.

Boredom is an incredible tool for creators who want to make more progress in less time. Yes, I know that sounds backwards. You think that you'll get more stuff done by focusing on getting more stuff done, but that's not always the case.

To be truly creative, creators need to spend time doing nothing at all.

Long periods of boredom, on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. Punctuated by sprints of hustle and hard work.

The gurus who preach hustle culture and "GSD" don't understand how creators work. When you're constantly in a state of work, feeding your brain with dopamine, and hustling every hour of the day, you rid your brain of its ability to make smart decisions and help you work smarter not harder.

Consequently, the poor decision-making by your perpetually fatigued brain is causing you to stay stuck. You're not finding creative solutions to the problems you're trying to solve, and you end up beating them to death with the same old tactics that everyone else is using.

On the other hand, when you spend significant amounts of time being bored, you give yourself the creative space that your brain needs to be able to do what it does best. You make better creative decisions in your business. And then your periods of hustle become way more efficient.

3 ways to be bored more often (and be okay with it)

So with that being said, here are 3 tips for getting yourself to be bored more often, and doing it in a way that actually feels good and is effective.

1 Start meditating

I know, I know, you've probably tried this before because somebody told you it was a good idea. So you sat down on a chair, put some headphones on with a guided meditation or maybe some soft music, and you just sat there thinking... "What the heck am I doing?"

Meditation is a largely misunderstood practice. I too had the same thoughts when I was first encouraged to do it.

I thought the point was to relax. Not really.

I thought I was supposed to get in some zen-like state. Yeah, no.

I thought it was going to flood my mind with all sorts of inspiration. Not always.

Unlike most things that you can understand and then do... meditation seems to be something that you have to do a lot before you really understand why you're doing it.

But I want to help you understand it right now.

From my experience, the first most immediate benefit you will find from meditation is facing boredom.

What I always tell people who are first time meditators is this: meditate on why you don't want to meditate.

What I find is the reason many people don't meditate is exactly what this letter is about: fear of boredom. You don't want to sit for 20 minutes with your eyes closed, not knowing what to do with your hands. Your brain is used to being in constant work mode, either getting something done, or being entertained by a device.

Put simply… quiet, uninterrupted, boring time is scary.

But here's the kicker: That fear that is holding you back from meditating is probably the same thing holding you back in a lot of areas in your life. And it's definitely hurting your creativity.

If you can't sit still for 20 min and just breathe—something that, by the way, will not harm you in any way, is completely safe, and actually can have major benefits for your health, personal life, business, and creativity—just imagine what else you're incapable of.

2 Leave your phone out of the bedroom

There's tons of research out there showing that leaving your phone in another room at night can dramatically improve your sleep. But I'm not talking about that.

One of the most powerful benefits of removing your phone from your room at night is to increase your boredom.

Think about it, when you go to sleep, your brain goes to work dreaming up all sorts of possibilities and endless creative solutions to problems. Have you ever had a dream that was so out there that you thought, "How did my brain come up with that?"

Our brains are extremely powerful machines that can come up with the most fantastic creative ideas when they're bored.

And for creators and entrepreneurs, we need to capitalize on this.

Some of my best thoughts and most amazing ideas come in the 30 minutes right after waking up. Yes, while I'm still laying in bed, half awake, just thinking. I'm already in a state of pure flow and creativity, and sometimes I can channel it into some of my best ideas.

The problem is, if my phone is on the nightstand next to me, my brain won't even go there. It will instantly jump to wondering what notifications are on the screen, who's messaged me in the last 8 hours, or how many comments are on my latest post.

The phone is like a magnet for my brain. It's being pulled away from its creative state and toward useless distraction.

If you want to capitalize on some of the most valuable minutes and hours of the morning, get your phone out of your room and replace it with a journal or a notebook.

3 Create a boredom calendar

Create regularly scheduled time on your calendar for you to be bored.

On a daily basis, lean into the times that you're able to escape the dopamine and feel bored.

For me, this is right after waking up, when I'm in the shower, and when I'm meditating.

I used to feel guilty about taking long showers. But when I realized that I gain some of my best ideas in the shower (because you basically can't do anything else while you're showering) I started embracing the long shower and carving out time for it.

I didn't choose the long shower life, it chose me.

That may not be the case for you, and that's fine. But find those times of quiet during the day where your brain is naturally in a creative state, and figure out how to lean into them to make the most of them.

On a weekly basis, choose a single day every week where you will be bored. This means no meetings, minimal interaction with your phone, and no tactical work. Tell your team that you are unavailable that day and stick to it.

Spend your time meditating, thinking, writing, and exploring your passions. You'll be amazed at what you can come up with, and when you do it consistently, you'll find you make progress so much faster.

On a monthly basis, make sure you get a weekend away at least once a month. Quarterly, go on a week long vacation to get away from the day to day. Every few years, you can even take 1–6 months off to do the same.

How you do it is up to you, but the point is to create regularly scheduled boredom time in your calendar so you can be as creative as possible when it's time to work.

Boredom breeds creativity.

As a creator and entrepreneur, your creativity is your greatest asset and is what will make you stand out from everyone else out there.

Boredom is the tool for massively increasing your creativity. Embrace it and use it, and you will see massive results.

Reply to this letter and let me know what you like to do to increase your creativity. I read every response.