Creating New Ideas Through Boredom

Creative problem solving, on the spot, is a pretty difficult task. Solving problems is difficult enough, but to be creative in your solutions is a whole other level.

Early in my career I was fortunate to stumble on some ways of generating creative solutions. Now there is some good science coming out showing there is a great way of creatively solving a problem: boredom.

Walking For Solutions

Back when I was just starting my career, I worked in an office that was next to a residential area. During lunch, when the weather was nice, I would go for a walk to get my mind off of work. After a few walks I noticed that some problems I wasn’t able to solve during work hours would magically solve themselves when I was out on my walk. I wasn’t even thinking about the problem and a solution would just pop in my mind.

Now whenever I would get into a situation where I’m having a hard time coming up with a solution, I will go out for a walk. Many times I will get a solution before reaching the end of the block. Why!?!?

Active Mind At Rest

New neurological research has revealed quite a bit about how our brains work. Recent research, according to
Olga Mecking’s book Niksen shows that our brain is actually more active when it is at rest.

the brain when people were not doing anything in particular, and instead of less activity, he saw areas with increased activity.

Olga Mecking. “Niksen.”

Essentially, our brain is more active when we are bored. When doing a task, the mind will shut down other processes to help focus resources to complete the current task. This limits the ability for the mind to create new neural connections. Olga continues “I was surprised to find that when you engage in a task, some areas of the brain actually decrease in activity.”

Hare Brain Tortoise Mind

Similarly, in his excellent short book “Creativity“, the famous John Cleese talks about how his “unconscious was working on stuff all the time, without being consciously aware of it”. This he labeled the Tortoise Mind, from the book “Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind” by Guy Claxton

The traditional concept of the brain, the part that processes information using logic and reasoning on deliberate conscious thinking he labels the “Hare Brain”. But, according to Cleese we have another brain: the “Tortoise Mind”.

[The Tortoise Mind] proceeds more slowly…It is often less purposeful and clear-cut, more playful, leisurely or dreamy. In this mode we are ruminating or mulling things over, being contemplative or meditative. We may be pondering a problem, rather than earnestly trying to solve it.

This Tortoise mind isn’t as clean and refined as the Hare Brain. It’s pretty easy to get into the Hare Brain mode of thinking: just start concentrating on something. The Tortoise mind, however is more “aimless”. This “aimlessness” is “particularly suited to making sense of situations that are intricate, shadowy or ill defined…when we are not sure what needs to be taken into account, or even which questions to pose—or when the issue is too subtle to be captured by the familiar categories of conscious thought—we need recourse to the tortoise mind.” This is called creativity.

The Tortoise mind has been a mode of thinking that has been a part of all cultures for some time. This is something that Olga Mecking talks about in her book Niksen.

Niksen

In her book, Olga Mecking describes niksen as a daily Dutch concept that involves “doing something without a purpose, like staring out of a window, hanging out, or listening to music.” Niksen is sprinkled throughout the Dutch culture. This boredom helps not only to reduce stress and anxiety, but it also helps creative problem solving. Olga shows that “boredom literally makes us more creative, better at problem solving, better at coming up with creative ideas”

The Dutch aren’t the only culture to have boredom built in. Here are some other ways around the world people have integrated boredom into their culture:

Sabbath – God rested on the 7th day of creation, thus we should rest 1 day a week.

Siesta – people in Spain and France, during the hottest part of the day, would rest and take a nap.

Dolce Far Niente – Italian for “sweet doing nothing.” It means the essence of doing nothing and enjoying it. This is at the core of the Italian culture for enjoying a stress free life.

Wu-Wei – Chinese for “non-action”. From the teachings of Lao Tzu and is at the heart of what it means to follow Daoism. Wu-wei refers to the cultivation of a state of being in which our actions are quite effortlessly in alignment with the ebb and flow of the elemental cycles of the natural world.

What To Do

Here are some ways to use boredom to help solve problems:

Walks – When you’re stuck on a problem, stop what your doing and go for a little walk. Don’t think about your problem! Just enjoy the walk. You’ll be surprised how quickly your Tortoise Mind finds a problem. Some of our greatest thinkers where walkers: Albert Einstein, Charles Dickens, Steve Jobs and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Naps – I know you’re not a 3 year old, but naps is another way to activate your Tortoise Mind. John Cleese in his book Creativity recounts how Edison used sleep to help come up with his creative ideas:

[Edison] found that he got his best ideas in that funny no man’s land between being awake and being asleep. So he used to sit in a comfy armchair with a few ball bearings in his hand and a metal bowl underneath. When he dropped off to sleep his hand relaxed, the ball bearings fell on to the plate and the noise they made woke him up. He’d then pick up the ball bearings again and sit back and get into that same drowsy, dreamy frame of mind that he’d just been in.

Delay Decisions: John Cleese points to a study done by the Psychology department at the University of Sussex on creativity showed that architects that ranked high in creativity “always deferred making decisions for as long as they were allowed”. This allowed their Tortoise Mind time to come up with fresh ideas.

Play: Those same architects in the University of Sussex study also knew how to play. How they define play is “the ability to get enjoyably absorbed in a puzzle: not just to try to solve it so that you can get on to the next problem, but to become really curious about it for its own sake.” Or “exploring, not knowing where they’re going, and not caring either.”

Limit Interruptions: one of the greatest killers of creativity is interruption. When you are using your Tortoise mind, setup your environment to limit any interruptions: set your cell phone to airplane mode, turn off the TV, etc. John Cleese points out that “research has shown that, after an interruption, it can take eight minutes for you to return to your previous state of consciousness, and up to twenty minutes to get back into a state of deep focus.” The Tortoise mind requires time and “the longer you sit there, the more your mind slows and calms down and settles.”

What Not To Do

Don’t do any activities that stimulates your brain. Neurologically this means any activity that will release dopamine. This includes visiting Facebook or watching YouTube videos. A great rule of thumb is anything that will give you the sense of being productive or active.

Overview

A great way of creatively solving a problem is through boredom. If you are having a hard time coming up with a solution, simply stop what you’re doing and let your mind wander. Neurologically your mind is more active when you are not using it. You’ll find that a creative solution will show itself when you are no longer thinking about.