Achieving Greatness Sometimes Means Embracing Boredom

It's time to reconnect with boredom. Long, long ago, we didn't have the luxuries of having so many ways of keeping ourselves entertained. Thanks to technology, the second we lose interest in one thing, we can hop right into another. Our attention spans continue to get worse, and it has a more significant effect on your life than you may realize. When we get tired of whatever activity we're performing, we pull out our phones. Whenever we get tired of whatever we're doing on our phones, we open another app. It's an endless cycle. We need to stop curing minor episodes of boredom. As wasteful and draining as boredom may seem, it's actually the fuel for greatness.

For those born in the 90's, we've been raised by technology. We've grown up digital. In having so many outlets, we have been conditioned to crave distraction. Instead of staying focused on what we're doing, however tedious it may be, we instead switch tasks altogether and seek a new high elsewhere. Instead of running from boredom, we need to embrace it, especially before important tasks.

"Downtime is to the brain, what sleep is to the body," said Dr. Michael Rich of Harvard Medical School. "But [we] are in a constant mode of stimulation."

Like many things, it all comes down to dopamine, the feel-good chemical in our brains that contributes to pleasure, learning, and motivation. We CRAVE it. Our phones, among other things, are a great source of dopamine. Whether it's laughing at some terrible jokes on Twitter, liking someone's picture on Instagram, or binging on Netflix, our brains active some of that dopamine. There's a reason we enjoy doing those things and do them often. How often do you check your phone every hour? Yeah. It's a lot.

However, therein lies our problem. We are constantly being stimulated. The brain, like the body, needs its rest. And before you mention the body's remedy (sleep), remember that even though you don't always remember your dreams, we dream all throughout the night. The brain isn't necessarily resting. But even then, it is enough downtime that when we wake up, what’s the first thing most of us reach for? Then during the day, from TV, back to our phones, to personal interactions, we overload our brains with non-stop stimulation, all in the name of dopamine. And god forbid you feel an ounce of boredom coming, you fall down a YouTube rabbit hole or spend 45 minutes on TikTok.

We need to embrace boredom every once in a while. Give the brain a quick rest. All it takes is 10 minutes some times. Whether you're in high school, grad school, or somewhere in between, studying can seem incredibly boring. Why wouldn't it, though? What's your pre-studying routine? Do you spend at least 20 minutes scrolling through your phone or watching something on Netflix before you study? If so, you're going from high-stimulation and high-dopamine to lower-stimulation and lower-dopamine. Of course you're bored. However, let's say you meditated for 10 minutes instead. You sat there and did absolutely nothing besides focused on your breathing. Your mind is CRAVING that distraction, craving that dopamine. Then you study. You're going from low-stimulation and low-dopamine to high-stimulation and high-dopamine. Now you have some willpower.

If you do that enough, your brain will associate that spike in dopamine with studying, and suddenly it'll be easier to get in the mood to study. It'll also be easier to maintain your focus. If you study after being on your phone for half an hour, not only is there no spike, but there is almost certainly a dip in your dopamine. Boredom sucks, but it can be beneficial when used correctly.

Everybody has ten minutes in their day to waste. Might as well make it the most productive ten minutes you could possibly spend. That dip in dopamine, followed by an aggressive spike, will bring motivation. If you do it often enough, it'll get so easy to do that it'll become a habit. And for those who are really committed, with time, it'll become an addiction. The difference between ordinary people and extraordinary people is typically just that: an addiction to their craft.

Substitute the example of studying with anything important. Embrace boredom before the task. Then tackle it head-on. It doesn't make the task easy, but it makes it easier.