Ep 94 Creativity: The lost art of boredom.

Creativity has steadily declined for the past 25 years, and no one seems to know why. There are a lot of theories, but I think part of it is because all of our technology and constant engagement is killing boredom, which is an essential part of creativity. In this episode, we will look at why I think boredom is essential to creativity, why it's in incredibly rare supply, and how you can find more of it.

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Stephen Gates : 0:01

What's going on everybody, and welcome into the 94th episode of the crazy one podcast. As always, I'm your host, Stephen Gates. And this is the show where we talk about creativity, leadership design, and a whole lot more. Now, be sure to hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform to get the latest episodes whenever those come out. And you know what, do me a favor while you're there and take a couple seconds and leave a review. You can listen to all the shows, get the show notes, even get some crazy one propaganda, all you have to do is head over to the crazy one calm. That's crazy. And the number one.com if you have any questions, you just want to keep up with the general adventures that are my life or even get more content like this. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. Now I'm always thinking, right, I'm always working. I'm always having conversations with people. And through all of that really through a number of conversations, a couple articles that I came across. I started to think about and to notice something lately and I started to think Notice something in other people too. And whenever that happens, the first thing I do is I start to focus on my life, right, I start to think about what's going on. And not shockingly, that thing has to do with creativity. Now it started, when through that sort of endless research and reading, I found this really interesting fact that I started digging into more, that creativity has actually been on the decline for the last 25 years. And nobody seems to be able to put their finger on why. There's a lot of theories, a lot of people blaming schools, technology, parents, teachers, right, and anything else they can think of somebody always has to be to blame for this. But I don't think this episode is going to solve that. So we're not we're not going to take on the big problem of you know, the decline of creativity in society. today. Maybe we'll work on that for maybe the next episode, but but it did get me thinking like, why did I have like what did I have tons of whenever I was a kid because in many cases that's the thing is Whenever you're a kid, you're the most creative, you're the most free, you're the most open that you ever are. And then all these sort of things are education, your system, like your schools, all these things start to put restrictions on you. So what was different what it was so different about then that I felt so creative? That is different from now. And one of the biggest things that kept coming back to was, I was bored. And that may sound strange. But I really think that with what's going on in society today with technology and stuff like that is sort of this attack on boredom. And I think that's hurting our creativity. So in this episode, I want to look at, honestly, why do I think boredom is essential to creativity? Why does boredom seem to be an incredibly rare supply lately? And what are some of the things we can do to find more of it? But you know, that was The place that I started was just to look at what do I do every day? Because when I start to think about things like this, that's where I always start, right? I look at myself, I think about what I do, and how do I think, because if I feel like I'm going through it, then I'm probably a lot of other people are, either they just don't realize it hasn't been given a voice to it, right, like something is going on. So what I started to do is I just started to look at my life, a day at a time, and what did an average day look like? And then start to through conversation, not sort of coming out being obvious about it, but asking a lot of other people I know, what did their average day look like? This is what I found, my day look like was that I would wake up and sort of as soon as you become conscious, do whatever it is, I would kind of roll over to check my smartphone to see what happened overnight, what posts got liked in you know, in Asia or in other parts of Europe? Did anybody send me an email I needed to pay attention to as there's, you know, look at my calendar to figure out what am I doing today, but there's that general sort of like Check in with the date. So now the brain start to wake up a little. You go and you start to get ready, you go to the bathroom, you take like you do all those sorts of things, right? And you're probably there again with your smartphone. Maybe you're playing Candy Crush, maybe you're looking at a YouTube video, maybe you're again, you're trying to figure out what your day is right? But somehow, again, waking up starting it with a little bit more. Now there's the commute to work. If it's one of those days where I need to go into New York City, I'm on the train, you know that I'm on my phone, I'm on my tablet, searching the web, answering emails, I'm doing those sort of things. If it's a day where I need to be in the car and have to drive someplace well then I'm listening to music. I'm listening to a podcast I'm listening to an audiobook, get to work, go in go through the lobby talking to people on your way in you get in the elevator, you start going upstairs. Well, there's another screen right that has those pointless little facts and news updates, all those little things that everybody stares at because God forbid you'd, you know would have to talk to a stranger that gets us out of it because now there's something we can all pay attention to. Then you're into the office, you're on your computer, you're in meetings, you're in calls like all those things back to back to Back to Back to the point where my schedule I actually have to put a meeting on my calendar to eat because if not, I'll forget through all this, what are you doing then Okay, I'm taking breaks, I got to run to the bathroom whenever I'm there that I'm on my phone again and I'm liking you know, my friends social media posts, that's the one thing I think we don't want to think about is it probably most of the likes that we get on most of the things that we post are probably coming from people on the toilet, but you know, let's save that image for another time. Then, the day is over, commute back home. So again, maybe you're watching YouTube, maybe you're you know, list again, listening to music, maybe you're doing something but again, you know, what's that thing? I've got to be able to get entertained to get home time for dinner. Right? Okay, well, maybe I'm gonna cook maybe I'll watch a video to do that. Maybe I'm going to order off a grub hub or something like that some on on an app doing that. Then we get to watching TV. And again, you look at the numbers that it'll say that most people whenever they watch TV are looking at two screens. So again, you've got your phone, you're working on your computer, you've got a tablet, maybe you're playing a game, you're doing something but again now I'm sharing two screens. Time to go to bed. Those of us You mean, we know we shouldn't have a screen around us when we go to bed? But what do we do? Well, that's time to watch Netflix or again, try to wind down, play a game on my tablet, do something to be able to do that and engage and try to wind down for the day, you start to get tired, and you're like, Hey, you know, I was trying to get tired. But you know, let me check my phone, just one last time. Now, I'm sure I didn't get all the parts of your day, right like, and again, that's just sort of a caricature of probably what even my day would be like. But the obvious point here is that whenever I looked at my average day, I saw that it was wall to wall engagement with devices, with technology with people like with all of this stuff, and there was no time to be bored. Because like I said, whenever you were a kid, or at least, and again, this may be one of the things why I feel like creativity may be declining, was whenever I was a kid. Like if you were bored, you had to go out in the yard and play like if you wanted to do something fun. You took your GI Joes out there, and you made up a whole story. You didn't have the video games, the TV series, the constant shuttling between the television at home and the TV in the car and the TV at the restaurant, which I will never understand. Like, I understand why people do it. But I don't understand why people do it. But it's just this constant engagement that again, if you watch even children, you see, they're constantly being glued to a screen. And it's you have to help you can't help but think this is why creativity is declining. And so that was the thing that I realized was, I didn't have any time to think I didn't have any time to be bored. And this is what I would ask right is do the same thing with your weak at the end of the day, just pick one day this week. Maybe it's tomorrow, maybe it's today, whatever it is, but stop and think back over that day. And was there any time for you to think was there any time for you to be bored and let your mind wander? Was there any time to do those sorts of things or is your day job Just this constant reactionary reaction to stimulus or to do these sort of things, and whenever it's not there, do you almost feel like you're doing something wrong? Because I think that's the thing that I found. And it's so strange once you were aware of it, because I've said this before is that I think that being creative is about being deliberate and how you set yourself up to be creative and how you set yourself up to be successful. It is not a one plus one equals two equation. We've been very clear about that. But it is a mental process. And the problem that I think that we're having is that as a society, we seem to be pathologically killing boredom and all distraction no matter where you are. It's that screen in the elevator, it's the phone in the bathroom. It's this constant being plugged in, then I think is screwing a lot of a lot of us up because we don't just think about it. When was the last Last time you actually heard someone say the words on board. Like when was the last time you actually heard somebody say that? I think whenever people say the word board, we've sort of positioned that word to somehow mean like lethargic or an action. In active depressed are these other descriptions that somehow have a physicality to them? That's not really the case. Because for me, I think killing boredom is killing creativity with it. By being consumed all day by trying to keep away boredom and engaging in these like snackable experiences. All it does is make us crave more. And then whenever we get to the moments of silence whenever we get to that moment, when we have time to think we suddenly feel weird. We suddenly feel like we're doing something wrong. And the thing is, whenever you really start to look at it, your need for this distraction is never going to be satisfied, right because technology is integrated. isn't really a cure for boredom. For me, I've recently really come to embrace and realize that like boredom feeds creativity, if you have nothing to do, and because that's what happens when you are bored, is that when you have nothing to do or your mind isn't actively engaged in things, then your mind will actually start to create. And especially if you're working on something, if you're working on a project, if you're working on an idea, it starts to take those little scraps, those inspirations, those insights, those things then starts to skip. You'd like to stitch them together. Your brain likes to escape from feeling bored. So instead of giving it this external stimulation, these snackable experiences, let that boredom feed your thoughts, your inspiration, your creativity, and see what happens. In many cases, I think most people, I think one don't realize that they need to do this into I don't they don't necessarily know how to like me. hos boredom on their schedule, because if you talk to anybody, they will tell you did anybody ever stopped to think why most of us seem to get our best ideas in the shower, because it's this one time when you have nothing to do most technology is allergic to water. So you are in there, you are bored, your mind can wander, you can do these sorts of things. And so that again, in those moments, in that quiet time in the boredom, your brain will start to stitch those things together, you start to get those ideas, you start to be able to do those things. And that's the thing. Creativity isn't always this thing where you like grit your teeth and say, hey, look, I've got to have a good I have a good idea. Have a good idea. Have a good idea. Why am I not having a good idea? Sometimes it is more passive. Sometimes it's letting your your imagination and your creativity wander. So do things like take a break from your work? Again, Steve Jobs always was talking about this. So many leaders are talking about this, like go for a walk, do something repetitive again, even if you work out I mean, if you do things like that, that sort of repetitive task will force your mind into that sort of state of boredom, the ability to like go get a cup of coffee, get something to drink, sit and just sort of zone out and relax. have times whenever you deliberately say, I'm not going to engage with technology or social media, maybe I'm going to do that through meditation. Maybe I'm going to do it through sketching, maybe I'm going to do it when I am in the car, and I'm driving, I'm actually not going to have anything on so that there are these moments when I can deliberately try to set myself up to just see what happens. Now, is it gonna deliver all the time? Of course not. But I think are you going to find yourself feeling more creative, more inspired? Like you have more ideas? Maybe some different ways and different takes on things as you go into the day? So you feel like you have a little bit more solutions? Yes, it is. 100% then something that for me that has been working? Because that's the thing, right is I've been trying to start to deliberately impose boredom into my process and into my schedule. And like I said, I know for a lot of you this is gonna sound strange, and I get it because whenever I first thought about this, it's like this. Can't be a thing right? Or this can't this sounds so weird. But when you try it, especially in the beginning, you're gonna feel guilty, right? You feel like you're wasting your time. Trust me, you're not. Because I said before, like the real value encrypted creativity is not just in our ability to execute ideas. I think part of this is that, again, we get very caught up in the same sort of thing that if we aren't engaged in something, if we aren't creating something, if we aren't building or executing, something that we don't feel like we're quote, unquote, being creative, but that's the thing. That's the executional piece of it. It's not the creativity piece of it. Creativity is a process, right, like, just like any process, it's about exploring, thinking, revising, but giving yourself time and space to create. And I think that's what a lot of us are losing is that we're losing that ability or that way to think about how do I just be how do I see where my thoughts go? How do I explore this and, and I think you can start to get more deliberate in it. You can start to Figure out like what is a subject or an area and opportunity and insight that maybe you just want to think about something you want to try to explore. So that again, it's not that just sort of structure lists, sit around and zone out. Because whenever you do that, then yeah, you're probably going to try to distract yourself in other ways, thinking about dinner, or, you know, what do you need to do this weekend, or what errands you need to run? That's fine, it's gonna be a part of it. But if you can give yourself some structure, to be able to say, Hey, you know, there's this really interesting insight for this thing that I'm working on. And I haven't quite been able to figure out why it's interesting, or I haven't be able to quite figure out why this is a thing or how could it could come into an idea. Why don't I think that's interesting and just sort of let your mind wander on that. And like I said, maybe it's sketching, maybe it's taking notes when you do that. Maybe it's doing it through meditation or, but it's just these moments of creating some stillness and some time for your brain to actually work, not react. Because that's the thing I think we're so many of us are caught in is in this reaction mode because Because whenever you do that, then you're trying to force that creativity, then you're then you tend to get very frustrated with yourself, then you start to feel down, then you're not sure why you aren't being more creative. And in many cases, that's the thing. It's because we're not being deliberate in the way we think about this. But that's the thing for me with this right? No matter what works for you, and try a bunch of this stuff, right, try to be able to mix it up, not just think that Oh, the same thing is gonna work every time. I mean, I've got three or four different things that I'll sort of go to or time that I try to set up in different places. Whenever I go out and take a dog for a walk. I'm not listening to music, I do it in the woods where no one is around I can, it can just be she and I and I can just sort of say, Hey, this is the thing I want to think about before we kind of set out on that walk. That gives me time to be able to do that. driving the car with no music, to be able to do things like that, like the ability to just sort of work through those things or even at night, sitting on the couch in my living room with the TV off with no music right? Just to be able to sit there and to be able to think about things. And it feels and sounds so strange, and it was so weird when I did it. But I think like I said, your ability to sort of impose these moments impose boredom back into your schedule, I think is going to make you a lot more creative. And I think that's the thing is like, you know, even go so far if you want to, like create a meeting, maybe it's once a week, maybe it's twice a week that just says be bored, make it 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour, whatever you want it to be go for a walk, but do something, to give yourself space to think. Because that's the thing is all this technology and all this stimulus and all these snackable experiences are coming crashing in on us taking away from that time. And so here's the other thing I want to do is that normally these episodes clock in somewhere around 35 to 45 minutes, right? I think that's just where I'm pre wired to. That's how long a keynote usually is. Somehow that's where my content just usually lands. And I think it was something I wanted to deliberately do today was also To be able to make this episode shorter, because what I want you to do is to be able to take the next 15 or 20 minutes that you normally would have spent listening to this episode. And take that time to go be bored. take that time to sit and think take that time to reflect on your day to think about, are there actually times when you're giving yourself space to think and to be bored? And how do you start to embrace that more? How are you more deliberate about your creativity? How are you more deliberate in giving yourself permission and time to think because that's the thing in this world where there's this constant pressure to produce and deliver and do all these things. We're losing sight of how that actually happens. And our ability to take just that moment, to be bored, to see what happens to see where your brain goes. I think sometimes it is amazing. What you can come up with that you have no idea how you got there. But that's what I want you to do. Right? Take that next 20 minutes and be bored. So hopefully as always, this is thought provoking maybe a little bit helpful. If you want to you can find more about the podcast there related articles full Show Notes for this episode and every other one, just head over to the crazy one calm. That's crazy that number one, com, subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any new episodes whenever those come out. And hey, do me a favor, leave a review while you're there. Follow me on social media, you can like the show on Facebook. Again, I'm trying to post things up there as much as I can about different things. I'm thinking about different stuff that I'm seeing things like that. And finally, as always, everybody in legal town wants me to remind you the views here are just my own. They don't represent any of my current or former employers. These are just my own thoughts. And finally, I swear every time because I mean it every time but thank you for your time. I know that time is truly the only real lecture in any of us have is incredibly humbled. You want to spend any of it with me. But the thing is, is that we have to be more deliberate. We have to be more bored. So go out, be bored and stay crazy.