What Boredom Teaches You

Boredom is a signal to you and try and go in that other direction. It's telling you that there's something that you need to do to fill your time so that you won't be so bored. So one of my readers out there wanted to ask the question of what is the importance of boredom? How do you use boredom and what is the role that boredom plays in the creative process? Boredom is actually a very important quality. You can go in one of two directions in boredom. When you're feeling like there's emptiness inside of you where you need to fill your time with some activity, you will either go for something that'll give you kind of immediate pleasure, something that will give you sort of instant gratification, or towards something productive like, all right, in this time period where I feel empty, where I feel like there's nothing going on in my brain, I'm going to learn something and I'm going to take the time, I'm going to read books about history, I'm going to read books, self-help books, I'm going to read whatever it is, and reading them doesn't give me that instant gratification that a video game does or online porn or whatever, but even there might even be an element of boredom in it. But in the back of my mind, I know that I'm doing something productive, something interesting, something that will help me in the end. So boredom can either shoot you in the direction of, I've got to fill this time with anything just to drown out my pain, that there's nothing happening, or it'll shoot you in the other direction of, how can I fill my time in a way that will actually lead to something? Now, 95% of the time or 95% of the people will go towards that instant gratification, but you are not going to be like that, okay? I'm not saying it's bad to relieve your boredom. First of all, boredom is eminently human. We all experience it. I experience boredom all the time. I know the feeling, okay? So we all go through it, all right? But you are going to be different. You're going to think in these terms, because you're asking me that question, and you're thinking about it, and you don't like the fact that perhaps you're a bit lazy, that you perhaps use those moments. Now, let me make one thing clear. It's okay to waste time. I am a great waster of time, but I waste time for a reason, because writing my books is a grind. It's probably what led to my stroke. So much focusing, so much thinking. It's not good for you, actually. And I reach a point where I can't take it anymore, and then I waste time. Then in the back of my mind, I'm going, Robert, you shouldn't be wasting your time. But it's my body's way of saying, Robert, you need to relax. You need to put yourself on something so trivial, like sports, like the Lakers, something like that, which is usually where I gravitate towards, okay? It's not a sin to reach for something immediate. But I'm doing it for a productive reason, because I need to let go of all this inner tension, right? But boredom is a signal to you, and try and go in that other direction. It's telling you that there's something that you need to do to fill your time so that you won't be so bored. So let's say you're feeling bored, and you go, I'm gonna learn the piano, or I'm gonna play chess, okay? In the beginning, it's kind of hard, and it's a little bit fun, and you're learning the rules, et cetera. And you get better and better and better at it, and the game is great. And now, whenever you feel bored, all right, I can go play the piano, or if you're a little bit bored, okay, now I can play chess. And when you do those activities, you're enriching your brain. You're doing something productive. In the creative process, boredom is a signal that something isn't working in what you're doing, all right? And you need to be excited. So when you're creating anything, your level of excitement will be inside what you produce. When I write a book, and I'm excited, the reader will feel my excitement. When I am bored by my own writing, I know the reader will be bored by my own writing. So I use boredom as a signal that I have to find a way to excite myself in this process. And exciting myself will excite the work, and it will excite the reader. So boredom is a signal to you. It's a signal that you have time now. It's empty time, and it's depressing you. And it's telling you, you can go in that other direction. You can fill that time, that empty space, with something that will end up being much more productive, and will end up helping you cure your boredom in the future. So that's sort of how I use it myself.