The Internet is a great tool for information, but is it the road to inspiration? I’ve used the World Wide Web to wander the virtual aisles in search of ideas when I’m coming up empty. Sometimes I’m focused, and other times it’s just a random trip from this site to that one. Time passes quickly when you’re traveling the information superhighway, but are you getting anywhere?
Here’s an alternative – just be bored for a while. It might do wonders for your creative powers.
That’s what Peter Bregman discovered when he returned his new iPad after just one week of use. The management consultant said it wasn’t that the tablet computer didn’t work well. The problem was it worked too well:
The brilliance of the iPad is that it’s the anytime-anywhere computer. On the subway. In the hall waiting for the elevator. In a car on the way to the airport. Any free moment becomes a potential iPad moment.
So why is this a problem? It sounds like I was super-productive. Every extra minute, I was either producing or consuming.
But something is lost in the busyness. Something too valuable to lose.
Boredom.
Being bored is a precious thing; a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that’s where creativity arises.
My best ideas come to me when I am unproductive. When I am running but not listening to my iPod. When I am sitting, doing nothing, waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling to sleep. These “wasted” moments – moments not filled with anything in particular – are vital.
They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They’re the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen.
To lose those moments, to replace them with tasks and efficiency, is a mistake. What’s worse is that we don’t just lose them. We actively throw them away.
Let’s be clear — I’m no technological Luddite. I’m an early adopter with laptops and desktops and iPods. (Oh my!) But I’m going to give this a try. Bregman’s suggestion to shut it all down, in order to open up your mind, is food for thought that doesn’t need any electronic seasoning.
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