If you’re not pursuing your goals in the way you know you should, you need more boredom in your life. In the right environment, boredom can push you to take action in a way you never knew you could.
Pursuing our goals, whether personal, academic or professional, is often thought of as a painful process. Goal pursuit requires motivation, determination, as well as consistent effort over a long period of time, all of which is taxing both physically and mentally. Add to that the already existing stresses of regular life, it’s no wonder why people may feel unmotivated to pursue their goals. Then, as goal pursuit can be a straining and time-consuming process, how can we better push through pain and amotivation for the sake of achieving our goals? As you will see in the following video, boredom is the key:
As demonstrated in the Youtube clip, boredom is a feeling that is markedly unpleasant, so much so that a person may subject themselves to pain on purpose just to escape the feeling of emptiness. Said differently, people prefer stimulation of any kind, even physical pain, over the lack of feeling that is boredom, and will readily engage in said painful stimulation if given nothing else to do. Therefore, if we can maximize boredom in our physical environment by removing the distractions available, the goal-related tasks and activities that previously seemed agonizing will become the better option over boredom.
An example of how a boring environment can boost productivity are people who frequent public workspaces like libraries, cafés and coffee shops to get work done. People choose to do work in public workspaces because they offer people a reprieve from their distraction-filled home, allowing them to fully direct their attention to what needs to get done. A public workplace further limits the distractions available through social pressure: when we see people around us being productive, we do not want to be wasting our time for fear of being judged negatively by others. As such, we may subconsciously impose limits to our use of social media and other diversions while in public workspaces, effectively removing them as possible distractions under the imagined gaze of an audience. With fewer options to divert our attention in public workspaces, engaging in our work becomes the best alternative to the emptiness of boredom, thus boosting our productivity even if our tasks are effortful and demanding.
Then, if we are able to limit the number of distractions present in our environment to induce boredom, it stands to reason that we will be more motivated to pursue our goals. The following are some strategies and tips to make your home workstation or any other workplace more boring for the better.
Remove distractions altogether. Obviously, your phone, laptop or other technological devices are the go-to cures for boredom. To avoid reverting to procrastinatory self-distraction when engaging in unpleasant tasks, tech devices need to be put away for the duration of your work.
- If your devices are not necessary for the task at hand, store them in a closed compartment like a drawer or box so that they are out of sight, out of mind.
- For fixtures that cannot be put away, like your desktop or TV, cover the display with a cloth; even though their outlines are plain to see, the cloth visually marks those items as off-limits while you get things done.
Decrease the level of distraction of devices. It is not always possible to avoid using tech devices while working, especially if your task requires a web connection, a text editor or other software application. In such instances where the distractions are built-in to the devices and tools you need, there are still measures that you can implement to make your devices less distracting.
- LeechBlock is a free productivity add-on for your Chrome or Firefox browser to better manage your computer use. Leechblock allows you to restrict access to the websites that monopolize your time the most like Youtube, Instagram, and/or Reddit by customizing parameters to your specific needs. Here are some examples of how LeechBlock can help make your browser usage less distraction-filled.
Give yourself a break. Even with these measures implemented in favor of boredom, you will never be perfect in your level of productivity, as it is impossible to be focused on our tasks and goals all of the time. Life is hard, and occasional self-indulgence can be needed to decompress and recuperate from our regular duties and responsibilities. What matters most is that by thinking about the utility of boredom in pursuing your goals, you will become more conscious of moments of boredom as opportunities to be productive, instead of a signal to distract yourself and waste your time away.
By using these strategies to add more boredom in your life, you will be more motivated to get things done than ever before. In addition to the ideas proposed in this article, don’t be afraid to experiment with your own strategies for restricting access to distractions. With the right measures in place, feelings of boredom will become an instinctive reminder and motivator to pursue what matters most to you, whatever it may be.