Boredom: the cure to everything

We are trying to escape boredom. Most people would do literally anything to avoid an extended period of boredom, like for instance Neil Gaiman writing his books.

For most of the developed world, daily life is not a life or death situation. It's a routine. It's a set of actions and behaviors we think we want to do.

And we hate not doing. From the moment we wake up, we need to do.

We're constantly trying to fill our time.

Our goals, if not related to survival, are about escaping boredom.

We sat down once, thought 'What would I like to do?' and came up with 'goals', or someone else did it for us. Goals only exist so that you have something to do.

Inaction is not the problem

When's the last time you woke up, did nothing the whole day, and then fell asleep in the same position as you woke up?

Never.

Our issues do not stem from inaction. We act all day long. Our problems and challenges are hidden in the type of actions we take.

Salad or burger.

Exercise or lay in bed.

Work or fun.

Save humanity or check Twitter.

Every action is a choice. We are bad at choosing good actions.

Bore your way to effective action

Boredom + action is a choice = deliberate action

If we aren't used to boredom, we'll fidget. We won't be patient. We'll feel a need to do something. And in that rush, we'll pick an inferior path forward.

You see, boredom often allows us to reflect a bit and wonder about things. And sometimes, in that empty mind space, an idea that perfectly fits your situation appears.

When you finally decide on your next step, you will take one that may well be 10x better than the step taken in a rush to escape boredom.

Boredom is like fasting for the mind. It allows you to reset it and start producing interesting ideas.

Boredom entices our mind to come up spontaneous solutions for your problems. It's like sending a messenger to the subconscious saying:

'So, what have you got for me?'

And the subconscious eagerly jumps at the opportunity and presents you with potential breakthroughs.

But that won't happen if you check social media every minute.