Text only version of NPR? What is this goodness and why don't more sites have one?!
He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
11–20 of 75 posts
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#12Meta: Why are there fads like this? Like do people not see this? Everyone's suddenly so interested in how great boredom is, before this it was some other crap, then something else. I don't have a point but I just find it mildly irritating for some reason. It does make sense to collectively research things and exchange ideas but at the same time there's something off about it when it comes to mass media, like it's lazy or something.
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#13"Creativity is the residue of time wasted" -- dubiously attributed to Einstein
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#14> I would set everything else aside. I wouldn't look at my emails. I wouldn't have any meetings. I wouldn't do anything for the podcast. Just music. It allowed some space for my brain to get bored. I feel creatively dead, but mostly only at work. Never have enough time/space to let things just settle down, it seems like. This might be why I still resist management stuff: I dislike accepting responsibility for the pro…
Welcome to the rat race. Just wait until you get the responsibilities of a manager anyway without the pay increase! Might as well fight for that title...
Is it really so inevitable? I sure hope not. Unless I get a meaningful amount of real autonomy, I am not cut out for management. Fortunately, any vague promises I've ever been given for more managerial roles have not actually materialized. I want to say no if they ever do.
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#15Meta: Why are there fads like this? Like do people not see this? Everyone's suddenly so interested in how great boredom is, before this it was some other crap, then something else. I don't have a point but I just find it mildly irritating for some reason. It does make sense to collectively research things and exchange ideas but at the same time there's something off about it when it comes to mass media, like it's laz…
We know A, B and C are useful. Media just likes to copy each other so when one writes that one of those are good others wants to write the same thing so you see:
Media: A is the shit, everyone do A!
Media few years later: B is best, B B B!
Media even more later: C, never forget C!
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#16Meta: Why are there fads like this? Like do people not see this? Everyone's suddenly so interested in how great boredom is, before this it was some other crap, then something else. I don't have a point but I just find it mildly irritating for some reason. It does make sense to collectively research things and exchange ideas but at the same time there's something off about it when it comes to mass media, like it's laz…
I, too, find it incredibly obvious. Today's fads that are at all adjacent to self-help or productivity are usually doing either of the following:
- Inverting an existing idea
- Excessively applying mechanistic explanations to human problems (see Huberman and dopamine)
To me it's really obvious, but I'm sure there's a constant supply of new buyers who don't know any better.
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Welcome to the rat race. Just wait until you get the responsibilities of a manager anyway without the pay increase! Might as well fight for that title...
Is it really so inevitable? I sure hope not. Unless I get a meaningful amount of real autonomy, I am not cut out for management. Fortunately, any vague promises I've ever been given for more managerial roles have not actually materialized. I want to say no if they ever do.
It's not, at least not from my experience, but you have to be vocal about what you want.
I was offered a managerial position multiple times and declined it every time saying that it would be a loss for both myself and the company. I'm way more useful in an individual contributor role and a better way to leverage my experience would be to be a cross-team IC and help on the more demanding projects/initiatives.
Eventually, after being vocal about it for a while and actively helping other teams with parts of the system they didn't have experience with, that's what I got. The bad part is that most challenging work often ends up in my lap. The good part is that most challenging work ends up in my lap.
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Welcome to the rat race. Just wait until you get the responsibilities of a manager anyway without the pay increase! Might as well fight for that title...
Is it really so inevitable? I sure hope not. Unless I get a meaningful amount of real autonomy, I am not cut out for management. Fortunately, any vague promises I've ever been given for more managerial roles have not actually materialized. I want to say no if they ever do.
A colleague of mine is stuck in this, tried to fight it all his life. Then they fired half the org and expected the survivors to self manage in the it ruins without the knowledge of the fired predecessors. And so he is in meetings every day as they manage the recovering. Hardly gets to code..
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#19Meta: Why are there fads like this? Like do people not see this? Everyone's suddenly so interested in how great boredom is, before this it was some other crap, then something else. I don't have a point but I just find it mildly irritating for some reason. It does make sense to collectively research things and exchange ideas but at the same time there's something off about it when it comes to mass media, like it's laz…
Fads come in waves because it's easier and safer to do or discuss something when it's already on the mind of people around you.
Perhaps the irritation comes from having seen enough media that you've started to see this meta-level pattern, which is stale and eternal.
[Snarky overused The Matrix movie reference goes here.]
Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom
#20Meta: Why are there fads like this? Like do people not see this? Everyone's suddenly so interested in how great boredom is, before this it was some other crap, then something else. I don't have a point but I just find it mildly irritating for some reason. It does make sense to collectively research things and exchange ideas but at the same time there's something off about it when it comes to mass media, like it's laz…
People have been interested in intentionally inducing boredom for literally hundreds of thousands of years (under the name "meditation"), so I think it is safe to say it is not a fad by now.