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He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

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Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#51

Post by 3abiton »

havan_agrawal wrote: post #43

I might be suffering from imposter syndrome, but I feel like I'm not the right audience for "taking advantage of boredom". I feel people who benefit from this "diffuse state" are those who already have a base level of competence in their field or challenging problems they're trying to solve, and so boredom gives their brain an opportunity to express creativity in that domain. For me, my brain is just "quiet" when bor…

For me it depends on the projects I worked on intensly. After months of delivery, I sometimes stumble upon some example that might trigger an idea later on when I can't fall asleep that gives me new insights of some of those projects.

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#52

Post by BLKNSLVR »

notnaut wrote: post #44
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought I must have written that myself in some kind of fugue state. I'm in the same boat. What I find strange about it, is that I'm the opposite outside of work. Life life is just great, I'm improving at sports and learning new things in my side projects. But at work I feel like I've got writers block. Any progress is super hard earned.

I’m jealous as hell. I can only improve when given a list of tasks and a carrot/stick. Tried for decades to figure out how to self impose and have not had luck yet!

This may dampen my claims a little, but I roller skate (inline) and play tennis. And I wouldn't say I'm great at either, so maybe it's just because there's a lot of clear air above me that I'm able to make noticeable improvements.

However, I've needed a target in order to make those improvements. For roller skating it was skating backwards, and for tennis it was changing (correcting) my forehand grip.

With tennis it's been 12+ months of inconsistent hitting (including losing a grand final game 0-9 playing almost the worst tennis of my life) before I really started consistently being "better". There was a valley separating where I was from where I wanted to be, the depths of which had to be trudged through.

With inlines it was one of those situations where it feels like no progress is being made for a long time and then it all clicks quite suddenly. It took me about 18 months to go from tentatively rolling backwards after pushing off from the wall to can satisfactorily speed skate backwards.

Gotta have a target, gotta commit to crossing the valley.

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#53

Post by BobbyTables2 »

Jensson wrote: post #15
guerrilla wrote: post #12

Meta: 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!

It’s even more hilarious when the media’s “source” turns out to be a 20 year old “life coach” with little formal training or other unique circumstance.

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#54

Post by pelagic_sky »

bilsbie wrote: post #22

What’s the actionable take away from this?

Make time and space to be alone with your thoughts until you are inspired to return to productivity. Or something like that. For me. Instead of music making (which I would do forever if you let me) it’s going out hiking or backpacking and completely disconnecting from tech where I can explore my thoughts and think about the inspirational things that come to mind.

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#55

Post by sjfjsjdjwvwvc »

Zambyte wrote: post #20
guerrilla wrote: post #12

Meta: 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.

Meditation was originally used by monks to literally kill the ego/mind. It has nothing to with boredom and can become downright dangerous if practiced in excess - just look up dangers of meditation.

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#56

Post by lukas099 »

guerrilla wrote: post #12

Meta: 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're all dissatisfied and trying to fill the void, I guess

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#57

Post by lukas099 »

akomtu wrote: post #28
Zambyte wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Meditation is more about learning to focus attention on boring things and discovering that the effort itself is rewarding. It's a lame materialistic description, but it's much closer to the truth. Doing gym stuff is a good analogy: moving weights around and to their original position looks silly to an outsider, but that's because the outsiders try to judge with their minds what can only be understood thru direct expe…

I can understand going to the gym with my mind. People want to look good and be fit

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#58

Post by nradov »

twodave wrote: post #38
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #6

> 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…

My 2c—I went ahead and took the pay increase and added responsibility, then used it as an excuse to only do the most impactful thing possible at any given time. Leads to telling people “no” a lot, but also less stress.

Only do what only you can do.

Re: He felt 'creatively dead', then harnessed the power of boredom

#59

Post by prawn »

guerrilla wrote: post #12

Meta: 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…

It's like all trends. Think about fashion. Something new stands out because it's novel. Then it's everywhere because people are seeking it out first to be contrarian or seeking an edge, and then to feel safe. Then something new stands out, and it all repeats.
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