26/52: Engineer occasional boredom

#CapitalAtRisk

Above: The lazy guru’s guide to life by Laurence Shorter

The 2010s was the decade of the Entrepreneur. The 2020s will be the decade of the Investor.

“‘Beditate’. Instead of yoga, making a smoothie or going for a run, every now and then just… do nothing”

Laurence Shorter

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Only the boring

Yes, I had an aunt who said, “Only the boring get bored” too. And for a while I believed her.

Sometimes it is good to get busy — great things do take thankless tasks, brute force and all-nighters. I’ve been there, done that, and know that I’ll have to again sometime.

However I’ve found that some of the best things come from doing things a bit differently.

Get bored

A while ago someone asked for advice on encouraging their kids to be creative. I chipped in, “Engineer occasional boredom”.

That’s what I do for mine. Sure, they have a fair bit of screen-time and that’s OK, I think¹, but once they’ve chilled for a bit I take their tech away.

Do they complain? Of course.

Do they come back five minutes later asking for their tech back? Naturally.

Would it be easier for me to let them carry on? Yep.

Pick your battles

I give my kids a fair amount of freedom and we’ll see how they turn out. I’d rather encourage them to be resilient than, tempting as it is, to wrap them up in cottonwool. I think it’s good for them to make mistakes and have the odd knock-back.

However for a small number of things, like tech-breaks, I know I just have to be that little bit more stubborn than them.

Without their tech there are plenty of jobs to be done — taking the bins out, walking Ralph the dog, cooking dinner, laundry, tidying their rooms etc, etc.

But most of the time they go away and get bored in their respective bedrooms. However it doesn’t take very long until they find all sorts of things to do — comic strips, Lego ‘MOCs’, crocheted pillows & coasters have all been produced while ‘bored’.

Definitely worth a few minutes of listening to them complain.

Good things come to those who think

This isn’t just an attempt to extol the virtues of my parenting.

I reckon thinking like this could give you an edge elsewhere too.

Everyone is busy. Everyone is online. That’s easy. We can all sit in front of a screen and respond to emails.

But if everyone else is doing that perhaps you can get an edge by doing the opposite.

Create some space — some occasional boredom — and you’ll think of things others can’t.

Here are some other ideas that, once you’re through the inevitable boredom, will produce incredible results…