How can you overcome Boredom? Fortunately, you don’t have to get stuck in bouts of boredom forever. You can turn your idle mind into an ally by implementing several strategies that will help you overcome boredom.
Here are some useful suggestions that might help you:
1. Get rid of anything that distracts you
Sandi Mann, author of The Upside of Downtown: Why Boredom is Good, believes that our attachment to endless online connectivity through our smartphones prevents us from experiencing boredom, thus making it hard, even impossible, for us to become genuinely entertained. She suggests the need to unplug to get into pure boredom.
Most of the time, we scroll down on our phones to get the boredom away. However, doing so actually makes us more prone to boredom instead.
Instead of scrolling on your phone, you have to unplug and engage in activities that demand little or no concentration at all. It could be as simple as taking a stroll down a familiar pathway or sitting on a bench with your eyes closed.
As much as possible, resist the urge to take out your smartphone. You’re bound to get bored eventually, and you might just experience an improvement in your mood and mental health after.
2. Enjoy doing mundane tasks
Most of the time, we tend to get so comfortable that our mind rejects doing tasks, no matter how trivial they can be. This causes us to view them as boring. However, you can actually get rid of boredom by training your mind to realize that it’s not about what you do, but it’s more about how you do it.
By enjoying the experience of doing tasks, regardless of how mundane they get, you will be able to build a sense of achievement and pride.
Most of the time, we experience boredom since the repetitive tasks we regularly do no longer seem stimulating. However, if you perhaps create a fascination for the smaller things around you, then you might view your task in a new, more exciting perspective.
3. Engage in the right activities
Almost anyone is tasked with routine work that seems boring and repetitive, though all of them aren’t created equal. For example, building a pivot table demands a high level of focus, but the task itself is quite tedious. Meanwhile, organizing files on your desktop only requires very little to no focus at all. You want to focus on the latter example and do tasks that will give your mind time to wander.
Sandi Mann also suggests not to conflate boredom with relaxation. Certain activities such as meditation don’t necessarily cause boredom since their point is to get rid of stimulation in your brain.
Just keep in mind that boredom is the act of searching and failing to find that stimulation.
4. Just enjoy your moment of boredom
If nothing else worked, then you might want to try a different approach. How about choosing to enjoy boredom instead of giving in to it?
As opposed to what most people believe, we don’t have to do things to remain productive constantly. It’s been revealed by research that people tend to become more productive once they have taken periods of rest, which allow them to recharge.
So sit back and relax. It might just help on how can you overcome Boredom and let it go away.
Related Article: What You Need to Know About Boredom
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