Be Bored -- A Thought on Creativity

“I think it’s about where ideas come from, they come from daydreaming, from drifting, that moment when you’re just sitting there…”-- Neil Gaiman

Creatives need time to do nothing.

This isn’t a rallying cry. It’s not an excuse to be lazy; however, it is a mindset shift. People who want to make things, or just do good work, need empty space.

When I was a kid, we had downtime. Yes, there was the newest episode of Dragon Ball Z or Gundam Wing to catch, but what about after that? There was the internet, but it wasn’t woven into the fabric of our everyday lives yet. It hadn’t completely infected the world I knew.

So, once the show was off it was time to play. Often that meant hitting off the tee or practicing my jump shot, but that gap in time, that empty space, was also time to come up with my own adventures. I’d continue the story of Hiro or make up my own Ronin Warrior.

All the stories I was consuming from Batman to Mortal Kombat, could collide in my own imaginary serial. Each day I’d pick up where the story left off, imitating the “Next Time on Dragon Ball Z” cliffhangers that kept me coming back day in and day out.

Had I had a cell phone, a PS5, or Netflix, then I likely would have just continued on to the next episode. And that is exactly what most of us do today.

Whether we want to or not, we turn on Amazon Prime, load up Call of Duty, or check Instagram. We scour YouTube for an interesting idea, a thought, a conspiracy to make us feel enlightened. And yet, we negate the very thing that sparks creativity: boredom.

The brain, and the body for that matter, oscillates. We are not machines that can simply run on idol all day, though we do try. We need to be on or off. Especially if we are trying to do any kind of deep work.

This is something I did not comprehend during my days as an athlete. I thought, because of testosterone, I could do 6 AM workouts, 4 hours of classes, 3 hours of practice, 2 hours of studying, some kind of other sport like volleyball or basketball, and then, of course, party and study the rest of the night away and I’d be fine. Yet, ask anyone who takes physical fitness seriously and they’ll tell you, “Muscles are made when you rest.”

As are memories, connections, and ideas. Oddly enough, it’s the space in between memorizing your lines that actually cements them into your brain. If you want to learn Hamlet,the time between memorizing is as valuable as the focused work as well. But that’s for another day…

Many of us want to create. Some of us know what, a story, a novel, a movie, a song, whatever, and others don’t. But art is not limited to the stage or the page. Art can be a pitch-perfect presentation or a beautifully arranged deal. It can be anywhere the human influence is felt. A job well done is art.

Listen, if a banana on a wall or a toilet seat can be art, then by god, managing a team is an art form.

Still, anyone who tries to do their job will come up against resistance. It used to be it was the fear of the blank page was enough to send shivers down the writer's spine. Today, we may never even make it that far.

The entirety of human knowledge is in the palm of our hands, and not just knowledge, but lust, power, wealth, drama, dopamine on tap. Coffee ain’t got shit on TikTok.

“The trouble with these days is that it’s really hard to get bored. I have 2.4 million people on Twitter who will entertain me at any moment…it’s really hard to get bored.” – Neil Gaiman

There are consumers and creatives. There is nothing wrong with being a consumer. Hell, part of being a creator is knowing what to consume, having good taste, and feeling the need to build something similar. Then, realizing you are not talented enough to reach the heights of your idols and saying, “Fuck it. I’ll do it my way,” and then making bad art that you like.

Once that decision is made though, in this day and age, the first step is getting bored.

“I’m much better at putting my phone away, going for boring walks, actually trying to find the space to get bored in. That’s what I’ve started saying to people who say ‘I want to be a writer,” I say, ‘Great, get bored.'” –Neil Gaiman

Gaiman has a rule. Every day, he sits, without a computer or phone nearby, with a fountain pen under his gazebo and he either writes or gets bored. There is no in-between. Do or do not taken to an extreme.

After some time of doing nothing, he starts making up stories to entertain himself and starts writing.

The mind rebels. The body stirs. But, we are the masters of our fate. If we wish to write, we will.

This is the only way to conquer resistance.

“The amateur waits for inspiration. The professional knows that it will come after he starts.” –Steven Pressfield