There are few more frustrating feelings than boredom, particularly if you need to be creative for a living. However, if you can harness that and make it work for you, boredom can be the catalyst for outlandish creativity you might not have otherwise thought of.
We have all experience mini-ruts. Those times where you just cannot bring yourself to do anything, and everything you would typically do bores you. If you work in any sort of creative industry, these mental blocks can be a real nightmare. There is little said on the topic of how difficult being creative can be when you are expected to consistently churn it out, and incidentally, I'm writing an article on that at the moment. It can be an irritant at first, then it can become all-consuming frustration, and then it can potentially be dangerous if you need to be creative to earn a crust.
Over the years I have developed a number of ways that will help me turn my jaded state into a creative and inspired one, which is the source of the aforementioned coming article. To give one away, however, I will go for a walk or a run and listen to a podcast or audiobook. Music rarely brings about ideas on command for me — though I understand it probably does for most people — but listening to fiction and non-fiction does.
How do you convert your boredom into creativity?
