Boredom Tolerance
Why tolerating boredom sharpens attention and fuels creativity
Is boredom bad for you, and how do you tolerate or use it well?
Sandi Mann's research challenges the assumption that boredom should always be eliminated. Boredom signals a mismatch between stimulation and need, and tolerating it rather than immediately escaping it is associated with increased daydreaming, creativity, and self-insight. The evidence is mostly lab-based; translating it to chronic boredom contexts requires nuance.
We treat boredom as a problem to be solved with stimulation — phone, podcast, scroll. Sandi Mann's psychology research suggests that this impulse, while understandable, prevents boredom from doing the job it evolved to do: signal that it is time for deeper engagement, and create the idle mental space where creativity, daydreaming, and self-reflection flourish. Learning to sit with boredom is increasingly a competitive advantage.
Practices
- Sit with boredom intentionally
Choose a boredom-inducing activity and resist the urge to escape it for 10–15 minutes.
- Decode what boredom is signaling
Treat boredom as a diagnostic message about engagement, meaning, or mismatch — not just an absence of stimulation.
- Take low-stimulation breaks instead of high-stimulation ones
Replace phone-scroll breaks with brief walks, staring out a window, or simply sitting.
- Journal during boring tasks
Write down whatever surfaces during a deliberately boring activity to capture the creative material boredom unlocks.
- Use monotonous tasks as attentional training
Treat a repetitive task as a practice in returning attention rather than escaping it.
- Audit and reduce your stimulation diet
Deliberately lower the baseline level of stimulation you consume so boredom tolerance rebuilds.
- Wait in queues without your phone
Use unavoidable waiting time as micro-practice for boredom tolerance.
Practice this with IX Coach
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