Boredom is a Sign of An Unchallenged Mind
Learning October 8th, 2008
Unfortunately, there seems to be major shifts in the minds of our changing generations. That shift is leaning people to need more things spoon fed to them with continuous distractions and activities while the mind of every individual is becoming more and more unchallenged. Kids especially show this as young generations are easily bored and they seem to require more and more toys, games, activities, attention and things to keep them happy. Funny thing is, this is happening mostly in the highly developed nations.
Learning Keeps the Mind Active
An active mind is a healthy mind so its important to keep your mind active throughout your life, not just when you are young. One method to really keep the mind truly challenged is to always be learning. Many people get to a point in their lives where they don’t believe they need to and some even think that they are no longer able to learn new things once they reach a certain age. It’s this kind of believe that prevents them from learning new things, not their age at all. It takes years to slowly disengage the mind and many people let their work and home lives become so comfortable and repetitive that they have no need to learn new things. They don’t take on new experiences, they never go out looking to read or learn new things and they do the same job for many years! This kind of lifestyle will quickly give someone the belief that they can’t learn any longer and its that believe then that prevents them from ever taking on new learning activities.
I recently wrote an article about empowering others to become learners and every step in that article applies to ourselves as well!. The practice of learning new skills, studying new material, and building new skills and knowledge to apply is a powerful mind enhancer. It strengthens your neural connections in the brain and exercises the mind’s memory.
Creative People Don’t Get Bored
Creativity is a trait that usually goes hand in hand with learning. The most creative people in history and even those I know in my life are also the people that are constantly learning new things. Think of famous inventors, artists and teachers; they are all creative and people who are constantly learning. Creative thinkers are able to find new activities with very little or even no stimulation. They can take their surroundings or current activity that might be very boring to one individual, and they can find new things to do, create and to think about. Its doesn’t seem to matter where they are, who they are with, or what the environment has in it to spark the creativity and learning attitude to expose itself.
Using the signs of boredom is a very powerful tool in life. Its useful to parents, teachers, and leaders in all areas of life. Parents and teachers can use it as a sign that they have students or children with untapped potential just looking for more challenging studies and activities. It’s a sign that the creative side of a person is not yet that developed either so bringing more of creative learning, games, hobbies and activities can improve that creative thinking. Leaders can use it to easily identify their most creative thinkers and those who can handle more challenging work. Learning should be an important part of everyone’s lives and at least in these areas, you can make a huge difference to yourself and others by making learning continuous and a bigger part of life!
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Mike King
October 8th, 2008 at 3:17 PM
Interesting article. First time visitor. Keep up the great work!
-HIB
October 8th, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Thanks HIB for the comment. Please subscribe if you like my articles! I visited your site as well and am surprised to see you are quite anonymous there and on Squido. Why the anonymity?
October 9th, 2008 at 6:37 AM
I would like to recommend Alfie Kohn’s book entitled “The schools our children deserve. Moving beyond traditional classrooms and tougher standards.” This book is a must for every parent who cares, every educator who is tired and jaded and every citizen who worries about children at school right now.
http://www.ltl.co.za/colin-hall-blog
October 9th, 2008 at 6:52 AM
I’d like to differ on the “Creative People Don’t Get Bored” point.
Sometimes we do get tons of ideas running wild in our minds that it becomes clutter especially when we get tired. That gets us bored.
Yet again, creative people will find ways to challenge our minds and get right back on track again to learn, create and play.
Oh well, that’s a sign to start challenging myself again. Haha. Good post here Mike. 🙂
October 9th, 2008 at 7:37 AM
Daniel. Yes, I think I understand where you are coming from with your point about the clutter in our minds and how that can lead to boredom.
I was thinking more about your second point, that then creative people find a challenge or activity and get back to learning. Think of any inventors and classically labeled geniuses who are very creative. Many of them have quotes and articles about how they cannot be bored.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:10 PM
I support the definitive title of the second section labeled “Creative People Don’t Get Bored”. Also, the portion about keeping the mind active is quite relevant for many individuals that have put aside learning for a couple of years and now have lost some of their ability to process data at the level they used to be able to. It is one of those items where you don’t know what you had until it has reduced to a point where it is noticeable.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:19 PM
Thanks Armen. I hope I don’t need to experience to heavily that fact of learning what you missed only once its gone. That would be a sad day for me, I would definitely agree though.
I’ve been thinking more on Daniel’s comments that there could be another side of this but I am leaning back to think otherwise now. Clutter from ideas and clutter from business in life are very different things and clutter from ideas and generation of unique thought doesn’t tire people out. I know personally, that I thrive on that and it keeps me from boredom more than anything.
For example, as soon as I get started writing and can be creative in that, the ideas just keep flowing, new article ideas, more thoughts, more to say, etc. It never feels like clutter and it never tires me. What does tire me is the normal life clutter of tasks, chores, todo lists that get in the way of creative thought. That is not creativity nor ideas, it’s is just stuff that gets in the way of being creative. But as soon as there is time, a creative person makes good use of it (they get creative and do something useful), unlike many uncreative people, who simply get bored.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:08 AM
Glad I arrived here and meet like-minded people who enjoy learning and sharing knowledge.
In urban societies, it is so easy for kids to become bored because the environment, contrary to the idea of progress and development, is actually very much prepared for modern living but takes away natural atmosphere that kids actually enjoy most.
If you come to my site to read my latest post, it is just a vid cus I am spending time with my family on weekends. The vid however is about adults who sing nursery songs, goes to show even rock singers going back to childhood for excitement.
Appreciate the work you put in.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:06 AM
Thanks Annie, I so agree. Those natural learning environments are not even part of our schools anymore the way that everything is set with specific rules, tests and distractions.
Thanks for the comment!
October 12th, 2008 at 4:16 AM
It is a great idea to use boredom as a sign. Children can be stimulated for more creative thinking, if they show indications of increased potential. I like to use art & craft to encourage my kids to expand beyond normal boundaries.
October 12th, 2008 at 6:32 AM
Thanks Evelyn. I think it is just in how you worded it, but Children SHOULD be stimulated for more creative thinking, whether they show signs of increased potential or not.
Children have an amazing ability to expand and any methods to give then new areas to learn and experience is valuable. Arts and Crafts is a great one! Thanks for the added idea!
October 12th, 2008 at 6:34 PM
Hi I am back again to read this post as I was starting my day.
I differ to use ‘boredom as a sign’. Children does not know boredom but rather restless. Activities used as a means to achieve an end, will eventually lose it’s purpose because:
Children learn by process not by goals as their responses to movement and activity are very spontaneous, stimulated rather than motivated and encouraged.
Any activity that engages their attention by movement and sense stimuli shape their intelligence. It builds concentration, develops focus and conquer independence.
I think they only become bored but in the practical sense, they have no idea what that means either. Because the next thing you know, they are dribbling a ball or jumping on the bed like you would on trampoline. These are signs of not boredom, but hidden energies waiting for the opportunities to be used.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Developing a life-long love for learning is critical. To this day, I read about 25-35 books a year. I log all books I finish reading as a way of keeping score.
Most people, though, are quite different. They get out of high school or college and say, “I’m never going to read another book again!”
Of course, our public school system is not very good at nurturing creativity and teaching kids to love to learn. It does the opposite: it teaches them to hate to learn.
November 8th, 2008 at 9:08 AM
Thanks for submitting this post to our blog carnival. We just published the 41st edition of Brain Blogging and your article was featured!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Shaheen
July 7th, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Hi Mike,
I saw the link to this article on another blog.You have it right on.
I also believe from my own experience, that if a child is taught early on to enjoy learning and activities, he/she will carry this over as an adult.
In my house,there were 3 generations of influence and nurturing.The only downside, I had was the school experience where I didn’t experience enough of a challenge, after changing schools.Things just proceed normally.I continue to love learning.
January 18th, 2010 at 12:15 AM
I had an art scholarship offered in 3 grade. I’m less creative than i used to be, but i can still draw and think of some crazy stuff. I’m commonly bored. Is boredom linked to depression? After break-ups i become apathetic and then bored with everything. I don’t think boredom is necessarily a sign of an unchallenged mind, but an apathetic mind.
January 18th, 2010 at 9:18 AM
Blue October, the mind is far too complex to say it is ONLY linked or related to one thing so I can’t say that. An unchallenged mind however is exactly what creates boredom. It can be linked to many more things as well but apathetic I don’t personally think is linked to being unchallenged. The emotional centers of the mind are much too deeply associated with life’s experiences and memories to think that the lack of activity is what could cause that or vise versa. Apathy is much more likely the result of past traumatic experiences, hurt or pain previously suffered or some other experience which leads a person to hiding from emotion from fear of pain associated with it.
I’m no psychologist so this is certainly outside my area of expertise, but I do appreciate the comment and hope this makes sense to you. All I can really say is if you are often bored, it is worth examining why, to bring more things into your love to once again bring back more creativity and excitement! Life is a wonderful blessing and no one knows how long their’s will be so you ought to life it with vitality!
September 7th, 2010 at 11:11 PM
Hi. 🙂 Just stumbled across this site when surfing the net. I was sitting in a cafe last night and realized I’ve been bored for a loooong time. High school and college were both easy and I felt highly unchallenged. When I did feel challenged it was because I was uninterested in the topic or saw little use or relevancy for it in my life. I suppose I could’ve studied more on my own to challenge myself more?
Anyways, now that I’ve graduated, I’m kind of at a cross roads. I almost feel like there is nothing I’m interested in enough to want to learn about it. And I don’t want to waste my time learning useless things anymore or playing games that don’t really hold my interest. I was thinking about going traveling as I’ve only been to one other country (Canada) besides the one I live in (USA). Then I was thinking maybe pursuing a Masters degree in something (whatever that may be) and maybe then a PhD.
You see, the thing is I want a challenge. I’m bored of everything. I felt like college was a sheep in wolf’s clothing or a kitty in a tiger suit or a moped under the ‘guise of a military tank. Everything was easy and boring (except for the extremely rare times when I heard something I’d never heard before). What I want is a challenge that keeps me engaged for every minute and I’d be willing to work hard for it. Any suggestions? Maybe something to get me started?