Productive Things To Do When Bored

Boredom can be devastating! How? Ask my friend Natasha.

My hardworking friend Natasha has become quite serious about becoming fitter.

She works out for an hour every day, eats more greens than before, walks extra steps throughout the day, and has shifted to green tea from coffee.

“There’s a problem though” — She was saying.

“I get quite bored late at night. And I often end up ordering a dessert or a pizza”.

She has been steadily gaining weight over the last few weeks — although that was never her intention.

Boredom can be devastating.

When we are bored, our mind looks for quick pleasures. And more often than not, we end up doing something we’d eventually regret.

Like Natasha, you might give in to having a few spoons of ice cream — after a long day filled with exercise & healthy eating. Or you might ruin your perfect streak of waking up early, by binge-watching a Netflix series till 3AM the night before.

Boredom is almost like an unruly & untamed horse — it can take you where you shouldn’t to go.

Fear not, this guide will help you in managing boredom in two ways —

• Feed yourself steady doses of excitement to stave off boredom
• Do productive things to manage boredom better

Predict & Manage Boredom

Why do you fill up your car with gas before it becomes empty?

So that you won’t find yourself stranded at the wrong time — and maybe at the wrong place.

According to Healthline, boredom comes from

• Inadequate rest or nutrition
• Low levels of mental stimulation
• Lack of choice or control over your daily activities
• Lack of diversified recreational interests

Or in other words, boredom comes when our mind is empty of stimulation, choices, or diversified recreations. It can also form when we need rest and food.

Why don’t you REFUEL your mind and body — before you become bored?

• Schedule rests — you need 6–8 hours of sleep every day. If you can’t get that in one stretch, try taking naps during commute, or any other free time
• Eat at regular intervals — and also eat what you like. Don’t starve yourself or force yourself to eat healthy. Your appetite will take its revenge in due time.
• Often our professions fail to provide us with enough mental stimulation. You should look for other sources of stimulation. Try joining a club or a group, watch engaging mystery movies, read an excilarating book, or try to build your side hustle.
• You can get entangled in your own daily routine. Instead of controlling the day, your routine may end up controlling you. Try to mix things up by making small changes — like taking the bus from work one day, instead of the train.
• Similarly, your recreations need to have an element of surprise in it too. Yes, there’s comfort in watching your favorite movie again and again. But no rewatch can beat the feeling when you first watched that movie. Try new things. For example, we tried white water rafting in Bali couple of years ago and loved every bit of it.

Do Productive Things When Bored

Despite your best efforts, boredom will come.

But, if you are prepared, it will go away without ruinning your progress. You’ll have to do some “productive” things when you are bored.

Sounds impossible, right?

Not quite.

Sightseeing (Or physical activity?)

A few years ago, I found myself to be royally bored in a fairly pleasant afternoon. I just wanted to eat some comfort food (fried chicken) and do nothing.

But instead of that, I took the bus to Fort Canning Park. It’s a fairly nice park with some interesting landmark & things to see. In the guise of sightseeing, I completed over 10,000 steps.

Go to a new place and walk around. You’d end up doing some physical activity while stimulating your mind & body.

Advertisements are useless (but are they really?)

As a marketing professional, I can confirm that’s not true.

If bored, you can browse through famous commercials. You’ll be thoroughly entertained and will learn what consumers want. If you are in business, that’d be beneficial.

Even if you are not in business, you can check advertisements from different decades to see how the tone has changed. That’d teach you about cultural changes. You can do the same with ads from different countries to find new things about different cultures.

Browsing through YouTube videos doesn’t have to be a waste of time.

What about infotainment?

You can do the same with infotainment.

Yes, open Netflix. But instead of binge watching a show, find an interesting documentary. I have recently watched Tony Robbins’ “I am not your Guru” and I’m glad that I did.

There are plenty of awesome documentaries or fun talk shows that can teach you a lot while keeping you entertained.

Convinced?

Some Social Media browsing can be productive

I’m talking about Pinterest.

Although it’s more of a search engine than a social media, Pinterest browsing can be as addictive as any social media scrolling.

But you can use the time with care. I have recently created a study/home office — and the design was heavily inspired by 5–6 pins from Pinterest.

Be it a home renovation, or a wardrobe formation or learning a craft, Pinterest can teach you quite a lot!

Group activities are often better than individual ones

Even watching a movie with your spouse can help you two bond more.

And if you go for a swim or tennis or any other sport, then you’ll be bonding with people and becoming fitter in one go.

All while being entertained.

Next steps

Boredom can be more disastrous than it seems.

Predict and change your daily routine to keep things interesting. Try this, let’s assume you feel quite bored everyday at 3 PM. On the other hand, you love Salted Caramel Lattes. Can you order Salted Caramel Lattes at 2.45s to stop the incoming boredom?

Try new things and keep experimenting to figure out what works for you.

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