Podless Days and Productive Boredom

I recently saw a fun talk about advice for young researchers by Barrie
Frost, the very successful and entertaining octagenarian animal psychology
prof at Queen's. One of the things he said was about how he got one of his
best ideas (a flight simulator for butterflies!) while walking home for
lunch. He said, "A good way to have ideas is to walk home for lunch!"

This struck me, both because of how it tied in with what all those
computer scientists in my review said about their most creative times -
unstructured, quiet, regular and of a fixed duration, involving exercise -
and because it provides a possible criticism of my way of doing things. I
had been listening to podcasts every single day for my half hour walk to
school and back, and the talk started me wondering if it was stunting my
creativity. I can't mull over whatever problems I may be facing in my
research life if my mind is busy being stimulated and wildly entertained
by the likes of Ira Glass, Terry Gross, Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot, Jad
Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris, and Dan
Savage.

So mondays, wednesdays and (possibly) fridays are now podless days, where
I leave my iPod at home so there's not even the temptation. (the fact that
this feels like a big step is testament to just how much I adore these
shows - and how completely they alleviated the pain of trudging through
the snow for an hour a day this winter) And I have found a slight increase
in creativity. Even if I spend 25 minutes of the time thinking about Phil
Hartman sketches or sex - which are both likely - I'll likely spend 5
minutes touching on the problems I'm about to (or just finished) grappling
with at work, and with that time come up with an idea or two I never could
have in front of my computer.

Basically I wasn't letting myself be bored enough. Think about if you're
filling your day too full of entertainment or tasks, and not allowing for
enough boredom. Your mind needs time to wander and take the *long* way to
a totally novel solution, one that might seem too offbeat to contemplate
and explore when the pressure is on. One of the major foodgroups of
creativity has got to be big blocks of boring time, which a mind that is
already creatively revved up can make good use of.