“It’s 4am Nasruddin leaves the tavern and walks the town aimlessly. A policeman stops him.
‘Why are you out wandering the streets in the middle of the night?’ ‘Sir’ replies Nasruddin, ‘if I knew the answer to that question, I would have been home hours ago!’ ” notes a story in The Essential Rumi.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), are we wandering around trying to be productive, but drunk with all sorts of tempting intoxicating distractions? Do we confuse the desire to ‘look busy’ with profitable business insights? Why do we have an inability to focus? While we flee the feeling of boredom, what is its real value?
In this ‘always on’ digital age, information pours down on us like a torrent of rain in a thunderstorm. The unimportant replaces the important, and our attention is fragmented into a thousand pieces.
Can you really please everyone?
One of the secrets of business, that may take budding entrepreneurs some time to learn is that – when you try and be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing to all. Look around, you will see the business that you admire has a clear focus, offering a distinct value proposition. In a word, successful enterprises: Focus.
Watch your information diet
Imagine you constantly gobbled down every piece of junk food you saw, nyama choma, pizza, chicken and chips, hamburgers and hot dogs washed down with sodas or a Tusker and chocolate cake. One would soon become slow, obese, lacking the energy to get through the day.
Yet, that is what we do with information and entertainment from a variety of channels. We overload our grey matter, simply looking for the next hit of dopamine, when we check out the next alert or TikTok clip.
True multitasking, where the brain can handle multiple complex tasks simultaneously, is largely considered a myth. What we perceive as multitasking is actually rapid task-switching, reducing productivity and increasing errors.
Traffic jam of stories in your head
If you notice, the mind is constantly producing a tsunami of stories with words. What is that little voice in your head saying now? Your brain produces constant interpretations of what is going on, with the sole aim of keeping you safe, working at the survival level. You are what you focus on. Then, the question becomes: What am I going to do about this?
For a moment, imagine standing alone on a sidewalk, watching all the traffic go by. That traffic is your thoughts and feelings. As one matatu passes, another soon follows. We crave feelings of pleasantness, always seeking to avoid discomfort...Addictive scrolling through a phone is easier than the effort needed to focus.
Running from boredom to pleasure
“Early in life we learn that boredom is no fun, and as we age we might begin to see it as a waste of time, or a missed opportunity to do something more productive (or at least more interesting).
At best, boredom has been considered an unpleasant to aversive experience, and at worst, a state that evokes a deep sense of meaninglessness. In addition, when feeling the discomfort of boredom, time tends to pass slowly, which can make work days seem endless.
Considering this, it’s no surprise that boredom often triggers an intense desire to escape the situation (or job!) that evokes it. In today’s ultra-connected world, this escape is just one tap away.
At your fingertips, you find a world of data, breaking news, shows and stories, messages from friends and family, that help you avoid feeling bored — at least at the surface level.
“On the flip side, recent research shows that boredom — when handled constructively — has big “bright sides.” Moments of boredom can offer a pause, or a short respite for your brain and body in a world designed to distract, overwhelm, and overstimulate.
A sense of boredom can create the space to daydream, which can hatch creativity, new ideas, and innovation. Prolonged boredom can prompt you to reflect and ask yourself, “Am I on the right path? Am I doing the right thing?” state the Harvard Business Review contributors.
Perhaps we should just ‘chill’ recognising we don’t have all the answers. The 13th century scholar and poet Rumi wrote; “Where do I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing ? I have no idea.”
David is a director at aCatalyst Consulting. Email: [email protected]
