The annoying meetings, boring documents, gray office walls and solid decrees of the authorities - in a word, mortal boredom, and work in another way. And, it must be, not the most cheerful, if you know the feeling of despondency that comes at the first memory of your workplace. But it seems that not everything is as bad as it might seem at first glance. Immediately, two studies conducted at the University of Central Lancashire in England showed that boredom brings certain benefits, namely, an increase in creative abilities.
In both studies, a group of volunteers were asked to perform two obviously boring and similar tasks - to read and rewrite numbers from a telephone directory, and then pass a test for the assessment of creative abilities. Another team of participants proceeded to the same test without performing preliminary tasks, and, oddly enough, showed a much smaller result than the first group.
According to experts, the observed effect is most likely related to the dreams that people give in the process of monotonous and uninteresting activity for them. In turn, immersion in dreams allows a person to acquire non-standard lateral thinking for a while.
The level of this effect depends on the case in which the person is engaged. For example, the drafting of documents leaves much less time for dreaming than being present at any meeting, because it requires us to pay attention and maximum concentration.
The lead author of the research, Dr. Sandy Mann, at a recent presentation said: "Based on the results, we can safely say that boredom is a significant factor in stimulating creative abilities, especially for people whose work implies ingenuity and creativity."
