Enter the void: how to be bored
A five-step process
A few weeks ago, I wrote about why you should let yourself be bored.
But what about before and after?
How do you create a situation that allows you to be bored?
Once you’re sufficiently bored, what happens then? And what do you do next?
I realized it’s more of a five-step process:
Open the void / clear out the void
Keep the void open / let yourself be bored
Pay attention to what fills the void
Write what fills the void
Choose a direction for action
One thing to note: not everybody should do this. If you’re feeling aligned, motivated, happy—why make a change?
On the other hand, if you’re going through a transition or pivot. If you don’t like your job. If you want to get in touch with your creativity. This is for you.
1. Open up the void / clear out the void
How you open up the void depends on what you have currently filling your void.
For many, it requires quitting your job, taking a sabbatical, going on vacation.
2. Keep the void open / let yourself be bored
Things will rush to fill the void—new ideas, other jobs, projects, starting your own company.
Don’t jump fully into the next thing right away.
This is perhaps the most difficult and uncomfortable part.
3. Pay attention to what fills the void
What thoughts fill the void? Business ideas? Topics to write about? To-do items?
What emotions fill the void? Are you excited about something? Angry? Sad?
Do you need to heal? Are you in pain? Sick? Burned out?
4. Write what fills the void
The writing can scratch your itch for productivity.
You’ll forget things if you don’t write them down.
Once you’ve written things down for 2-3 months, you’ll have a comprehensive sense of what’s filling your void. You’ll start to notice consistencies.
5. Choose a direction for action
Look back at what you’ve written. What filled your void?
Is there an obvious theme? A consistent through line?
Go there. Do that.
Not sure where to focus? Too many ideas?
Try putting all your ideas into an ikigai diagram.
Where I’m at
I’m currently in between steps 4 and 5.
I started my second sabbatical in March 2023.
The curious thing for me is that I enjoy exactly what I’m doing at this stage of the process.
I like paying attention to what fills my void and writing about it. It feels creative, meditative, energizing, worthwhile.
There are pressures pushing me toward step 5. Dwindling savings. Other obligations.
But for now, I’m going to hold the space, keep my void open a little longer.
Maybe I’ll figure out a way to say here. In an intuitive way, I kinda trust that I will.
i use a similar process whenever i start a new artwork, perhaps not quite boredom but certainly mental emptiness. then let ideas come and go, without judging any too much and eventually one resonates much more than the others. Although i often find the writing part hard, as i find it often breaks the emptiness (but perhaps i am just thinking about the words too much)