Heal the Boredom of Repetitive Tasks With a Little Imagination
We tend to lose interest in things when we do them over and over again, even if they are activities we enjoy. But this simple mental trick can make you less boring when you do something for what seems like the hundredth time.
In NPR, Shankar Vedantam talks about some of the experiments done by Julio Sevilla , professor of marketing at the University of Georgia . Seville’s research shows that boredom, especially from repetitive tasks, is anything that makes your mind feel full. When you believe that what you are doing in the present will be the same as what you are doing in the future, you fill up or “fill up” faster, making you feel bored in the here and now. For example, reading the same bedtime story to your child over and over again can get boring because you already know it inside out and assume that you will have to read it again later.
But, as the Vedantam explains, if you imagine that you will experience something different in the future, you will be less satisfied with what you are doing in the present. If we go back to the reading example, imagine that your child wants a different story tomorrow night, making reading the same story less boring tonight. Basically, try to envision diversity in the future, and you might be more satisfied with doing monotonous things in the present.
How not to get bored? Researchers Have An Answer | NPR Science