Bored and Brilliant: How Time Spent Doing Nothing Changes Everything

Being bored is bad, right? We'll certainly do anything to avoid it and with smartphones we need never be bored again, as we reply to our emails 24 hours a day, tweet as we watch TV, watch TV as we commute, check Facebook as we walk and Instagram while we eat. Stimulation is good. But what if it's not? What if what happens when our mind "wanders" is an essential part of how our brains work and crucial to our concentration and ability to think creatively? What if your relationship with distraction is stopping you from living your fullest life? When award-winning journalist Manoush Zomorodi posed these question to her listeners on her hugely popular New York public radio Podcast, the answer, from neuroscientists, psychologists and experts was a resounding yes. So over the course of a week, she led her listeners through a week of exercises designed to help them reassess their technology habits, unplug for part of each week and jumpstart their creativity. The response was astonishing. Now, in Bored and Brilliant, she will show you why the key to changing everything may be making time to do nothing by taking you through a series of challenges that will help you rethink and recalibrate your relationship with technology in small but important ways. This book is both a fascinating account of our new relationship with boredom and a practical guide to inviting a little more of it into your life and reawakening your creativity and productivity.