Boredom is essential for productivity | Cal Newport and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Cal Newport is a computer scientist who also writes about productivity.

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[ericfricke]

Some days I just like to literally do nothing for a while. It feels like I can stretch time when I do that.

[rockraven]

Some of the best ideas happen while showering.

[LightTribe]

The brain normalizes stimuli when it's repeated, like the smell of a new house that fades in 20 minutes. Therfore to know something is stimulating, your brain needs something to compare it to, boredom, otherwise it gets averaged as noise. I feel that's exactly what the brain is doing most of the time in this regard: comparing to data points against each other to determine relevance.

[safamazumder]

"you have to have some boredom in ur regular schedule or else your mind is going to form a Pavlovian connection between 'as soon as I feel boredom I get stimuli', and once it forms that connection it's never gonna be able to tolerate deep work... your mind better be used to the idea that sometimes you don't get stimuli bc otherwise u can't write for 3 hrs. it's just not gonna tolerate it."

discomfort serves a very important purpose for a species. if something is really distressing, there's a reason for it. Pain is uncomfortable bc we need to worry abt injuries. Hunger is uncomfortable bc we need food to survive, Thirst is uncomfortable bc we need water to survive. Boredom is abt driving us toward productive action.

[kent]

When boredom start to kick in within myself, I dive deeper within myself. I think about myself, how I react on the recent situation, how I approach that and this thing.. I am in business so I still do mental prep like expecting the worst scenarios.. etc. just sharing

[TheChessNeck]

Huge fan of Cal. just bought his email book. he's one of the best authors anyone can read in my opinion. also Lex, can't wait to hear about you and David Goggins adventure.

[JEBavido]

I hope he looks into how we treat boredom in our children. Different cultures have different expectations for what parents are supposed to do if their child is bored.

[RemotHuman]

thats a really helpful idea about boredom in your routine allowing you to do deep work

[domdubz]

Double majored in mathematics because I was bored in business school during a quarantine with nothing to do.

[MetaJustical]

It's about you taking control and understanding, your own empowerment!. The physical, the mental and the spiritual. The question I would ask is...

Why is the suppression so strong? I like the why adverb more than the others. Why gives you the substance of the story.

[thepunisherxxx]

Necessity drove innovation in our early history, not boredom. Living on Earth as a human for the vast majority of our history has been incredibly difficult. Most of your day your goal was survival and prepping to survive in the future. There was no time for boredom. Innovation came from necessity to make life easier to deal with. Necessity / Survival still is the strongest motivator, its just easier now to hit a comfort level you can live with.

[Motivational.Quotesk]

Basically I personally I wouldn’t had accepted Bordem generally in my life I wouldn’t be capable to accomplish anything.
No pain no gain.
Simple and true.

Fast-food for the brain
Junk news for the soul…

Yes good comparison.

Information is food for the mind

[crowningglory]

“Action obesity” that’s new, you’re a legend

[AMPMReviews]

So people do avoidant contingencies because boredom is punishment.

[StifflerSiP]

I used to eat once a day, & I definitely felt all-around better than I do now!..

[salimdag]

Even thinking about something else makes me sick. You have to be generous in learning, working and producing. After all, you are spending your free time.

[QueenLover-ji]

By YouSum Live

00:01:40 Boredom as a fundamental human drive.
00:02:11 Boredom drives us towards productive action.
00:02:30 Overloading with distractions leads to cognitive action obesity.
00:02:44 Ideal workload and tasks for optimal productivity.
00:03:47 Understanding the push and pull dynamic with hunger.
00:04:20 Intellectual activities as responses to boredom signals.
00:04:43 Modern attention engineered entertainment parallels junk food.
00:05:19 Fasting enhances focus, well-being, and self-awareness.
00:05:43 Fasting allows listening to the body's signals and responses.
00:06:20 Different food types affect body responses and well-being.
00:07:04 Fasting aids in understanding and moderating food intake.

By YouSum Live

[lranjits]

I agree. When I’m bored I’m watching all your videos I should probably stop so I can actually execute on something lol

[xszander]

I tried fasting, but my body said hell no and I got huge intestinal cramps that wouldn't go away.
So listening to my body, I started having my regular schedule again but replacing a lot of unhealthy foods in it instead.
Fasting is often touted as this cure for everyone, but it really isn't.
The key indeed is listening to your body.

[celesteschacht]

I listened to the whole show which was amazing. PLEASE send a clip of the section you will use with the run with David G. Please :-) i will also use it.