Scientists at the University of Central Lancashire (United Kingdom) have found that doing an activity that lasts 15 minutes and is clearly soporific and boring (for example, dedicate yourself to copying phone numbers from a phone book), notably stimulates creativity.
This conclusion was drawn when the group that dedicated itself to doing the boring task was compared with 2 control groups that dedicated themselves to spending those same 15 minutes doing activities that involved thinking or directly spending that same time not doing any activity at all kind.
Researchers say that tasks that are soporific for some workers, such as also mentioning reading a text or attending a work meeting, help to use thinking in a more creative way.
"It has always been said that we must avoid boredom at work, however this study shows that if we want to promote creativity and the ability to invent in workers, perhaps we should consider looking for a utility"said Sandi Mann, one of the researchers in charge of the study.
This study was reported at the Annual Conference of the Division of Occupational Psychology of the British Psychological Society. This scientist further says that it is possible that people whose jobs are boring «Be much more creative in other facets, or when they return home they start write a book."