Boredom in office “impacts” for hours
The remedy for mind wandering are tasks with significance
Everybody knows boring moments at the working place, even in the most thrilling job. How are we dealing with that, though? Particularly two very common tactics – clenching teeth and work wholeheartedly through and jumping to the next task and hoping that boredom will fade away, respectively – are not at all efficient:
1.Especially by ignoring boredom your brain tries to keep itself entertained even for the hours to come via mind wandering and 2. that´s why your productivity is then actually not automatically coming back, even with the most exciting task. Sounds paradox, but has been right now scientifically confirmed by an current US-American paper. The solution is meaning and meaning-making. If activities following routineous tasks are meaningful to the individual for whatever reason then even most vivid mind wandering disappears faster then you may think.
Belinda/Melwani/Kapadia, “Breaking Boredom: Interrupting the Residual Effect of State Boredom on Future Productivity”, in Journal of Applied Psychology, 2025, vol. 109, no.6, 829-849.
From the practice:
That given, the researchers recommend for your everyday professional life to structure daily routines in the office much more deliberate and to communicate the significance of measures much more explicitly and more individually.
And here I am surfacing: Yes, indeed you could and should as superiors explain members of your team more often, more precise and more taylor-made what the meaning, the importance, the significance of tasks which are to be carried out today, this week or this month, is about. That´s less cristal-clear than you think. And when I use the word “explain” I do mean “speak” & “talk” and definitely not “write” or “text”.
Boring moments do happen in the office – now and in the future. We could handle them more productive, though.