The Science-Backed Case for Embracing Boredom in the Workplace Research shows that for entrepreneurs, a dash of ennui can actually be an asset. Here's how to turn boredom into an engine for creativity.
By Aytekin Tank •
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"The desire for desires" is how Leo Tolstoy once famously described boredom.
Based on this quote, you'd think that the author of War and Peace viewed what Merriam-Webster defines as "the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest" in an entirely negative light. And judging by such a prodigious body of work, you'd imagine he shouldn't have had time to be bored. In fact, according to Creating Anna Karenina by CUNY English professor Bob Blaisdell, that state — an early life hack, if you will — was part of Tolstoy's writing process — along with other seemingly negative emotions.
As Blaisdell reveals, the multiple Nobel Prize in Literature nominee required 53 months to complete Anna Karenina — and barely touched the manuscript for 30 of them. He referred to the 1878-published work as "sickening," "unbearably repulsive," "terribly disgusting and nasty," and "a bore, insipid as a bitter radish." But we all know how the story ends: with a novel considered among the world's greatest pieces of literature.