IN PRAISE OF BOREDOM

A week-long visit from our eight grandkids (all under nine years old!) reminded me just how short a child’s attention span can be and how easily bored they can become. Trying to keep them entertained felt like a full-time job.

This is a lot like many small business owners. Not only do we tend to become bored quickly, but many of us also have a high need to feel busy, sometimes at the expense of actually being productive. I think this is a mistake. There’s a lot of good that can come from feeling bored.

Our greatest threat doesn’t always come from a competitor. Sometimes it comes from our inability to manage the urge to constantly jump from one new idea to another. It can exhaust our bank accounts and our people.

In an effort to reframe the benefits of boredom, let me offer the following:

Boredom fuels strategic thinking and creativity.

When business leaders are constantly reacting to emails, fires, or meetings, their brains don’t have time to wander. Boredom forces stillness, and from that stillness can come original thinking.

• It creates the mental space for creative insights—like new product ideas or better ways to serve customers.
• The best breakthroughs often happen when the mind has nothing urgent to solve.
• It breaks autopilot mode, helping uncover blind spots in your operations.

Boredom can showcase a healthy organization.

If a business owner has time on their hands, it could mean they’ve built an organization with systems that work. It can be a symptom of success, not failure.

• Smooth, boring days often reflect predictable cash flow, delegated tasks, and working systems.
• It gives leaders space to step back—shifting from doing to envisioning.
• Occasional boredom may be a sign that the business is ready to scale.

Boredom promotes emotional regulation and resilience.

Running a small business is emotionally intense. Boredom can serve as a counterbalance to constant stress, helping leaders recover and build endurance.

• Downtime helps reset the nervous system, reducing the risk of burnout.
• It builds tolerance for discomfort, a key trait of resilient entrepreneurs.
• Accepting and even embracing boredom teaches patience, which is critical for long-term decision making and delayed gratification.
• It helps leaders become calmer, more thoughtful decision makers when chaos inevitably returns.

Boredom isn’t always a sign that someone is slacking. It could be a sign that they finally have the mental space and emotional capacity to make their next big move.