I’m Bored: 101 Things to Do and Why It’s Your Brain’s Secret Weapon

By Hemanta Sundaray

PostedJune 30, 2025

"I'm bored."

It’s a phrase we utter with a sigh, a feeling we try to escape at all costs. We find ourselves in a waiting room, the clock ticking with agonizing slowness, and our first instinct is a frantic pat-down for our phone. That little glowing rectangle has become our universal antidote to idleness, promising an endless stream of cat videos, emails, and social media updates to ward off the dreaded state of doing nothing.

But what if boredom isn’t the enemy? What if it’s not a void to be filled, but a space to be explored?

Neuroscientists, artists, and thinkers are increasingly sounding the alarm: by eliminating boredom, we might be robbing ourselves of our most creative, productive, and brilliant selves.

This article is your ultimate guide to navigating boredom. We'll give you a massive list of things to do when you’re bored—from drawing and gaming to productive tasks. But more importantly, we’ll explore why you should sometimes choose to do nothing at all.

The Modern Epidemic of Never-Bored

Remember when you were a kid, and your mom would kick you out of the house with the simple instruction, "Go play. Come home when it's dark"? You spent hours building forts, exploring creek beds, and creating entire universes in your backyard. You were often bored, and that boredom was the fertile ground from which your imagination grew.

Today, those moments of unstructured downtime are nearly extinct. As technologist and anthropologist Genevieve Bell points out, our devices carry "the promise that you'll never be bored again."

In her "Bored and Brilliant" project, journalist Manoush Zomorodi discovered the average person checks their email 74 times a day and switches tasks on their computer 566 times a day. We’ve filled every crack and crevice of our lives with digital distractions. But this constant stimulation comes at a cost.

When we're bored—folding laundry, walking, or just staring out the window—our brains activate a powerful network called the Default Mode Network (DMN). Dr. Sandi Mann describes this as the moment "you start thinking a little bit beyond the conscious, a little bit into the subconscious, which allows sort of different connections to take place."

The DMN is where we:

• Connect disparate ideas.
• Solve nagging problems.
• Engage in "autobiographical planning"—reviewing our life's narrative and setting future goals.
• Spark creativity.

By constantly reaching for a distraction, we prevent our brains from entering this vital, creative state. We trade brilliance for busyness.

What is Boredom, Really? The Hidden Message

Before we dive into what to do, let's understand what boredom is. It's not laziness or apathy. Psychologist Dr. James Danckert often references a perfect definition from the philosopher Leo Tolstoy, who described boredom as “the desire for desires.”

When you're bored, you have a restless energy. You want to be engaged in something meaningful, but you can't find anything in your immediate environment that satisfies that urge. It’s an uncomfortable, agitated state. Dr. Danckert compares it to a warning light on your car's dashboard. It's signaling that you aren't being an effective agent in your own life. You feel a mismatch between your skills and the challenges available.

This feeling can push us toward negative behaviors. People who are more prone to boredom are more likely to engage in impulsive actions, from overeating and problem gambling to breaking social distancing rules during a pandemic.

But this same push can lead to genius. When rock legend Jimi Hendrix was asked where he’d been hiding his talent, he replied, "I've been playing the chitlin' circuit and I was bored shitless."

Boredom presents a choice. You can be a passive cork tossed about by the waves, or you can be the fisherman, actively choosing your direction.

How to Turn Boredom into Brilliance: Leaning In

The key isn't to fight boredom, but to befriend it. Children’s author Hans Wilhelm, creator of over 200 books, credits boredom as his greatest inspiration. Growing up in a rainy German town with no TV, he was "double bored." His aunt supplied him with paper, and he started to draw and create stories.

Later in his career, while waiting for publishers, he experienced profound boredom again. He remembered the story of astronaut Yuri Gagarin, who, hearing a mysterious tapping on his space capsule, decided to embrace it rather than resist it. He realized the tapping matched the rhythm of a Russian folk song and began to hum, turning his anxiety into a companion.

Wilhelm applied this lesson. He sat with his boredom, "showered it with love," and found that underneath it lay other emotions: loneliness, loss, self-doubt. By acknowledging and accepting these feelings, the creative floodgates opened. His boredom about being bored inspired the book Totally Bored Boris. His feeling of loneliness inspired The Never Lonely Again.

Creative Things to Do When Bored

This is where you can directly engage that default mode network.

Things to draw when bored (for all skill levels)

• Your hand: Draw your non-dominant hand in different positions. It's the perfect, always-available model.
• Zentangles & Mandalas: Create intricate, repeating patterns. It’s meditative and requires no artistic skill to start.
• A fantasy creature: Combine two animals. What would a squirrel-octopus look like?
• Objects on your desk: A simple still life of your coffee mug, pen, and notebook.
• Your favorite character: Try to draw a cartoon or video game character from memory.
• One-line drawing: Try to draw an object without lifting your pen from the paper.
• Easy doodles: Fill a page with simple shapes: stars, clouds, flowers, geometric patterns.
• An imaginary map: Draw the map of a fictional city or kingdom.
• Your pet: Capture their personality while they're sleeping.
• Self-portrait: Look in a mirror and draw what you see, without judgment.

Creative writing & storytelling

• Write a six-word story. (e.g., "For sale: baby shoes, never worn.")
• Start a journal. Write about your day or your feelings.
• Write a poem, even a silly one.
• Create a character profile for a story you'll never write.
• Write a fanfiction story about your favorite movie or book.
• Start a blog.
• Write a letter to your future self.
• Rewrite the ending to a movie you didn't like.
• Describe a color to someone who has never seen it.
• Make a list of 100 things that make you happy.

Other creative outlets

• Try a new recipe or bake a cake.
• Rearrange the furniture in your room.
• Create a playlist for a specific mood (e.g., "Rainy Day Focus").
• Learn a few chords on a guitar or piano via YouTube.
• Try origami.
• Make a vision board with old magazines.
• Create a stop-motion video with your phone and some small objects.
• Learn a magic trick.
• Take artistic photos of everyday objects around your house.
• Start learning a new language with an app like Duolingo.

Productive & Mindful Things to Do When Bored

Channel that restless energy into something that will make you feel accomplished.

• Organize one drawer or one shelf.
• Clean your computer's desktop and organize your files.
• Unsubscribe from junk email newsletters.
• Plan your meals for the week.
• Create a budget.
• Watch a documentary on a topic you know nothing about.
• Take an online course.
• Meditate for 10 minutes.
• Do a short yoga or stretching routine.
• Go for a "notice walk"—a walk where your only goal is to notice things you've never seen before.
• Update your resume or LinkedIn profile.
• Water your plants.
• Tidy up one small area of your home.
• Make a to-do list for tomorrow.
• Read a book.
• Listen to a podcast.
• Do a puzzle.
• Plan your dream vacation.
• Learn how to do a proper push-up or hold a plank.
• Write down three things you're grateful for.

Games to Play When Bored

Sometimes you just want to play.

Solo games

• Solitaire (with cards or online).
• Sudoku or crossword puzzles.
• Mobile games (but use them consciously, not as a mindless escape!).
• The Google Chrome dinosaur game (turn off your wifi!).
• Geoguessr (explore the world from your screen).
• Set a new personal best in a simple game like Tetris or Minesweeper.
• Try a Rubik's Cube.
• Play chess against a computer.
• Learn a new card game.
• Build something in Minecraft or LEGOs.

Social games (if you're bored with others)

• Charades or Pictionary.
• Two Truths and a Lie.
• A classic board game or card game.
• "Would You Rather?"
• Build a collaborative story, one sentence at a time.
• Hide-and-seek.
• Have a staring contest.
• Make up a secret handshake.
• Create an obstacle course in your house or backyard.
• Put on a play.

What to Do When You're Bored in Specific Situations

Boredom isn't one-size-fits-all, and neither are the solutions. Here are some ideas tailored for those classic "I'm bored" scenarios.

Things to do when bored at home

• Have an indoor picnic.
• Build a blanket fort.
• Give yourself a manicure or pedicure.
• Take a long bath.
• Go through your closet and make a donation pile.
• "Shop" your own closet and create new outfits.
• People-watch from your window.
• Call a friend or family member you haven't spoken to in a while.
• Look through old photo albums. 80. Dance around your living room to your favorite music.

What to do when bored in class (discreetly!)

• Doodle in the margins of your notebook.
• Try to summarize the lecture in three bullet points.
• Write down questions to ask the teacher later.
• Practice writing in a new font or style.
• Make a list of all the things you need to do after school.
• Try to write down every word the teacher says for one minute.
• Daydream! Let your mind wander (it’s good for you!).
• Silently challenge yourself to find connections between this class and another.
• See how many words you can make from the letters in the title of the lesson.
• Practice active listening—focus with the intensity of a laser beam

For kids (and the kid in you)

• Write and perform a puppet show.
• Create your own secret code.
• Go on a scavenger hunt for things of a certain color.
• Make "potions" with water, food coloring, and dish soap.
• Have a photoshoot with silly costumes.
• Paint rocks and leave them around the neighborhood.
• Write a play.
• Make a "boredom jar" filled with activity ideas.
• Lie on the grass and find shapes in the clouds.
• Find your own "tiger" and have fun (like the girl in the story who, while playing with a phone, accidentally called 911 about imaginary tigers).

"Mom, I'm Bored!": A Parent's Guide

When your child says "I'm bored," they're really saying, "I'm bored and I want you to fix it." As Dr. Danckert advises, resist the urge to trot out a list of solutions. Your job isn't to be their entertainment director. Instead, try saying, "Oh, well."

Let them sit with the discomfort. By figuring out their own solution, they learn a critical life skill: how to self-regulate and generate their own engagement. You are teaching them how to be the fisherman, not the cork.

Take the "Bored and Brilliant" Challenge

Ready to reclaim your brain? Try this simple experiment for a few days:

• Phone in your pocket: Resist the urge to hold your phone constantly. Keep it out of sight and only take it out when you have a specific purpose.
• Delete "that" app: You know the one. The app that sucks you in every time. Delete it, just for a day. Notice how many times you reflexively reach for it.

Your Invitation to Brilliance

Boredom isn't a problem to be solved; it's an opportunity to be seized. It is, as philosopher Leo Tolstoy wrote, "the desire for desires." It's your mind and soul telling you to seek out something that matters.

The next time you feel that pervasive unsatisfactoriness, that restless itch, pause before you reach for a distraction. Ask yourself, "What am I really looking for?"

Stare out the window. Take a walk without your phone. Let your mind wander. It might feel uncomfortable at first, but know that by doing nothing, you are actually being your most productive and creative self.

You are giving yourself an invitation—an invitation to be brilliant.