Listen to this episode for ideas of how to eliminate boredom and add a little spice to your life!
Show Notes:
Episode Summary:
Do you ever feel bored?
We often think of boredom as affecting students in the classroom, or our children who complain that there is nothing to do or that everything is boring. Boredom isn’t just for kids, it also affects us!
While a slow day can be relaxing and refreshing, boredom can kill our energy and motivation. It can dullen our senses and take the joy out of life.
Living a bored life is the opposite of living an inspired life. Don’t let boredom drag you down! Stay tuned as we share 4 ways to fight boredom so you can live an inspired life.
In this episode:
Do you ever get bored?
Michele: I get easily bored with routines. Some people can keep the same routines day after day and it helps them thrive. I get very bored with it. The positive side of that is that I can be very flexible, the negative side is that sometimes routines help with focus and consistency, so without routines I have to work harder at being consistent. Paula, you are the queen of routines and consistency and you always use them to your advantage.
Paula: I get easily bored if I am not engaging with something. I do not sit well and don’t do well with being a passive participant in something. I get bored when I’m not engaged and then lose all motivation. I am a horrible television watcher. I can’t do it. I get too bored. I can only watch television if I am doing something else at the same time. The other day I was watching a WNBA game while peeling and canning pears. The same is true for me too for long webinars where there isn’t interaction.
In general, we are both highly motivated. We have a lot of things going on and we’re always doing things. The idea of engagement is important. We both feel the need to be engaged.
Boredom can come to us both in our personal and professional lives.
Classroom boredom can zap the energy out of your lessons and your days. When you are bored, teaching is less fun and seems to require more work. When students are bored, they aren’t engaged and classroom management issues are more likely. Boredom leads to nothing good. Boredom is often contagious and when you see it or feel it, it is time to take some kind of action.
When the boredom comes at home or in your personal life, it can zap all of your energy and enthusiasm. Life becomes day after day of same -old, same -old, mundane and usual things. That is when you get bored. A lot of our more negative habits can show up when we are bored-
Michele: For me that would be scrolling Instagram. Once I start, it is like the path of least resistance. Sometimes I don’t even care about what I am scrolling. I’m just looking at the pictures. I can also eat out of boredom. There’s nothing like a little guacamole for spicing up a boring life. I read something once that said something like if there is nothing interesting in your life you can find something interesting in your refrigerator.
Paula: I also eat out of boredom! One thing I do is to play semi-mindless number or word puzzle games on my phone. I could be reading a book instead but playing those games fills time when I am waiting, usually for my children to start or end an activity.
Boredom is often contagious and when you see it or feel it, it is time to take action. We need some strategies to solve it!
Here are four ways to reduce boredom and bring new and fresh energy to your life:
Shake up your daily routines.
Have you developed a daily classroom schedule that has served you well in the past but has now become stale? You may have been teaching the same thing in the same way for years and it served you well, but now it has become a bit tired. We all get bored with doing the same old thing every day.
Michele: I always have to shake up how I teach something. I sometimes honestly wish that I could teach the same lesson in the same way over and over, because it would be easier and save planning time. I wouldn’t have to think about it. But I usually can’t do that. I need to be thinking about what I’m teaching. I switch things up.
Try a new routine. For example, if you usually start with a review, then introduce new content, then give time for students to practice, switch the order. Introduce the new content, then give students time to practice, then connect it to the old content. Try it for a day or week and see what happens. You don’t have to keep the new routine forever, but often a small switch can bring some new energy.
You can also shift your daily routine when things get boring at home. Try something different for breakfast. Move your walk to before dinner or to after dinner. Listen to a podcast while you make dinner. Thank you to all of you who are listening to our podcast while you make dinner! Do all the laundry on Friday night so you can have Saturday free.
Paula: I switch out my activities regularly on the weekends. I make a plan to do one thing for an hour and then force myself do something else the next hour before I start to get bored. I need to do something fun in between the routine or boring things. I can always come back to it but I can avoid boredom that way.
Add variety to your life.
At school, make sure your lesson plans have a variety of activities in each lesson. Start with a short 5-minute video. Then have a ten-minute discussion. Follow that with a small group activity.
Look for new ways to actively engage your students. Focus on hands-on activities, lively discussions, or group projects. Try mixing things up.
There are many active learning strategies that can get students up and moving and actively engaged. We have a post called 4 Great Active Learning Strategies for All Content Areas for ideas such as a Wall Walk or a learning in a Speed Dating like format.
You can also think about variety at home too.
Paula: Michele, I know you are a decorator and you are going to rearrange the furniture or hang different pictures on the wall for variety. I am not that person. My mind doesn’t go there. Now that the kids are older, my husband and I find different reasons to do things at night so we aren’t just sitting at home. Last night we took the dog for a 30 minute walk. The night before, we drove down to the river to check on our boat. Sometimes we go out for ice cream after dinner. None of these things take long and they don’t happen every night, but they add variety to the evenings. I don’t want to get bored.
Michele: I like to rearrange furniture. I like to see what is possible. The same is true for changing out he décor during the different seasons. I just put out some cozy blankets and candles for fall. They are little things but it adds variety. When I do something like switch out the placements, I notice them again. It adds variety and keeps things interesting.
Paula: That is your gift. I have never rearranged my furniture. Nor have I ever switched out my placements. I can’t do that kind of variety, but I can add variety in other ways. I can make sure we eat more than tacos or meatloaf for dinner every night. I can add in a new recipe. We can go out for ice cream. I can do things that give me variety.
In the evenings or on the weekends, go someplace you’ve never been- a different park, or a local museum or a new coffee shop or restaurant. Try something to add variety to your life.
Use technology in new ways.
This one is not so difficult because there is always new technology and we are all learning new things about how to use technology.
Divide up a textbook chapter and let students share their learning by creating something with technology to show their learning. Curriculum can come alive when students are allowed to make a video, illustrate a cartoon book around the content, script a newscast or write song lyrics to demonstrate their understanding of content material. Students will also come up with their own ideas about how to show and share their learning.
Feeling adventurous? Let students experiment with AI technology such as CHATGPT. AI is here, whether we like it or not. Ultimately, teachers will have to understand it, incorporate it, and teach students to curate the content in responsible and effective ways. One fifth grade teacher in Kentucky instructed his students to try to outwit the bot by figuring out which articles were written by the bot.
Paula: I actually sat in on a great AI session the other day and have lots of new ideas. For the classroom, have AI explain a concept the way a 5th grader would. Then have a 5th grader in your class explain it. See how close they were or have the class guess which answer was the 5th grader and which was AI. They are getting multiple exposures of the content with this one activity.
Michele: I’m still thinking about possible ways to use technology in new ways at home. I’ve been exploring apps on my apple watch. You can now run your whole life from your watch. I’m setting up Apple pay- I know I am very late to the game, but I didn’t trust it for a long time. Now it seems like the most secure way to pay- especially on a trip or away from home- you don’t have to get cards out of your wallet. I am also learning Italian with Duolingo. I really like it and am having success with it.
Paula: I have a co-worker who is using AI to plan their weekly meal and create the grocery list. AI will spit out all the meal plans, the directions for cooking and the grocery list and then you can adapt them. I love that idea. Other friends are having AI create a fun trivia nights for their groups of friends when they get together. When I was with college friends this summer, one had an AI type app that generated song snippets and we all played Name that Song. AI created everything!
There are so many ways to keep yourself from getting bored with technology!
Do something that is engaging to eliminate boredom.
When we are bored, we are less engaged. That means we’re less motivated to do something.
What we need is something that is more engaging.
When writing lesson plans, put on the perspective of students and see if you can answer questions such as, “so what?”, “who cares?”, and “what does this have to do with me?”. That will put a little spin on it and make you think about how you can become more engaging.
Bring in real world examples and have students connect the material the material to their lives. Then give them tasks which allow them to apply the material in meaningful ways.
Relevance will help to increase motivation, encourage students to think critically about the material, and can help create a more engaging learning environment. You have all experienced sitting through PD that wasn’t relevant to you. You know how bored you become. If you find that your teaching is not relevant, try ways to make it more relevant. That will instantly make it more engaging and less boring.
Doing something engaging in your personal life also helps with boredom.
Michele: If I am bored, usually I need to engage in one of two things. Sometimes I need to read, because reading engages me and gives me ideas and inspiration. It is difficult for me to be bored when I am reading something I am interested in.
The other thing that I often need is to spend time with a friend. Even just having coffee will get me out of the house and into an interaction with someone. Or on the weekends we will meet up with friends and it always gives me something new to think about, it’s a new environment and a new place and usually involves laughing. If you are laughing, you are not likely feeling bored.
Paula: I need to connect with people too. My book club engages my mind. I have dinner or coffee with different groups of friends. In some discussions we lightly talk about fun things, others are more serious and intellectual. I love them all. They have to be positive or I find myself disengaging. However, intellectual, caring, positive conversations with friends and family I love eliminates boredom for me.
Conclusion:
When you are feeling bored consider it an opportunity to rethink your plans. An inspiring life means never having to live with boredom. Even making small shifts can have big payoffs in your enjoyment and happiness.
Recap:
Boredom can zap the fun and enjoyment out of life. Shaking up your routine, adding some variety, using technology in new ways and doing something that engages you are all things that get you out of boredom and back into enjoying your life.
Do you need to shake things up in your life?
Would you like to take back your life from overwork and too much time spent on other people’s agendas?
We have a free resource to help you, The Inspired Teacher’s Guide to Taking Back Your Life. You can get your free copy by filling out the box below. We will be sure to send it right to your email.
Related Episodes/Blog Posts:
4 Great Active Learning Strategies for All Content Areas
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Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?
If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.
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Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.
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