 |
|
|
|||||
Think of your creativity like a high-performance garden: If you focus only on the visible harvest (outputs) and never allow the soil to lie fallow (liminal space) or the bees to roam freely (play), the ground eventually becomes depleted. Boredom is the signal that the soil needs replenishing, ensuring that your next season of work is a flourish rather than a struggle. In our current “busyness addiction,” we have come to glorify the hustle, over-indexing on output while neglecting the very well-being that fuels it. We treat leisure and rest like guilty pleasures rather than sacred pauses. Yet the truth of the Imagination Era is this: Our best work often happens when we are not visibly working. To flourish in a world of ubiquitous technology and unprecedented burnout, we must stop grinding and start cultivating what I call the “sexy bits” of productivity: boredom, play, and the magical in-between of liminal space. Boredom: An Invitation to Create We often reprimand ourselves for feeling bored, yet boredom is not a behavior to repress, its an invitation. It serves as a neurological cue to find new sources of stimulation. When we allow ourselves to be bored rather than reach for a digital distraction, we activate the brain’s default mode network (DMN), the “meaning-making” part of the brain that connects dots, finds patterns, and synthesizes information when we are not laser-focused on external tasks. It acts like a “washing machine” for our ideas, taking deeply felt information and making sense of it. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking_0b545c.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EWonderRigor Newsletter\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want more insights, tools, and invitations from Dr. Natalie Nixon about applying creativity for meaningful business results and the future of work? Subscribe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__figure-2D8-2Dthinking-2Dllc.kit.com_sign-2Dup\u0026amp;d=DwMFaQ\u0026amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM\u0026amp;r=xHenyQfyc6YcuCNMBsOvfYGQILM1d1ruredVZikn4HE\u0026amp;m=F383gnrChFhYKPhcpNHI1hY3o58IHIn_LkB5QJDrs3G5Wfft-DcucUO4UEmGO7GZ\u0026amp;s=JlJm7GyKCJvPW0jyrsfTFtinteKDitN13vfPZiuJnP8\u0026amp;e=\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E for the free WonderRigor newsletter at Figure8Thinking.com","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/Figure8Thinking.com","theme":{"bg":"#3b3f46","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#6e8ba6","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91470060,"imageMobileId":91470061,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} By viewing boredom as a trigger for curiosity, we move away from a mechanical “1 + 1 = 2” productivity mindset toward one of cultivation, where we value what is evolving in the dormant, invisible realm. Consider the following sobering insights from neuroscience and workplace research. Mind-wandering is your competitive advantage. While we spend 47% of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we are currently doing, mind-wandering isn’t a distraction. It’s a survival mechanism that, when channeled, aids in aha moments for problem-solving. Daydreaming is scientifically linked to an increase in alpha waves in the brain’s frontal cortex, a pattern directly associated with enhanced divergent thinking and creativity. Yet we’re suppressing it relentlessly. Here’s where it gets urgent: According to a November 2023 Linearity blog post, 80% of people believe that unlocking creativity is critical to economic growth. Yet 75% of respondents in a Thrive My Way study reported being pressured to be “productive” (output-oriented) rather than creative at work. We’re systematically shutting down the very neural pathways that drive innovation. Heres something you could do to carve out time for creativity at work: Institute “thinking hours” in your calendar, protected time (even just 30 minutes daily) where team members are encouraged to step away from their screens with no agenda. A 2021 study by Tork found that 9 out of 10 employees reported being more likely to stay at a company where management encouraged taking breaks. That’s not wellness theater; that’s a retention strategy with a 90% success rate. So position this carved-out time explicitly as creative work, not procrastination. Measure the impact on idea generation in your next sprint or project cycle. The Power of Play and Meta-Cognition To navigate today’s complex systems, we must reintroduce play, which toy designer Brendan Boyle defines simply as “engagement.” The opposite of play isn’t work; the opposite of play is boredom. Integrating play at work, whether through prototyping rough draft mock-ups or gamifying meetings, boosts morale and stimulates critical executive leadership skills like empathy, negotiation, and the ability to improvise. This playful mindset is enhanced by meta-cognition: the practice of thinking about one’s own thinking. By engaging in what I call “backcasting” (reflecting on past experiences to make sense of skills acquired) we build an “inventory of courage.” This self-inquiry allows us to recognize that our pains plus our gains equal our assets, providing the firm foundation needed to leap into the unknown. The data on this is striking, and it challenges everything we think we know about efficiency. That same research by Thrive My Way showed that creativity training delivers a 350% return on engagement. Groups trained in creativity tools and principles generated 350% as many ideasand those ideas were 415% more originalthan those from untrained groups. This isn’t a soft-skill metric. This is innovation measured in the ideas that move your business forward. But we’re facing an engagement crisis. As of 2024, only 20% of employees are engaged, marking the lowest level of employee engagement ever recorded. We’re grinding harder while our teams check out. The correlation is clear: We’ve optimized engagement out of work entirely. You can avert an engagement crisis at your own company by launching a “play audit” in your next strategy session. Identify two nonnegotiable meetings per month that will be redesigned around play. Those could be improv exercises, Lego Serious Play, or physical problem-solving. Track engagement scores and idea quality before and after. You’ll likely find that the most serious strategic challenges get solved when your team stops taking them so seriously. Engaging the Liminal Space Amid Distraction We live in an age of “stolen focus, where the average knowledge worker now switches tasks every 47 seconds. The shift is staggering: In 2004, the average knowledge worker switched tasks every three minutes. That’s a 73% compression of attention span in less than two decades. Research from distraction expert Gloria Mark indicates that we spend approximately 47% of our waking hours tinking about what isn’t currently happening, a type of mind-wandering often linked to unhappiness. This constant task-switching drains cognitive resources and spikes cortisol levels, creating a neurological state designed for crisis response, not creativity. The antidote is to intentionally engage in liminal spacethat transitional “betwixt and between” phase where growth happens under the surface. Liminality can be physical, like a commute, or metaphorical, like the fallow time between project cycles. Instead of filling every gap with a screen, we should embrace restorative ambiguity, where we feel expectant and at peace in the not knowing. The financial toll of ignoring this is substantial, and something we all need to hear. Burnout is an economic crisis masquerading as a personal problem. Workplace stress is not just a personal issue but a massive economic one, costing U.S. industries more than $300 billion annually in absenteeism, turnover, and diminished productivity. Some 71% of knowledge workers reported experiencing burnout at least once in 2020, with burned-out employees taking 60% more sick days and being 2.6 times more likely to seek a different job. Many of us are performing productivity instead of creating it. The pressure to appear busy is pervasive, with 83% of full-time U.S. workers admitting to engaging in “performative work behaviors” (productivity theater) in the past year. Your teams aren’t actually more productive, they’re just better at looking busy while running on fumes. Whether it’s a two-minute daydream break or a weeklong sabbatical, these pauses allow us to unburden the cognitive load on our neocortex. By valuing the dormant times as much as the growth spurts, we transform our work from a series of tasks into a progression of cultivated learning experiences. In this new operating system, rest is not a soft perk, its a fundamental human right and a critical tool for sustainable, innovative leadership. Try mapping your organization’s task-switching velocity. How often are meetings scheduled back-to-back? How many channels are teams expected to monitor? Implement “no-meeting blocks, similar to what Zapier did when it instituted a get stuff done week. These could be two-hour windows weekly where no meetings are scheduled. Explicitly frame these as liminal space where people can complete deep work or simply think. Monitor retention and productivity metrics over a quarter. You’ll likely see both move upward. The Bottom Line We stand at a crossroads. We can continue grinding our teams into burnout while generating incrementally better ideas, or we can cultivate organizations that honor boredom, play, and strategic pause as the foundations of sustainable innovation. The choice sounds simple until you realize it requires us to fundamentally redefine what “productivity” means. The organizations that will outthink their competition in the next five years won’t be the ones that eliminated downtime. They’ll be the ones brave enough to design it in. They’ll be the leaders who understand that creativity isn’t a luxury, it’s infrastructure. And they’ll be the companies that attract and retain the best talent because they respect something far more valuable than productivity theater: the human capacity to flourish. Your move. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking_0b545c.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EWonderRigor Newsletter\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want more insights, tools, and invitations from Dr. Natalie Nixon about applying creativity for meaningful business results and the future of work? Subscribe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__figure-2D8-2Dthinking-2Dllc.kit.com_sign-2Dup\u0026amp;d=DwMFaQ\u0026amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM\u0026amp;r=xHenyQfyc6YcuCNMBsOvfYGQILM1d1ruredVZikn4HE\u0026amp;m=F383gnrChFhYKPhcpNHI1hY3o58IHIn_LkB5QJDrs3G5Wfft-DcucUO4UEmGO7GZ\u0026amp;s=JlJm7GyKCJvPW0jyrsfTFtinteKDitN13vfPZiuJnP8\u0026amp;e=\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E for the free WonderRigor newsletter at Figure8Thinking.com","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/Figure8Thinking.com","theme":{"bg":"#3b3f46","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#6e8ba6","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91470060,"imageMobileId":91470061,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
In 2023, Ken Lux found himself in an FBI briefing on child trafficking. The CEO of Luxe Aviation was there as the past commander of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office’s Air Squadron, a volunteer cadre of 50 general aviation pilots supporting police missions and community service. Lux recalls the FBI agent relaying the story of a since-jailed airline pilot who used his credentials to traffic children to clients in the Philippines with chilling negotiations. I have a girl thats 12 years old for your client, the pilot said. The clients response: No, we think we need an 8-year-old. The group was horrified. I have two daughters, Lux says. We said, ‘Wait a minute, really? Where are these people?’ Until that time, I thought it only happened overseas. And they said, ‘No, it happens in every community in the United States.” The agent showed them photos of girls crammed into squalid rooms, branded with clipped ears, tattoos, and burns, with life expectations averaging just seven years in such conditions. A lot of times, its just kids that get mixed up with the wrong people, or somehow get tricked into it. And then they dont know how to get out, Lux says. Lux and his colleagues would learn the extent of the crisisa $150 billion global criminal enterprise whose size trails only that of illegal drugs. Human trafficking involves more than 27 million victims worldwidewho are forced into marriages, slave labor, military service, organ sales, and sexual exploitation. That includes some 200,000 victims domestically, prompting January to be designated as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Flying rescue missions The briefing so rattled the squadron pilots that they began volunteering for police rescue missions, focusing on victims of sex trafficking. Their first trip shuttled a trafficked teen in Sacramento back home to Oregon. Then came more requests from surrounding counties and district attorneys needing to ferry the rare survivor brave enough to testify against her captor to court. F2F Chief Pilot Andrew and K9 Beltane [Photo: Flights to Freedom] Its really hard to pin down and prosecute these guys because they use burner phones and hide behind technology, Lux says. Its not like the drug business, where they find you with so much cocaine in your car. As demand grew, Lux realized that they needed a more formalized organization. In April 2024, he founded Flights to Freedom (F2F), a nonprofit that matches 200 volunteer pilots nationwide with law enforcement, Child Protective Services, aftercare advocacy centers, and medical staff. We could probably use 200 [pilots] just in California because the problem is so pervasive, he says. F2F board adviser Kevin LaRosa, the aerial coordinator for films such as Top Gun: Maverick and F1, considers the organization a lifeline to the most vulnerable. Aviation isnt just about speed and connectivityits about human impact, he says. When law enforcement rescues a child from exploitation, swift and secure transport can literally be the first step toward healing and safety. F2F has organized just over two dozen flights to transport survivors ages 12 to 24 across 11 states. But it can accept only half of its monthly requests due to time constraints or a lack of planes. Because law enforcement cant reserve rescuers, F2F has only a 24- to 48-hour window to organize flights. If I cant find a pilot available, we have to turn [down requests], Lux says. Its heartbreaking. [Photo: Suzette Allen] The nonprofit operates on a $60,000 budget, which covers insurance and an office at McClellan Airport in Sacramento. It is funded by individual donations and an annual fundraiser at the Aerospace Museum of California, where Lux was a past president. Except for a few regional jets, most of its pilots fly smaller airplanes that hold four to six people. (Luxs ride is a Beechcraft 58 Baron, a six-seater twin-engine plane.) On rare occasions, F2F has chartered flights when it hasnt found a pilot. The problem is, we dont have a lot of money, he adds. [Photo: Suzette Allen] Luxs focus for this year is recruiting more pilots (who can apply here), partnering with larger charter companies, and increasing awareness of F2F and similar services like Freedom Aviation Network and Wings of the Way. Hes already mapped out a $750,000 to $1 million plan to eventually expand F2F’s operations. Weve proven it works; now its time to push it to the next level, he says. The first steps in healing Every F2F flight includes a chaperoneusually a deputy sheriff, a Child Protective Services advocate, or a licensed therapistwho accompanies the survivors and evaluates both their state of mind and ability to fly by means of a customized psychiatric and medical questionnaire. The chaperone also serves as a buffer between the pilots, who are often male, and the very traumatized survivors. Theyre often on drugs. Theyve been brainwashed. Theyve been abused up to 20 times per day, Lux says. We dont want someone to have a really bad experience on an airplane with a strange pilot and a strange plane going to different places. We follow a sterile cockpit policytypically, the pilot doesnt know who the deputies or survivors are. Its all confidential. Its all safe. Victims, sometimes rescued in the middle of the night or in sting operations, are given backpacks with a blanket, a change of clothes, hygiene products, and a blue teddy bear. Theyre walked down a red carpet to the plane entrance and treated to a private jet experienceoften their first time on an airplane. I feel like we really are one of the first steps in healing, Lux says. We hear back from some of the survivors through the agencies, and theyre just, like, ‘We are so grateful to Flights to Freedom, because it was the first time in my life anyone ever paid attention to me.’
Category:
E-Commerce
If youre a millennial and youre going through your midlife crisis, this post is for you. So begins a viral TikTok video posted last month by comedian Mike Mancusi. Many millennials are now in their forties, with the youngest about to turn 30, putting the generation at the beginning of the unofficial age bracket when midlife crises traditionally hit. But Mancusi argues that the millennial version is a singular experience. For past generations, a midlife crisis followed a familiar blueprint: graduate college, climb the career ladder, get married, have kids, thensomewhere between roughly 40 and 60confront mortality and blow it all up for a red sports car or a younger trophy partner. That is not the case for millennials, many of whom missed those milestones due to economic and social upheaval during their formative years. In fact, according to a 2024 study from mental health platform Thriving Center of Psychology, 81% of millennials polled said they couldnt afford to have a midlife crisis. Can you imagine having a midlife crisis while owning your home, easily paying all your bills, and saving for retirement? one user commented on Mancusis post. Like what? Mancusi suggests theres another reason at play. Other generations’ midlife crisis has been built off of looking forward, he says in the clip. Ours has been built off of looking back. Where midlife crises were once triggered by a sense of fading youth, millennials are reckoning with something else entirely. We look back and go, Wait a minute, I was told to do all these things. I did them, and still I’m not happy, Mancusi explains. And that is a way different crisis. The stability that previous generations found stifling rarely exists in the same way today. The social contract between employees and employers has fractured. Millennials who followed the prescribed path and climbed the ladder are now realizing that the stability and success they were promised is largely a pipe dream. A majority of U.S. workers (60%) dont have a quality job that provides basic financial well-being, safety, and autonomy, among other things, according to Gallup research. These days, 71% of millennial employees are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work, according to a separate Gallup report, and about 66% of millennials report moderate or high levels of burnout, according to a recent Aflac report. The problem for millennials is we listened, one commenter wrote. As another put it: Our crisis isnt mid-life, its existential. Mancusis recommendation for anyone who fears a midlife or existential crisis coming on: You have to find something else to do, he says. I don’t know what you’re into, but you need to find that thing and build it into every single day, because that is what’s going to allow you to move forward in a way that you feel in control of and that you feel passionate about. In other words, instead of a sports car, get a hobby.
Category:
E-Commerce
The “New Tab” page in Chrome is the digital equivalent of a blank stare. A white void. Nothing, and plenty of it. Why are we settling for this? Your browsers start page is the most valuable real estate on your computer. Its the first thing you see! Instead of looking at an empty space, you could be looking at a command center. Here are five Chrome extensions that turn that boring start screen into something actually useful. Momentum If you want your browser to feel less like a software application and more like a high-end wellness retreat, Momentum is the gold standard. Every day, it greets you with a stunning, high-res landscape photo and a simple question about your main focus for the day. Its minimalism that works, keeping a single to-do list and your primary goal front and center so you don’t forget what you actually sat down to do. Bonjourr If Momentum feels a bit too inspirational, Bonjourr is the lightweight, open-source alternative built for speed and clean lines. Its a minimalists dream, featuring transparency, clean fonts, and zero bloat. You can even tweak the CSS if you’re willing to dig into the code a bit, but most people will just appreciate that it loads almost instantly and looks beautiful while offering enough flexibility to use whatever niche search engine theyre currently experimenting with. Presentboard Maybe you dont want a pretty picture; maybe you want data. Presentboard is a hidden gem that treats your New Tab page like a literal dashboard, using a grid-based system where you can drop widgets for Google Calendar events, latest emails, stock tickers, and custom RSS feeds. Its for the person who wants to see their entire digital life at a glance before they even type a single URL. You can resize and move boxes around until the layout is exactly how your brain likes it, turning your browser into a functional workstation rather than just a window to the web. Dashy For those who have 14 apps open just to manage their life, Dashy acts as a “mega-dashboard” that lets you pin functioning widgets directly to your start page. Were talking full integrations where you can check your calendar, scroll a Reddit feed, and manage Todoist tasks without ever leaving the New Tab screen. It even allows for custom profiles, so you can toggle between a “Work Mode” filled with Slack widgets and a “Weekend Mode” dominated by Spotify and news feeds. Its the closest you can get to turning Chrome into its own operating system. This is for serious dashboard connoisseurs: The free version offers basic widgets and integration with popular websites, while the $5-per-month paid version offers unlimited widget access, a side panel, custom website embeds, and more. Tabliss If youre tired of extensions locking the best features behind a monthly subscription, Tabliss is the open-source hero you need. Its completely free, respects your privacy, and offers a massive library of backgrounds from Unsplash and Giphy. This one sits comfortably between beauty and simplicity, offering unique widgets like a “Work Hours” countdown or live sports scores. Its highly modular and even includes a binary clock for the truly dedicated geeks who find reading time normally to be far too easy.
Category:
E-Commerce
Its 9:30 p.m. Snack time. A sacred fourth meal, when I pull out my handwash-only kobachi and drop in a small handful of Blue Diamond Smokehouse almonds. Ive been eating them for more years than I care to admit, appreciating the mix of natural (high protein and fiber) almonds with a splash of addictive processing (mmm, hickory smoke flavor and maltodextrin) to keep them feeling dangerous. Its the perfect portion of the perfect snack in the perfect bowl. Almost. [Image: Blue Diamond] The problem with Blue Diamond Smokehouse isnt the product. Its the packaging. Specifically, the Ziploc-esque “resealable zipper stops working, like clockwork, when Im about halfway through the bag. The plastic zip itself seems to hold too strongly, so that inevitably, theres a point when I open the bag, and the heat-sealed weld gives out. The zip stays zipped, but now its attached to only one side of the bag. ONE SIDE!!! A bag that now gapes open, possibly in shock from my own ineptitude in opening and closing a snack. I know its not my fault. Its the damn dysfunctional bag. But like dropping a cheap glass, Im left with an unnecessary burden of guilt. Was it something I did, Blue Diamond?? I can change! Ill do better next time! (I never do.) WHY DOES NOTHING EVER GO RIGHT IN MY LIFE????!?? WHY DO I DRIVE ALL SOURCES OF MONOUNSATURATED FATS AWAY??!??! From there on out, Im left with this domestic conundrum: Shove the almonds into another bag (feels wasteful, and the powder is gonna stick to everything)or curse . . . curl the bag up the best I can . . . and wedge it between two canned goods to keep it from springing open. Inevitably, I choose the latter. But more air gets in over the coming weeks. The smoky almonds grow stale. This sounds dramatic. I am being dramatic! But also, cmon: 3 gallons of water go into each nut. That means my 25-ounce pack represents 2,100 gallons of water. And Blue Diamond cant even take the time to make sure that so much investment isnt leaking all over my pantry. Resealable packs suck To be fair, Blue Diamond is far from the only culprit when it comes to poorly built zips. Since the late 1980s, resealable bags have taken over supermarket shelves for products including nuts, pre-shredded cheese, and frozen nuggets. Into the 1990s, these technologies were largely perfected to replace boxed goods with soft packaging in pyramidic forms, creating bags with a wide bottom and thin top that stood up and stood out on the shelf. Despite decades of manufacturing innovations, resealable packs can still be stupidly hard to cut open without hitting the zip. Bits of food can clog the seals. And, more and more, Im noticing how one side of the zip can inevitably fail, as with Blue Diamond, leaving the pack less than airtight. But when they work, its the best UX that the American supermarket has to offer (dont get me started on self-checkout!), inevitably helping to keep food fresh and reduce food waste. As much as 40% of Americas food is thrown away each year. And resealable packs help reduce this numberall without introducing more packaging (looking at you, Ziploc!) to solve the problem. So consider this an open call for Blue Diamond, and all those making suss resealable products, to rethink their packaging. We must have the technology to actually seal bags shut . . . again . . . and again.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sites : [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] next »