当我们的生活充满了例行的公事和单调的会议，我们可能就成了“乏味”的牺牲品。但是，单调乏味就一定是件坏事吗？确实，不少研究表明，乏味无聊可能造成情绪失落，甚至引发抑郁，或是导致各种身体病症。但有些时候，它并非像人们想象的那么糟糕。东英吉利大学的 Esther Priyadharshini 博士说，“一点点的单调，可能是一件很好的事情。我们都需要停机时间，来远离不断轰炸的神经刺激。”无聊情绪在我们的日常生活中扮演着怎样的积极角色呢？

Actually, it’s good to be bored at work

Being bored is no fun, especially at work. But new research out of the Research School of Management at Australian National University argues that while boredom is certainly boring, it isn’t all bad. This loathed mental state can actually spark precious creativity.
无聊即是无趣，工作无聊的话就更感乏味了。然而，澳洲国立大学管理研究院的一项新研究提出，虽然无聊这种情绪的确没劲，但它并非一无是处。实际上，这种被人们厌恶的精神状态反而能够激发宝贵的创造力。
The study asked 52 subjects to do a pretty boring job: Sort apart a bowl of red and green beans with just one hand for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, 49 other subjects — the control group — were instructed to create art projects with paper, beans, and glue.
这项研究邀请了 52 位实验对象，让他们完成一项非常乏味的任务：他们要在 30 分钟内，单手分拣出一个碗里的红豆和绿豆。与此同时，另有 49 名实验对象则作为实验对照组，他们的任务是利用纸张、豆子和胶水进行艺术创作。
Once the 30 minutes was over, each group was instructed to spend five minutes on a creative task: They had to come up with reasons why a hypothetical person was two hours late for a meeting. The bored group came up with not just more ideas than the control group, but more creative ideas than the control group, too. The quality and quantity of production was higher for people who were bored than those who were not. Creativity itself was measured under a rubric that balances novelty with practicality. Ideas had to fit both criteria to be considered creative.
30 分钟过后，两组成员都要花五分钟完成一项创意性任务：他们需要想出一位虚构人物开会迟到两小时的可能原因。“无聊组”提出的想法不但比对照组更多，而且还更具创意。“无聊组”成员产出创意的数量和质量都比“非无聊组”更胜一筹。而“创意”本身的衡量标准，则兼顾了想法的新意和可行性。提出的想法只有同时满足这两者，才会被认为具有创意。
Guihyun Park, the study’s lead author, readily admits that not every type of job permits the luxury of boredom, and it really can be detrimental to some important work.
这项研究的第一作者朴圭贤（音）直言，并非所有工作都能有这种难得的无聊。在一些重要的工作中，它甚至是不利的。
But for designers and anyone in a creative field, boredom is not something to fear, but to embrace. Sometimes, the best way to be productive is to expect nothing of yourself at all.
但对设计师或者其他从事创意工作的人而言，不应惧怕无聊，而是要欣然接受它。有时，激发创造力的最佳方式正是不对自己作任何期待。