Episode 709 - Boredom & Curiosity

In this episode of Monday Morning Mojo, Phil reflects on the unexpected power of boredom and disconnection. After spending time completely off the grid—no phone, no internet—he discovered how the absence of instant answers sparked deeper thinking and richer conversations. Instead of Googling every question, he wrote them down, reflected, and discussed them with others, leading to more meaningful insights. Phil challenges leaders to create environments that encourage curiosity and critical thinking, warning that easy answers without context can lead to shallow understanding. It’s a refreshing and thought-provoking episode that encourages deeper thinking, more intentional learning, and richer conversations.

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Transcript

 Top performers in every field surround themselves with those who inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I am Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life. Thanks for joining.

Greetings, Cannon Nation. It is Phil here with episode 709 of Monday Morning Mojo. I recently had the opportunity to spend a little bit of time off the grid. That meant no email, no text, no LinkedIn, or any other internet services. In fact, I didn't have any electronic devices at all.

Just a pen and a paper pocket journal. It took me a couple of days to get past reaching for my phone every few minutes. I swear I felt Phantom vibrations alerting me to messages that just weren't there for the first 24 to 36 hours. But as time passed, something very interesting took place. I started to get what I thought was boredom.

If a thought or a question came to mind, I couldn't immediately do a Google search to research the issue or find the answer. Initially, this was incredibly frustrating, so I did the only thing I could think of. I wrote myself a note to research the question of the topic or the idea when I was back on the grid.

Then I went on to other things like having conversations with others or reading, perhaps going for a hike. Invariably, the idea or the question that I had written down would come back into my mind later and I'd reflect upon it, or I might bring it up in a conversation I was having with another human.

And now ironically, my conversation partners usually either had a perspective or insight on the topic or issue that I raised. Now, their perspectives or insight weren't necessarily based on deep expertise on the topic, but often it was very practical and applicable thoughts. Now, these conversations did nothing but cause me to reflect even deeper.

This, in turn, would get my creative juices flowing as I contemplated how I might apply that information into my life, be it personal or professional. Now were all the ideas or questions good? Well, of course not, but the real lesson was the experience of not having ready answers available, which then caused me to reflect and to bring these questions to others.

What this process really did was it forced me to think, not to simply scroll, read the information and move on. You know, in a world of immediately available answers via our smartphones and tablets, I realized that I was falling prey to getting initial answers to my questions but then failing to dig deep.

Now, not every question needs deep reflection, but a lot do. Readily available answers via the internet have the potential of allowing others, be them online bloggers or even bots, to shape our personal perspectives in ways that wouldn't occur if we were forced to think more deeply. I have a friend in law enforcement and, in a conversation we had, he shared with me an interesting trend of people claiming that they are sovereign citizens.

And thus, exempt from U.S. and state driving laws. I asked him how anyone could come up with that insane notion. And his two-part answer actually floored me. First, he said that the current requirement for U.S. civics classes in our school is abysmally low. Second, that there are actually online TikTok and YouTube videos that quote unquote educate people on how to avoid traffic laws by claiming themselves to be sovereign citizens.

I asked for an example and he told me of a driver that he had pulled over and then actually arrested for a moving violation in which that individual claimed that they weren't driving, but were merely traveling and as a sovereign citizen traveling, they couldn't be detained by police. Now, my friend said since they weren't in an autonomous driving vehicle and they were the only person in the car and they were behind the wheel, they were most definitely driving.

Again, I was flabbergasted, but I realized that if you didn't get a good education. And you get your ideas only from TikTok and YouTube. This could potentially play out. Now, most of the listeners to Monday Morning Mojo are leaders in their organization, so let this issue sink in. If we as leaders don't create an environment that fosters curiosity, we may be setting ourselves and our firms up for trouble down the line, information without proper foundation and context without reflection and without seeking the deeper meaning behind it. Well, this can eventually lead to very serious problems.

For me, getting off the grid and being a little bored fostered in me a curiosity and a deep reflection on some issues that otherwise I might just have done a Google search, gotten the answer and moved on. But as a result of having to take that time and reflect and use it in conversations, it personalized it at a much deeper level.

So, my question for you is, what are you doing to force yourself and your employees to break away from just quote unquote finding an answer, and then going much deeper into trying to understand the meaning and the application of that information? This experience taught me that I really need to step up my game. How about you?

Monday Morning Mojo is a production of Cannon Financial Institute; executive producer of Monday Morning Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week, and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.