So the original Bored and Brilliant challenge was based on an extremely mundane situation that happened to me
原版《Bored and Brilliant》（书名）挑战是发生在我身上特别平凡的一种情况
in that I sat down to try and come up with some good ideas for my podcast.
那时候我坐下来想要给我的播客想一个好点子
We were doing well. I wanted to like, you know, I wanted to kill it.
我们的博客做得很好 我想让它更上一层楼
It was 2014 and I sat down to sort of make a list which has usually worked for me and I felt like there was nothing.
那是2014年 我坐在那儿想要整理一个清单出来 通常这种做法都行得通 但那一次我什么都想不出来
There was this blankness. It was almost as though there was sand in my brain.
脑子一片空白 好像里面充满了沙子一样
And I started to think like what the—you know, first of all, what the hell, and second of all, well wait a minute.
我开始想 你懂的 首先 这是什么情况 接着就是 等一下
When had I had my last best ideas and why was I potentially having so much trouble now?
我上一次有好点子是什么时候 为什么现在就这么难呢？
And I thought back and it was really when I was staring out the window – it was such a cliché.
我回想了一下 上一次是我盯着窗外的时候——真的很俗套啊

It was when I was staring out the window or I was in the shower or I was pushing my kid’s stroller for miles and miles.
就是我就盯着窗外的时候 或者在洗澡的时候 或者是推着孩子一圈又一圈散步的时候
That is when I had my best ideas.
那些时候我就会想出最好的点子
And now I realize that all those little cracks in my day, all those moments when I used to sort of just be spacing out what was I doing?
现在我意识到日常生活中的这些琐事 当我放空自己的时候 我在干什么？
I was looking at this thing, right?
我在看这个东西 对吧？
I was looking at my phone when I was waiting in line for coffee, when I was on the bus, every single one of those moments.
排队买咖啡的时候 在车上的时候 每一个这样的时刻 我都在看手机
And it made me realize like I was never bored ever in my life anymore.
这让我意识到我的生活从来没有无聊过
In fact, I might not have been bored since I think 2009 which is when I first got an iPhone.
其实 从2009年以来 我从来就没有无聊过 那一年我买了自己的第一部苹果手机
I was a late adopter.
我买的比较晚
And so then it made me think like well what actually happens in our brains when we get bored
所以我就开始想 我们无聊的时候 大脑都在想些什么
and what could potentially be happening if we never get bored ever again, if we got rid of this human state all together.
如果我们再也不会觉得无聊 如果我们脱离了这个人类国家 可能会发生什么？
Is boredom actually a useful sort of emotion. So I reached out to my audience and I was like are you guys thinking about this too?
无聊其实是一种有价值的情绪吗？所以我就去采访了我的观众 我问他们是不是也会思考这个问题？
And you have to remember this is a couple of years ago, right.
大家要知道 这还是几年前的时候呢
So are you thinking about this?
所以你有想过这个吗？
Are you thinking about the fact that your phone could be disrupting the way you think, the way you come up with ideas, maybe your creativity.
你有没有想过 你的手机会扰乱你的思绪 干扰你想出绝妙的主意 甚至影响你的创造力？
And people were like yes, absolutely I’m thinking about this.
人们会说是的 我肯定会想这个问题
So I put it out to them. I was like well would you be willing to do an experiment with me where we take a week.
于是我就开门见山了 我说你愿意跟我一起做个试验吗 需要一周
We try to tweak our digital behavior and we see if we can indeed jumpstart our creativity by getting bored more often.
我们会试图扭曲数字行为 看是否能够通过经常体验无聊情绪而激发我们的创造力
And I kind of thought like 200 people would sign up to do this or something and 20,000 people signed up within the first 48 hours.
当时大约有两百人愿意报名做这件事 前两天内 有两万人报名了
So it was pretty exciting and gratifying that it wasn’t just me who was feeling like there was sand in their brain.
知道不光是我觉得脑子里有沙 感觉还挺激动挺满意的
So what I wanted to understand first of all was what actually happens in our brains when we get bored.
所以 首先我想弄明白的就是 我们感觉无聊的时候 大脑里在发生着什么
And it’s fascinating. I had no idea that we are at this moment in history where we are starting to understand what happens in the brain when we allow it to just sort of wander where it wants to go.
这真的棒极了 我完全没有意识到我们正处于开始了解让思维自由徜徉时大脑会发生什么的历史时刻
And so what they know now is that when you get bored you activate a network in your brain called the default mode.
现在他们知道了 当你无聊的时候 就会激活大脑里一个叫做默认模式的网络
And you can’t – this is different than mindfulness, right.
而且你不能 这与正念不同 对的
This is when you’re folding laundry or like ambling down the street or just lying on the couch.
这是指你在叠衣服的时候 在街上漫步或者只是躺在沙发上的时候
Not watching Game of Thrones and tweeting at the same time.
而不是一边看《权力的游戏》一边发着推特
So what happens in the default mode is this network ignites your most original thinking.
这种默认模式是指 它的这种网络会点燃你最原始的思想
It is where you do your best problem solving and you also do something called autobiographical planning which I had never heard of.
它能让你以最好的方式解决问题 还会让你做自传体规划 这个说法我以前从来没听过
This is where you look back at your life, you take note of the highs and the lows and you build a personal narrative.
就是这时候 你会回顾生活 你会注意到那些高峰和低谷 你会进行个人描述
You figure out what is your story and then where are you going to go from there.
你会想明白自己的故事是什么 以及你要去往哪里
Where does the story continue. You set goals and then you figure out the steps that you need to take to reach those goals.
故事该如何继续 你会定下目标 并规划好你需要采取的步骤以实现这些目标
Now, of course, you can’t ignite the default mode if you are focusing on something like your phone or you can’t tap the brain power if you’re tapping a screen.
当然了 如果你的注意力集中在其他事情上 比如手机 你就无法开启这种默认模式 或者如果你专注于在手机上打字 你就无法让大脑能量开始流动
Now this is extremely important things... understanding who you are, theory of mind, what you want to be when you grow up because...
这真的很重要 弄明白自己是谁 思想的理论 长大后你想成为什么样的人 因为...
it feels like we all want to know what we’re going to be when we grow up.
好像我们都想知道长大后自己会成为什么样的人
This is really it’s long term planning.
这是一个长期规划
And so the fear is that if people are constantly thinking about what’s the next post that they’re going to be or being reactive or spending time expressing outrage to the latest headlines
所以比较担心的是 如果人们一直想着一会儿要去哪里 或者对最新头条反应激烈 愤愤不平
you can’t do the deeper maybe also difficult thinking about who you are and what you want to become, maybe changes that you need to make.
那么你就不能做深度思考或困难思考 去想你是谁或你想成为什么样的人 以及你需要做出的改变
And I think what was most striking to me was some of the younger people, teenagers in particular,
最让我感到震惊的是 一些年轻人 尤其是青少年
who reached out to me and said I’m really scared to do Bored and Brilliant because I’m scared to spend time alone with my thoughts.
他们找到我说 我真的很害怕尝试《Bored and Brilliant》 因为我不敢和自己的思想独处
I’ve never done that before. I had one woman on the book tour who said this is just too scary.
我以前从来没这么做过 我在签字售书会遇到过一个女人 她说这件事太可怕了
I don’t know how to be with myself alone. I don’t think I can do this.
我不知道该怎么和自己独处 我觉得我做不到
And when you have an entire generation or decade of young people saying that they’re fearful of being alone with their thoughts or getting bored
如果有一整代年轻人说他们很害怕与自己的思想独处 害怕无聊
and being nervous about where their minds might wander to that’s very concerning to me because we have some serious issues in this country.
或者很焦虑 不知道自己的思想会飘往何处 这让我很担忧 因为我们这个国家出现了一些很严重的问题
We have racial divide. We have economic discrepancy.
我们有种族分裂 有经济差异
We have – we’re basically divided in half.
我们有 我们基本是被分成两半了
And so we need this next generation of young people to come up with some incredibly original and creative ideas to solve some big problems.
所以我们需要下一代人想出一些极其新颖 极具创造力的办法去解决这些大问题
And how can they possibly do that if they can’t even sit alone with their own thoughts or they’re afraid to.
如果他们连与自己的思想独处都做不到 或者是害怕这么做的话 那就只能是妄想了