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Bored out of your mind? Do this, not that

Tell me if this sounds familiar: It's not even five minutes into your Modern U.S. History class and you're already propping your head up with your hand. Who knows if it's the material or your teacher's monotous drone, but you can't focus on the lesson to save your life. Yep. Boredom has set in, and ya know what? Science says a little bit of boredom might be a good thing (not that we're giving you license to zone out during class, mind you!). Here's what to do when you are bored out of your mind...and one major thing to avoid.

Do this: Get creative

Accoding to Greatist, recent research suggests that being bored and engaging in so-called boring activities, like reading (or, um, going to history class), can inspire creativity. Why? Because when you're sitting there being bored, what do you do...you daydream. You come up with new things, think crazy thoughts, invent and explore the impossible. Other studies show that Americans are becoming less creative and productive, so boosting your creativity is definitely a good thing. But tuning out during class? Well, that won't help ya come exam time. Try...

- Targeting your creativity. If you can't focus on what Teach is saying, try to come up with a story or draw a picture in your notebook that is relevant to the subject.

- Make note-taking a bit more fun. Add a pile of colorful gel pens to your pencil case and use them to highlight different topics, or to outline ideas. Blue could be a headline, pink a subhead, purple a single idea, etc.

- Challenging yourself. If your bored because you already know what your teacher is going to say, consider taking on an extra credit project that stretches the boundaries of the material covered in class.

But don't: Eat for no reason

You know how when you stress eat, you never reach for, say, an orange or a bowl of veggies? Yeah, the same is usually true when you're bored. While you should avoid eating if you're not truly hungry (pending doctor's orders, of course), eating just because you have nothing else to do is particularly bad. Occupy yourself with a brain teaser, a journal or a repetitive craft like knitting to keep the itch to eat at bay.

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POSTED IN mind/motivation, get your act together guide, boredom buster