How can I stay sane doing very boring work?

Headphones and Pandora or MP3’s?

You could try to be mindful and fully present during the work. It may seem like boring work, but what exactly is boring? Is your mind constantly telling you, “I could be doing ___ instead”? You might find that simply tolerating the work so you can move to something more interesting is more difficult than approaching the work with the intention of doing the very best you can.

You might be thinking, “But it’s mind-numbing work. I can find nothing challenging about it.” If that’s the case, you likely wouldn’t be feeling so challenged right now. Sure, the challenge is a different type than you may be used to. But it sounds like it would be worthwhile. If being tasked with work that you feel is a challenge for you to complete due to it not being the type of work you’d like to be doing, then by definition it is challenging work. And you might find that meeting this challenge with full awareness might be just the attitude shift you need to complete the task and learn a ton about your mind in the process.

Since you are working from home, you might watch Netflix while you scan. That’s what I did while I was scanning hundreds of slides.

Otherwise, just do what you can and don’t worry too much about the money. Money comes and goes all the time.

You’re at home! There’s nothing boring about making $15/hr while wearing your PJs and listening to music or watching TV. What else would you be doing? Sounds like a dream to me. I have to drive 45 minutes to get to the law firm I work for so I can make some money, and I certainly can’t wear what I want and do what I want while I’m working, either.

If at home, I would definitely binge-watch some good tv shows.

Sub-contract to a teenager for $10 /h while you keep $5/h.

Put music or tv on for background noise. Otherwise not much you can do except work.

If the work’s so boring and tedious, is it also simple and low-stress? If yes, those can be very nice things. This is a short-term job, not a career path, so maybe it’s good that you’re not dealing with buckets of stress (e.g. nasty customers or a mean boss) or something that’s physically unpleasant (e.g. waiting tables for a 12-hour shift or laboring in the hot sun).

It might also help if you plan some breaks and look forward to them. For example, you could commit to a solid hour of focused work, to be followed by the reward of relaxing for 10 minutes with a beverage.

I Pulles staples & scanned for a year. Definately music, audio books, frequent breaks.

Audiobooks. I work in a kitchen which is usually very fast paced, but during the days when it’s slow and all there is to do is prep work/clean/stand around I listen to audiobooks. It helps take my mind off the monotony of it all.

As a response to the folks who have suggested Netflix—I have considered it. Unfortunately, the work requires just enough thought that I can’t really do things in the background or I’ll fuck up.