Hot-to-Cold Boredom Practice
Stay with undistracted discomfort until attention settles into quiet awareness
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 94%
Hot-to-Cold Boredom Practice frames boredom as a transition rather than one fixed state. Hot boredom is the bodily agitation of waiting without distraction or the first difficult days of a meditation retreat. Cold boredom appears after the drama settles: attention becomes quiet enough to notice a bird or simply stir oatmeal without needing stimulation. Colonna argues that the mind needs this quieter state, but advises starting with an evening, day, weekend, or digital sabbath rather than demanding an immediate two-month break. The mechanism is gradual exposure to stillness: remove distraction, notice discomfort, avoid reflexively filling it, and let perception widen. Ferriss's warning about loneliness adds a safety boundary—rest should be designed around settings that nourish rather than recreate dangerous isolation.
Origin
Colonna explains the hot-versus-cold distinction through undistracted waiting, meditation retreats, and his therapist's image of a simple oatmeal-stirring morning.
Core principles
- 01Expect early stillness to feel physically uncomfortable
- 02Do not confuse agitation with proof that rest is failing
- 03Let attention widen after the initial drama settles
- 04Build tolerance in small increments
- 05Use quiet periods as necessary mental rest
How to run it
- 1
Start below your threshold
Choose one evening, a day, or a weekend rather than beginning with a long sabbatical. Make the experiment small enough that you can observe it without being overwhelmed.
Pro tip A device-free weekend can train both you and the people around you.
Watch out Do not use duration as a measure of virtue.
- 2
Remove the usual escape
Pause the device, task, or stream of activity that normally fills empty time. Stay in a safe setting without immediately replacing it with another performance goal.
Watch out A packed leisure schedule can conceal the same avoidance as work.
- 3
Recognize hot boredom
Notice impatience, bodily aching, urgency, or the thought that you should be elsewhere. Label these as the agitated phase of stopping rather than evidence that stillness is useless.
Pro tip Compare the sensation with waiting in a long line without distraction.
Watch out Do not ignore signs that the setting is triggering severe depression or unsafe isolation.
- 4
Let attention cool
Remain long enough for mental drama to diminish, without forcing a particular experience. Allow ordinary details in the environment to become noticeable.
Pro tip Use a simple sensory activity such as walking, sitting outdoors, or preparing food.
Watch out Searching aggressively for an insight keeps the mind in performance mode.
- 5
Carry quiet into the day
Repeat the practice and use its settled state during ordinary life. Expand the duration only when the current form is genuinely restorative.
Pro tip Take hours off-grid when longer periods are unavailable.
Watch out Cold boredom is not a requirement to remain alone in an emotionally harmful environment.
In the wild
Colonna contrasts the first three or four days of a retreat, when the mind protests and sleep can be difficult, with later days when nothing dramatic is happening and the sight of a bird becomes interesting.
→ The example shows agitation settling into quiet attention without adding stimulation.
Colonna recommends starting with a day or weekend and cites Brad Feld's practice of turning devices off from Friday through Sunday night while training people in his life to expect that absence.
→ A bounded recurring break makes tolerance for disconnection more practical.
Common mistakes
Treating initial agitation as failure
Hot boredom is the uncomfortable early phase of stopping; escaping it immediately prevents the transition Colonna describes.
Starting with an extreme duration
Colonna recommends tiny steps because a long break may exceed a person's current ability to tolerate stillness.
Ignoring the difference between alone and lonely
Ferriss describes some forms of isolation as dangerous for his mental health, so a restorative setting must respect that boundary.
Is it for you?
Best for
People whose constant motion or digital stimulation makes unstructured rest immediately uncomfortable.
Not ideal for
Anyone for whom isolation or stillness is triggering a dangerous depressive state rather than manageable discomfort.
From the transcript
“that discomfort that's hot boredom that's like it's literally my body starts to feel achy and all that stuff”
“by the day four day five day seven day ten you're sitting there and literally there's nothing dramatic going on in your mind there's no…”
“start small start where you are start with a day”
From the episode
#554: Jerry Colonna — How to Reboot Yourself and Feel Unrushed in the New Year
Jerry Colonna