We wait for inspiration to come. We wait for that magical feeling, that breakthough idea, to be "in the right frame of mind" in order to begin again. The thing is, while it might very well come eventually, we potentially waste a lot of time waiting for it, he says.

Manson's advice is simple: just do something. Anything - literally.

"Action isn’t just the effect of motivation, but also the cause of it," he explains in his blog (and in the video above). Action comes before inspiration or motivation, he argues, the three components then forming an endless loop (ideally) - but the key to always remember, is that the action part is the catalyst.

 "Your actions create {...} emotional reactions and inspirations," he explains which then motivate you to take more actions on other things, which encourage and motivate your further. And on it goes.

Manson, a former life coach, calls this the "Do Something Principle". It's a simple piece of advice which he has given to his clients - and to himself - and he swears by it.

So the next time you're sitting in the proverbial waiting room and the flash of inspiration still hasn't arrived, try taking action on something - either on the task at hand, or on literally anything else instead. You might find the wheels of your creative train will start to grease themselves.

Starting a new habit is hard enough; keeping it's another matter entirely. James Clear has an answer to this problem - and he has Jerry Seinfeld to thank for it.

They become fights we need to win. It's exhausting and only too often, self-defeating.

So, drawing on advice from comedian Jerry Seinfeld, Clear recommends this: simply mark out the days on the calendar when we actually do what we say we are going to do - and switch the goal to progressively getting as many days in a row as we can.

The focus will shift away from the habit itself and on to the number of days we have crossed off. It then becomes an issue of minimising the number of days that are not crossed off - rather than obsess fruitlessly over the task-at-hand.

This is what Clear calls, "Don't Break The Chain".

"Whatever the habit is you're trying to build, " says Clear, "This type of feedback, It gives you a visual cue, a long-term motivator to see that on the wall and to look at the progress you have made."

1. A boost of creativity you might not otherwise get

According to scientific studies, there could be a direct correlation between the level of boredom you feel (slight, intense, mind-numbing etc) to the corresponding bursts of creativity you can benefit from as a result. The more bored you are, it seems, the better your ideas can get, is the theory.

2. Higher levels of motivation

A key factor that motivates us into changing situations is finding ourselves in ones we don't like, so in this sense boredom tells us when it is time to shake things up. "Boredom is both a warning that we are not doing what we want to be doing," he says "And a push that motivates us to switch goals and projects."

3. Increased feelings of altruism & purpose

If boredom hits existential crisis-level and you're questioning what you're doing with your life, this, also, has its upside. Studies have found that boredom has lead people to altruism, which, as Veritisium adds, can put the fire back in your belly by giving you "an immediate and concrete purpose to a life that might momentarily feel like it's lacking one."

4. Increased clarity regarding goal-setting

Lastly, one of the most unexpected, and needless to say, ironic, by-products of aimlessness is a a higher level of clarity when it comes to setting goals.

When you start asking yourself what you want to do with your life, you might find yourself in a scenario called Autobiographical Planning, he says, which is "to consider your life as a story and where you want it to go in future," he says. "In this way, being bored is essential for goal-setting".

So the idea here is, don't worry the next time apathy hits and you start questioning everything. It could actually be a very good thing that you are...

They make their decisions quicker (saving time), maintain higher levels of satisfaction with their choice, have fewer regrets and are less likely to compare themselves to others, leading to higher levels of happiness.

Conversely, Maximisers might ultimately be more successful in life - including financially - but are less grateful for what they have.

The issue is perpetual dissatisfaction, always wondering if there is something better out there that they have not yet discovered. Not surprisingly, people in this category can be prone to depression.

Being satisficed with your lot, then, might be something worth considering, at least in the a short term. Getting tangled up in a quandry over every single decision can be frustrating, self-defeating and demoralising.

It can also distract you from other things you can be getting on with and there is a lot of evidence to say you will come up with a "better idea" at a later point, anyway, if you switch off and walk away.

And if that's not enough, practicing satisficing as a technique can be a nice way of confronting any perfectionist tendencies you might be secretly harbouring.  So the next time you spend an innordinate amount of time  internally anguishing over the ramifications of that decision you just took, then this might be just the thing for you.