This is music to the ears of an introvert and socially awkward guy like me:

“Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born,” said Nikola Tesla in 1934. The inventor spawned his “earthly miracles” not in a busy lab, but in the countless hours spent tinkering away at electrical systems and radio technology on his own. “Originality thrives in seclusion,” he said, “free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind.”

Philosopher Blaise Pascal made a similar point nearly 200 years earlier: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Even before our age of digital distraction, Pascal observed that people invent pleasures and conflicts like hunting, war and gossip to avoid the unease of self-reflection. But a bit of boredom, he insisted, can be groundbreaking.

Solitude is particularly undervalued in the workplace. While collaboration is important, decades of research on creativity have shown that working alone—even for 90 minutes—produces more original and higher quality ideas than group brainstorming sessions. The mind focuses and solutions emerge, unencumbered by groupthink and the pursuit of consensus often found in a conference room of colleagues.