
The Case for Doing Nothing - grzm
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/smarter-living/the-case-for-doing-nothing.html
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avocado4
My guilty pleasure is to binge play a day-long game of Civ or Minecraft every
2 months or so. Really helps to switch gears in the brain away from business /
social obligations / continuing education / exercise / outdoors / etc.
Extremely non-productive waste of time from a societal point of view, but I
feel like it helps me recover.

~~~
brnt
Just one more turn ;)

Productivity is a Protestant value (labour is the way to a good life and thus
God). I find that, even though you and I are probably no longer religious,
such values have huge staying power.

I for one accept that this value deserves a bunch of footnotes. You are very
right: Labour amd our society is something to recover from. We (from this
cultural zone at least) should start to accept we don't have to be temporarily
embarrased hard workers anymore. Hard work is outdated and overrated, it's
time we stop seeing this life as a means to get into heaven, or at least have
values that boil down to that, but as a goal in its own right.

~~~
atomi
Working hard is a shared value across all religious and ethnic backgrounds.
People, generally, really seem to value effort and productivity. Go figure.

~~~
otakucode
It made sense in the past. But, it's not actually focused on productivity, it
focuses specifically on suffering and the effort. When productivity is
possible without strenuous effort, something which wasn't very common in the
past (it was possible in things like art, which was consequently never valued
as highly as dogged physical labor), it is viewed with suspicion and derision.
Society is structured around placing high value on sacrifice and suffering as
a consequence of the Protestant Work Ethic in the west. Productivity is beside
the point. I believe this is one of the main reasons why the introduction of
computers has resulted in skyrocketing productivity paired with frozen wages,
and it will get worse. As everything was built around the idea of rewarding
physical exhaustion, discomfort, strenuous effort, etc, when the majority of
work is mental work which has no real outward signs of strain, it won't be
rewarded. As a result, longer and longer hours will be expected, wages will
not rise, and any cries for understanding by workers will be met with derision
by the public at large. "It's not like you're working hard."

Working hard is valued, and should be pursued for its own value. Asking for
compensation is crass and devalues your effort. Being productive without
suffering or straining is not valued. It is seen as "cheating" and whatever is
produced is seen as inherently less valuable. These are problematic
perspectives that are causing us social problems and will continue to do so
until there is a social re-evaluation of things. Until then... burnout for
everybody!

~~~
maxerickson
"knowledge workers" generally enjoy the highest compensation of any working
class in history.

Athletes and (famous) actors beat them, but they barely constitute a class.

~~~
otakucode
And how does society view those people? Deserving of their compensation, and
the general overall view is that they earned that money?

~~~
maxerickson
Well, it depends on if you want to measure based on loud critics or the
compensation they are receiving.

That is, getting paid a certain salary is some sort of statement that you
deserve it.

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speedplane
NYTimes need to stop these self-help smarter living junk science articles.
This article isn't helping you relax, it's helping you become a more efficient
worker bee:

"daydreaming — an inevitable effect of idleness — “literally makes us more
creative, better at problem-solving, better at coming up with creative ideas.”

So the article is not advocating that we should relax more for our mental
health or enjoyment, just that if we do relax a bit, we'll get much more done
when we're not relaxing... i.e., "spend your weekends meditating so you'll be
more productive during the week".

~~~
Bootwizard
Work doesn't have to mean your fulltime job. Work can mean a side project that
you're passionate about, or a side business.

When is being more efficient at anything a bad idea? If you can get your day
job done in 2 hours vs 8, maybe you can argue for a raise or the ability to
work from home.

~~~
coldtea
> _When is being more efficient at anything a bad idea?_

When it drives people to stress, burnout, obsession, losing connection with
family and friends, and so on...

In other words, today...

~~~
Bootwizard
If you've efficient you shouldn't try to keep up the same hours. That's just
multiplying the work you're doing by your increase in efficiency. If you work
5x as fast as everyone else, but work the same hours, you're doing 5x as much
work.

I'm suggesting to work more efficient as well as work less hours. Then you
have more time to spend on relaxation and the things you want to do. That is
how this modern society should view work, but we don't

~~~
coldtea
My point is being efficient and wanting to be efficient or being obsessed with
efficiency are not the same thing.

So while already "being more efficient at anything" is not bad, the idea of
"being more efficient at anything" can be a very bad idea, downright to
killing people...

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jen_h
Eh. I'm lucky enough to have done _plenty_ busy worker bee AND plenty of
nothing and I have to say neither is really very satisfying.

Finding a passion project and tilting at windmills, though? Never been
happier.

~~~
copperx
I've found the same, although if I have nothing to do AND have a reserve of
cash I have been able to travel, try a new hobby, or do something out of the
ordinary. Creativity shines in that scenario, as long as you don't have a
propensity to stay in bed all day.

And I bet you didn't find your passion project while being a super busy bee.

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yasabi
Doing nothing is one of my top skills. Unfortunately my recruiter always tries
to downplay it.

~~~
rhizome31
It's actually a useful skill to have for remaining in some organizations for a
long time. Not everybody can sustainably do nothing.

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RickJWagner
One of the all-time great investors, Jack Bogle, often said not doing anything
is intelligent investing activity.

He had a saying, "Don't just do something, stand there!"

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shriphani
The Italians have "Dolce Far Niente" \- and the few I know and talk to on a
regular basis consider it a commandment - it is like an activity.

~~~
sudosteph
That sounds nice. As an American, I often catch myself feeling guilty when I'm
resting. Though learning more about "mindfulness" has helped me be more OK
with enjoying it. But then I sometimes feel guilty for not being mindful
enough more often! Go figure.

Also, not sure if your "commandment" phrasing was intentional, but it made me
chuckle a bit. The concept of "observating the Sabbath" by resting seems does
seem to be a bit relevant to this topic.

~~~
lanstin
Mindfulness meditation is not the same as relaxation. Observing your mind and
it’s responses to your days over and over can show you you aren’t resting
enough and can enable you to stay calm when maybe your habit is to get worked
up (tho it can also show you times you need to stay involved rather than
shutting down) but it is in no way equivalent to a slow walk around a pond or
playing a vid game for a whole day or sleeping late and rereading a favorite
old book and then napping and then wasting a lot of time and ending up with
some ice cream. Mindfulness takes a bit of effort mostly. Relaxing is stopping
the effort for a bit. Both might be parts of a fulfilling life.

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timwaagh
Actually 'niksen' in the way we dutch use it can be used negatively. I think
it's most commonly used that way 'ben je weer aan het niksen?' (parent/boss
tells child/employee to go do something useful). Although sometimes people
might say they are 'even lekker aan het niksen' (the pretext here is they are
normally busy, so they are taking just a little while to relax while they
can).

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danielam
Just this summer, I read a book by Josef Pieper called "Leisure: the Basis of
Culture" that is a response to what he calls the tyrannical culture of "total
work". He begins the book with a bit history and a bit of etymology. For
example, the word school comes from the Latin _scola_ which in term comes from
the Greek _skole_ , both mean "leisure". Indeed, neither the Greeks nor the
Romans had a word for work that wasn't the negation of a word meaning
"leisure" (e.g., the Greek _a-scolia_ and the Latin _neg-otium_ , hyphens
added for emphasis). This identification of leisure with school (as
classically understood) is the source of the term "liberal arts" ( _artes
liberales_ ), that is, arts free from practical purpose, as opposed to the
"servile work" ( _artes serviles_ ). These can be related to _theoria_ and
_praxis_ , respectively.

Pieper distinguishes leisure from idleness or amusement which, for the man of
total work, are the same. Leisure is not aimed at sensual indulgence but
rather contemplative, receptive encounter with the world, with being. Here he
distinguishes between _intellectus_ and _ratio_ , or a purely receptive
intellection versus discursive thinking. Man, of course, needs to work. Pieper
does not deny the need and proper value of work, but he rejects the primacy of
work or work for work's sake. He is drawing attention to the superiority of
contemplation to work.

In any case, I recommend the book.

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RichardCA
Back in the 70's someone made a cartoon about changing attitudes toward
leisure time. It won an Oscar.

[https://youtu.be/Bf50WytAC5Y](https://youtu.be/Bf50WytAC5Y)

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UsmanAhmadSaeed
In busy lives of today, we've really forgotten the excitement of doing nothing
and even look for something to do in free time and holidays/weekends. I often
get conscious of this and then try doing nothing which is enjoying the present
and it helps a lot and has changed my life for better.

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thallukrish
Sometime ago I wrote a similar blog [https://medium.com/@thallukrish/give-a-
break-db1602db44f7](https://medium.com/@thallukrish/give-a-break-db1602db44f7)

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ehecatl
I'll just leave this here:

“How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plough, and that glorieth in the goad,
that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labours, and whose talk is of
bullocks?”

~~ Ecclesiasticus 38:25

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universalxtreme
There's no need to make a case. Procrastination is my middle name. However I
have rarely found it to be a useful things

~~~
tbyehl
_Never put off 'til tomorrow that which can be forgotten about entirely._

In the workplace, priorities shift, projects get cancelled... procrastination
can be an effective strategy for minimizing wasted effort.

~~~
abakker
I really agree with this. In an era where overcommitment seems to be
synonymous with "work", I think people just tacitly acknowledge that not all
commitments can be met. It is up to you, the employee, to correctly interpret
the implied priority.

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donatj
Starting with not reading that paywalled article.

~~~
Y_Y
Keeping busy?

Running from place to place and laboring over long to-do lists have
increasingly become ways to communicate status: I’m so busy because I’m just
so important, the thinking goes.

Perhaps it’s time to stop all this busyness. Being busy — if we even are busy
— is rarely the status indicator we’ve come to believe it is. Nonetheless, the
impact is real, and instances of burnout, anxiety disorders and stress-related
diseases are on the rise, not to mention millennial burnout.

There’s a way out of that madness, and it’s not more mindfulness, exercise or
a healthy diet (though these things are all still important). What we’re
talking about is … doing nothing. Or, as the Dutch call it, niksen. What is
niksen?

It’s difficult to define what doing nothing is, because we are always doing
something, even when we’re asleep.

Doreen Dodgen-Magee, a psychologist who studies boredom and wrote the book
“Deviced! Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital World,” likens niksen to
a car whose engine is running but isn’t going anywhere.

“The way I think about boredom is coming to a moment with no plan other than
just to be,” she said.

Sandi Mann, a psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire in Britain,
added that niksen can be “when we’re not doing the things we should be doing.
Because perhaps we don’t want to, we’re not motivated. Instead, we’re not
doing very much.”

More practically, the idea of niksen is to take conscious, considered time and
energy to do activities like gazing out of a window or sitting motionless. The
less-enlightened might call such activities “lazy” or “wasteful.” Again:
nonsense.

We at Smarter Living have long been fans of taking regular breaks throughout
the day, as study after study shows that feeling drowsy, exhausted or
otherwise mentally depleted during the workday drastically hinders performance
and productivity.

In other words: Whether at home or at work, permission granted to spend the
afternoon just hanging out. Editors’ Picks Giuliani Divorce: It’s Ugly, It’s
Operatic. What Did You Expect? Dior Finally Says No to Sauvage One in Four of
New York’s New Luxury Apartments Is Unsold Why we need niksen in our lives

Generally speaking, our culture does not promote sitting still, and that can
have wide-reaching consequences for our mental health, well-being,
productivity and other areas of our lives. Technology doesn’t make it any
easier: The smartphone you carry with you at all hours makes it almost
impossible to truly unplug and embrace idleness. And by keeping ourselves busy
at all times, we may be losing our ability to sit still because our brains are
actually being rewired.

Indeed, the benefits of idleness can be wide-ranging.

Ms. Mann’s research has found that daydreaming — an inevitable effect of
idleness — “literally makes us more creative, better at problem-solving,
better at coming up with creative ideas.” For that to happen, though, total
idleness is required.

“Let the mind search for its own stimulation,” Ms. Mann said. “That’s when you
get the daydreaming and mind wandering, and that’s when you’re more likely to
get the creativity.”

[Like what you’re reading? Sign up here for the Smarter Living newsletter to
get stories like this (and much more!) delivered straight to your inbox every
Monday morning.]

Counterintuitively, idleness can be a great productivity tool because “if our
energy is totally shot, our productivity is not going to be good because we’re
not going to have fuel to burn with which to be productive,” said Chris
Bailey, a productivity expert and author of the blog “A Life of Productivity.”

Niksen can help you solve problems as well.

“It takes you out of your mind, and then you see things clearly after a
while,” said Manfred Kets de Vries, a professor of leadership development and
organizational change at Insead in Paris.

But stopping the cycle of business can be challenging in a culture that prizes
getting things done. Here are some tips to help you stop and be: Make time for
doing nothing, and do it with purpose.

Figure out when you’re most productive and creative, then notice when your
mind starts to shut off or you start performing tasks just for the sake of
doing them, Mr. Bailey suggests. That’s when you should go for a walk or take
a break. The intention behind the decision is what counts.

“I do nothing with purpose,” Mr. Kets de Vries said. “I know that without
breaks I cannot be effective.”

Prioritize the things that are important to you and the things that bring you
pleasure, and outsource everything else when possible. Focusing on the truly
relevant parts of life can help you build free time in your schedule. And take
advantage of convenient opportunities to practice idleness, like when you’re
standing in line or waiting for the children to come home from school. Resist
the culture of busyness.

If you’re doing nothing, own it. When someone asks you what you’re doing
during a nothing break, simply respond, “Nothing.” Be unapologetic about
taking breaks or holidays, and if you start to feel guilty about being seen as
lazy, think of niksen not as a sign of laziness but as an important life
skill. Choose the initial discomfort of niksen over the familiarity of
busyness. Manage your expectations.

Learning takes time and effort, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t catch on
immediately to the benefits of idleness. Know that sitting still might
actually be uncomfortable at first and might take practice — just like
exercise.

Ms. Dodgen-Magee likens it to beginning a new workout routine: At first, you
might get sore, but “after a while, you’ll find yourself in this moment where
you’re like, ‘Oh, this feels fantastic.’” Reorganize your environment.

Your surroundings can have a major impact on how much nothingness you can
embrace, so consider the physical space in your home and workplace. Keep your
devices out of reach so that they’ll be more difficult to access, and turn
your home into a niksen-friendly area. Add a soft couch, a comfy armchair, a
few cushions or just a blanket. Orient furniture around a window or fireplace
rather than a TV.

“If those spaces are present, people will use them,” Ms. Dodgen-Magee said.
Think outside of the box.

If you can’t sit still in your home or workplace, go to the park or book a
relaxing day at the spa. Ms. Dodgen-Magee encourages people to host boredom
parties, during which a host invites over a few friends to … be bored
together.

Mr. Bailey suggests experimenting with different lifestyles to find the right
one for you. For example, he lived like a slob for a week and learned that
it’s important to “let the air out of the tires” once in a while.

If you’re still uncomfortable with the idea of doing nothing, try to trick
your mind into thinking you’re being productive. Ms. Dodgen-Magee suggests
using open-end toys such as kinetic sand, Baoding balls or marble runs.

