I’ve realized something: Doing nothing is very profitable for me.
The more I do nothing, the better I get at doing something.
Something happens in the spaces in between.
There are dealmakers who eat soup at their desks and work 15-hour days.
And then there are creators who take walks in the middle of the day, who dare to sleep a full 8 hours, who do absolutely nothing–strategically.
The more one creates, the more one needs rest.
Dealmakers–not so much. Donald Trump can power through lunch at his desk. But that’s because he’s a dealmaker. I need my sleep and my breaks. Because sometimes the best thinking happens after I haven’t thought about anything at all.
I used to struggle with productivity, trying to pack as many working hours as I could into one day.
But that’s because I was comparing myself to a dealmaker. The wonderful Hiro Boga helped me to see that I was clinging to my business, and that maybe my business would still be there if I stepped away from my desk for a few minutes to do something I enjoyed. Shiva Nata helped, too.
My old bosses at the private equity firm used to work insane hours. And, indeed, they accomplished quite a bit. But I am not a dealmaker. And the dealmaker’s work schedule suits neither me nor my clients. Ever since I embraced nothingness, the time I spend on work is much more effective.
How do you define nothing?
- Empty, staring-off-into-space space
- Activities that fill the bucket.
Here’s my new itinerary for doing nothing, and how I incorporate nothingness into my business:
Step 1: Make a list of things you enjoy doing. Bucket-filling activities.
Mine are:
- Reading children’s books in the bookstore
- Buying empty notebooks
- Writing in them.
- Walking the dogs.
- Tramping on the trampoline
- Hiking
- Running
- Obsessing over Amanda Palmer
Step 2: Accept that past limits are reliable indicators of future limits.
I have accepted that 6 hours of writing in a day is my limit.
So instead of constantly striving to do more, I do less. I schedule my empty time, too.
Step 3: Create a Do-Nothing Itinerary.
Mine is: 2 hours on, 1 hour off, 2 hours on, 1 hour off.
It’s like traveling. There are many itineraries one can use to get to China.
Step 4: Create a reverse to-do list.
When things get overwhelming, I no longer make a list that answers the question, “What do I need to do today?” (It’s too easy to pat myself on the back for creating the list, only to spend the day analyzing rather than completing it.)
Instead, I ask myself this: “What need do I need right now? And what is the simplest way to meet that need?”
And, “Is there an easier way to do this project so I don’t have to kill myself trying to do it all?”
The benefits of having a Do-Nothing Itinerary? I work faster while also producing better work.
I have better ideas (I think). So, I make more of a difference for my clients. Business is fun again–that’s demonstrable. And, because it’s easier to focus, I don’t have to keep editing the same paragraphs over and over again. I don’t have to keep editing the same paragraphs over and over again. (Sorry.)
Instead of trying to fill up every spare minute, I’ve accepted that there will never be enough time anyway. Which means there will always be enough time to do the things that are important to me. That guilty twinge loses power when I realize how much more effective I am when I do nothing.
Are you doing nothing? Do you have a personal itinerary you’d like to share?
Image by Manitoba Historical Maps via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.
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25 Comments
This is so fabulous, Kelly! I love your bucket-filling activities too, especially the children’s book reading. Good stuff!
Leah´s last blog ..CED Challenge Check-In: August 3rd – 9th
I adore this clarity. So helpful to separate the needs of a creative from the ‘dealmaker”. I have burnt myself out so many times trying to work an insane number of hours. I’m just starting to learn that the empty space is a core part of my process, and without it I cannot produce my best work.
Christine Martell´s last blog ..Painting as food for the word
Yay, Kelly! Hooray for spaciousness that supports your creative spirit. “What do I need right now, and what’s the simplest way I can meet that need?” may be the most effective question any of us can ask ourselves.
Thanks for this wonderful post!
Big hug and love,
Hiro
Hiro Boga´s last blog ..Sunday Poem #3
Thanks Kelly for blogging about doing nothing. I think that is very essential.
Thomas Edison – the man who holds the record for the most number of patents and inventions – also invented power naps. Thats no co-incidence. Edison slept for 20 minutes every afternoon.
Short bursts of nothingness always helps you gain more clarity and become more focused.
Its the yin-and-yang of nature.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Work intensely. Do nothing.
Ankesh Kothari´s last blog ..The One Change Necessary to Succeed
Thanks, Leah! It’s great to hear that from a bucket-filling specialist… Hopefully this is just a starter list and I can add even more wacky creative activities…
Hiro, thanks! And thanks for inspiring all of this. I don’t know what I was doing before you led me to do nothing, but it sure wasn’t as much fun!
Ankesh! You’re my do-nothing idol. I hope to someday accomplish half as much as you do. I did not know of this nap-taking practice Thomas Edison employed. Well, then. I’m adding naps to my bucket list straight away. Thanks!
I love this. Love love love love love.
Also, I hope you’re not planning on blaming me for you becoming a nap-centric tree-loving hippie. But this is fabulous. And inspiring.
Off to do some more nothing. Thanks for giving us permission so beautifully!
Havi Brooks (and duck)´s last blog ..I am red. Wishcraft-ing it up.
Christine, me, too. Fellow former member of the Burnout Club. I once spent 6 months substituting one cup caffeine for every hour of sleep. It worked until I got sick. It’s amazing how much more we get done when we’re not trying to do more!
Oh, yes. I DID mean to blame much of this on you, Havi. You and your epiphany dance. And your constant example of supreme Naptitude, which continues to inspire me to do more nothing!
“What need do I need right now? And what is the simplest way to meet that need?”
Perfect! I’m so stealing this!!
Julie, go for it! I’m pretty sure I stole it from Havi or Hiro. You know how you internalize something so well you feel like you’ve always known it? These two are always dropping truth bombs.
huzzah! another buyer of empty notebooks
I discovered a large trampoline in the woodland part of the gardens at my studio a few weeks ago. I sneak out there and leap amongst the trees. Amazing how a small, simple, joyful dose of not-being-a-proper-grown-up creates the space to work in a more focussed way.
I love your post – you have inspired me to strategise my not doingness!
Lucy, you must be the luckiest person in the world. I’ve heard it’s very good luck to find large trampolines in woodlands. And I’m so glad I inspired you to do more strategizing of not-doingness! Not like you needed much help in this area anyway, with your rampant tramping and empty-notebook-writing!
Oh, I love this, Kelly. Isn’t it funny that one of your bucket filling favorites is writing? How cool is that?
When I push too hard, or try too hard at anything, it usually falls apart and even if I succeed, it isn’t very satisfying.
And so often when I’m trying to write something or solve a problem, if I walk away and take the dog for a hike, it tends to write or solve itself. Maybe for us non-dealmakers, everything isn’t so compartmentalized into “productive work” and “leisure.” I still always need reminders of that, so thanks for this one =)
Briana´s last blog ..Breaking news: Success is better than failure
Briana, that is so true. It’s not like doing nothing is ever our first choice. Trying to push too hard and power through projects simply doesn’t WORK. It actually ends up taking more time than if I had gone for that hike with my dog. Crazy! It’s amazing how many of us have come to the same realization. Sometimes it feels like I’m a member of a secret country where everyone does things backwards.
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for this insightful (and dare I say inspirational?) post. I spent 9 years working in publishing and it was very structured and disciplined and CYCLICAL. It’s taken me a while (over a year) to find the cycle in my new career. Or to even realize that there IS a cycle. That my new “job” moves in fits and starts and swings from high to low. That I work on a pendulum of productivity.
After a year and a half I’ve finally begun to understand and ACCEPT that I have weeks where I sleep four hours a night and weeks when I sleep 10 (or 12). That creating new stuff takes infinitely more energy than tackling a to do list inspired by someone else’s goals/agenda. (And that somehow it’s still easier to meet external deadlines than my own. Grr).
But, I’m learning (thanks to Havi’s Friday Chickens) to look at my “output” over time (say a week or a month) rather than chastising myself for spending an afternoon watching DVDs from Netflix.
The amazingly simple answer (for me) is — some days I have energy to do things and some days … I don’t. And it doesn’t make me any more productive to spend the low energy times “shoulding” all over myself. (You should do the dishes, you should practice piano, you should …)
singingly,
sg
Sarah M. Greer´s last blog ..Ratatouille Revelations
Hi Sarah, you sound like you’re describing me. I like that idea of looking at output over time and accepting that there are cycles, and that the cycles are good, and that Netflix is just as necessary as “real work.” It’s obviously a learned mindset for most of us, because your old boss would never say, ‘Hey! Why don’t you go watch a movie and when you come back, maybe stare off into space for a bit?’ Hmm, maybe they should!
I totally want to be the kind of boss to myself who does say, “Hey! Why don’t you go watch a movie and when you come back, maybe stare off into space for a bit?”
Love this post, Kelly.
Lisa, why DON’T you go watch a movie and come back and stare off into space a bit? I hereby give you permission to give yourself permission to boss yourself around like that!
It struck me that your list includes physical activities plus a visual input (kids books) plus a tactile experience (the new notebooks and writing by hand) … not sure about the Amanda Palmer thing but I suspect that is a sort of food for the soul thing? Creative people and people who do mental gymnastics for work do need the time outs for rythmic “moving meditation” types of activities and for activities that keep them in the moment through sensory input. And time for doing nothing and for play. And for doing things totally unrelated to their work. It is a way of refilling the well and also of forging new connections in your brain. (Shivanauts seem to do this very well.) But most important I think it has to do with living a richer life. As far as work places go, the more progressive recognize this. (Think, famously, google for one.) I wish we all could experience this type of existence!
Barbara Martin´s last blog ..Simple Daily Changes to Increase Creativity
Well, the Amanda Palmer thing is music. So, wow, you’re right. Visual, tactile, audio, movement (trampoline). This is so insightful, Barbara! I’m all about having a richer life… This is just one more reason I can give myself for going to the bookstore in the middle of the day. Thanks for sharing this!
WOW Kelly! Music straight up too!!! HOW the heck did you figure that out, to do all that for yourself? Kind of amazing, darn right awesome. Here’s to richer living for all!!!!
Barbara Martin´s last blog ..Simple Daily Changes to Increase Creativity
Hi Kelly-
I totally get it. I get all my best ideas when out on my morning walks, and when out in the yard with the dogs. The less time I spend at my desk, the more I create. I always kinda knew this, but remembered it again anew (love that word) when I spent 3 weeks wiht a hideous parasite infection (lots of vomiting and other disgusting things) and was living on bare-minimum-work levels- instead I sat in the shade of our lilacs and read fiction. It was blissful. when I was done I had my groove back (my health back) and could return fresh to my work with new ideas and inspiration.
I know from the past few years that the harder I work, the more I persist in trying to “get it” or whatever, the more it eludes me, or the more forced and unnatural the results.
Plus I love naps.
xox
Lisa
Lisa Claudia Briggs´s last blog ..Article on Addictive EAting
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but somewhere along the line I stopped pacing myself and started driving myself. It’s crazy, because I believe ultimately it benefits no one, not even the people I am driving myself to serve.
Thanks for your bucket list, do nothing itinerary and reverse to do list. I really needed a return to sanity.
Mahala Mazerov´s last blog ..Skillful Answers to Disgraceful Questions, Part 2
Kelly!
I so need this right now. More thinking, less doing. It’s so easy to keep saying: “I can just do one more thing” all day long. I really need to plan, schedule time to create, then get out and play!
Create then recreate!
See you later!
Eric Normand´s last blog ..Now
I just found you via Communicatrix and LOVE your blog!
Am a fellow practitioner of space for space sake…room for seed ideas to grow…and friendships do the same.
Julia Lazar´s last blog ..“SANTOSHA” happiness in a bottle
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