101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think

why it’s
IMPERATIVE TO
make time to
DO NOTHING
We’re conditioned to associate stillness with inactivity and inactivity
with failure. We’re trained to be overworked and to believe that if, at
any point, we aren’t doing something that contributes to our goals,
we’re not doing anything.
It makes us unable to just be with ourselves—our purpose only
legitimate if it's serving someone or something else.
In fact, we are so opposed to being with ourselves, in a study
13
done by the University of Virginia, over 700 people were asked to
just sit in a room alone with their thoughts for 6-15 minutes alongside
a shock button that they could press if ever they wanted out. 67% of
men and 25% of women chose to shock themselves rather than sit
quietly and think.
Stillness is psychologically imperative, though. We are not built to
be running all the time, and doing so leads to absolutely detrimental
effects, the least of which I will touch on here. When overworking is
our identity, we lose track of who we actually are, and in the process,
we stop living actual lives.
01. What we call doing “nothing” is actually crucial for our
physiological selves and is essential to maintain a happy,
peaceful, balanced lifestyle.
The idea that we must always be doing something is
completely cultural (and completely unhealthy). Notice how
we only feel we are doing “something” when that “something”
can be externally measured…by other people?

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02. In the “do nothing” state, the brain is super-powering itself: It's
completing unconscious tasks or integrating and processing
conscious experiences.
In the resting state, neural networks can process
experiences, consolidate memories, reinforce learning,
regular attention and emotions, and in turn keep us more
productive and effective in our day-to-day work.
03. Human beings are not designed to be continually expending
energy whilst conscious, and it has a massive effect on the
very thing they’re trying to put their energy toward: their work.
Tony Schwartz cited a study in his piece
14
 on productivity and
restfulness in 
The New York Times
which proved that not
getting enough sleep, or “do nothing” time, was the highest
predictor of on-the-job burnout. (Another Harvard study he
cited estimated that sleep deprivation costs American
companies $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity.)
04. When you do not sit and allow yourself to reflect, reconcile,
and acknowledge what you feel, you actively give said
feelings more power.
Stephanie Brown argues: “There’s this widespread belief that
thinking and feeling will only slow you down and get in your
way but it’s the opposite…most psychotherapists would
contend that suppressing negative feelings only gives them
more power, leading to intrusive thoughts, which can prompt
people to be even busier to avoid them."
05. Creativity thrives in stillness and nothingness; creativity is
fostered in the state of stepping away from the project, task,
or issue at hand, and distracting oneself with other day-to-day
tasks.
Countless studies show that people who are deeply creative
on a consistent basis, who develop the most innovative and
unique ideas, are the ones who free themselves from
structure and allow their minds to wander, rather than focus
on various tasks at hand. Einstein called this initiating the
“sacred intuitive mind” (as opposed to the rational mind,
which he sees as its “servant”).

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06. You’re more likely to actually achieve what you set out to do if
you work on it intermittently, and you’ll maintain a healthier,
happier lifestyle in the process.
Keeping your mind in a consistent state of focus leads to life-
shortening (and quality-depleting) stress, and while you’re in
the process of neglecting the things that also matter (your
health, your family, your state of mind), you’re more likely to
reach your saturation point and simply give up on what you
were devoting all of your time and energy to in the first place.
07. It helps you become more mindful (more aware of the present
moment).
Cultivating mindfulness aids in reducing general stress,
improving memory, decreasing emotional reactivity, more
relationship satisfaction, cognitive flexibility, empathy,
compassion, 
general 
decrease 
of 
anxiety 
and
depression/increase of overall quality of life, and on and on.
08. It’s not taking a “break” or time “away” from what you are
actually “supposed to be doing,” it’s what human beings are
designed for.
Tim Kreider argues
15
: “Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence
or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the
body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as
rickets….The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary
condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making
unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning
strikes of inspiration—it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any
work done.”
13 Samarrai, Fariss. “Doing Something Is Better Than Doing Nothing For Most People,
Study Shows.” 2014. University of Virginia.
14 Schwartz, Tony. “Relax! You’ll Be More Productive.” 2013.