Do you have time just to “do nothing”?
Does it sound like a dream to have the time and space to clear your head in the midst of all the demands?
Most of us live our lives with back to back obligations personally and professionally and it takes a toll!
In his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown shines light on the important practice of scheduling some uninterrupted think time. He makes note of the fact that Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, schedules up to two hours of blank space in his calendar daily. After years of back to back meetings, Weiner learned that he needed time to process all of the information coming at him. This precious reflection time, which he schedules in 30 minute increments, now serves as his “single most valuable productivity tool.”
Not only can “do nothing time” increase your productivity, it can give you several other tools:
- Patience- When your mind is clear, your tolerance is on the rise. If problems come your way, you will be better able to handle them by taking a step back and being solutions oriented.
- Creativity- When your mind in going “a mile a minute” and you are rushing around like a crazy person, “out of the box thinking” may not be triggered. People often have their most creative ideas in the shower, or walking in nature when they shut off the outside world.
- Focus- If you have “do nothing time”, it is much easier to pick and choose how you will spend your energy. It’s possible to do one thing at a time rather than multitasking and “focusing” on too much. Focusing on too many things means focusing on nothing at all.
- Mindfulness- Breaks in activity promote awareness of thoughts, actions, and feelings. If you are go, go, go, are you really even noticing what is going on around you? It is easier to live with intention and be mindful when you give yourself the time and mental space to do so.
- Clarity- People sometimes have a “moment of clarity” after enjoying a cocktail or walking in nature. That epiphany is really just a result of slowing down. Finding ways to pause throughout the day prevents the buildup of mental and emotional clutter that creates chatter in our heads.
- Commitment- When you schedule time in between obligations, you are more likely to be committed to all of them. When events are scheduled back to back, you will find yourself leaving one early and arriving late to the next. You may cut people off mid conversation because you need to jet off to your next meeting or hop onto your next call. By the end of the day the people around you will feel like you were not committed to them because you were never operating “in the moment”. Change this by scheduling “do nothing” time.
- Spontaneity- If you don’t give yourself time to go with the flow and spontaneously take advantage of the opportunities presented by the universe, it just won’t happen. Over-scheduled people tend to overlook possibilities that are right at their fingertips because they never deviate from their plan. Giving yourself time and permission to adjust course throughout your day will allow you to take advantage of more in life.
- Connection- “Down time” can allow relationships to be taken to a whole other level. Its often when we are waiting to do something that we authentically connect. When people are free to embrace a natural interaction, unexpected bonds can form.
Greg McKeown suggests “deliberately setting aside distraction-free time in a distraction-free space to do absolutely nothing other than think.” Bill Gates created a ritual of taking an entire week off every year to read. This secluded time gave him a chance to think and keep sight of the big picture. Even at the company’s busiest times, he committed to spending one week off the grid.
Dedicating ourselves to leaving space in our lives, allows us to be more open. It gives us room to attract our desired interactions, thoughts, people, and experiences. A vision without space and time can’t come to fruition. Living a deliberate life involves throwing in the towel on your over-scheduled, stressful, cluttered schedule and taking control of it. If you don’t take hold of your time, other obligations will be happy to!
EnlightenMENTE’s Commit to Thrive Program is a six phase program geared towards helping people live their lives with intention. Learning how to Schedule “Do Nothing Time” is part of that process.
