Yes, you read that accurately. You should spend more time doing nothing. Sounds counterintuitive right? The pandemic forced the world to slow down, and people all of a sudden had more time on their hands. What resulted? Without overgeneralizing, itâs safe to say there were two kinds of responses. The first, an instinctual rush to fill the void with âbusynessâ because we live in a society that values high-performance. The second was approaching the âextraâ time to reflect on how they go about their everyday. Which situation takes more constraint and mindfulness? Immediately jumping into something else in order to occupy time or sitting in an unusual situation?
Western culture equates being busy to being âgoodâ and âsuccessful.” The notion of how “busy” you are determining your worth. This (mis)perception leads many to bite off more than you can chew inherently affecting your stress levels. For some reason, stress has become glorified in our society.
Thereâs a misconstrued relationship equating stress with success. If youâre stressed out then thatâs âgoodâ because youâre busy. If you arenât doing something then youâre seen as lazy. However, just because youâre busy doesnât mean youâre being productive. Letâs get that clear.
Busy doesnât mean success. Just because youâre moving and feeling busy doesnât mean youâre making progress. Have you stopped for a moment to define what success means to you, or are you living based on someone elseâs perception of what success is? Part of succeeding in anything you take on is being patient, and at times, very patient.
The more attached youâre to your agenda the more frustrated you can become; release & relax
Impatience undermines your awareness
â đDaisy Magaña âïž (@Dazy_Daze) March 10, 2021
Pay attention to what has your attention, itâll help you get present. Once you’ve identified it then you can appropriately engage with the thought or project. Engaging in a task doesnât always necessarily mean “doing.” It can simply mean you put focus and attention in the right space to position yourself for success. Your mind is for having ideas not holding them. So rather than trying to store everything in your head do a brain dump and write out everything that has your attention from projects and goals to work and personal life. Youâd be surprised at how much we store up there. Releasing your mind from the clutter will help you ease into your day-to-day.
Start living the moments rather than chasing a life.
â đDaisy Magaña âïž (@Dazy_Daze) March 11, 2021
Let yourself experience what youâre experiencing. Sit with itâwhatever âitâ may beâfor a prolonged moment. If, all of a sudden, an hour frees up in your day, donât rush to see what you can do to fill that time up. Time is the greatest gift, so cherish it. Sometimes the best thing for us is to do nothing. Give yourself time and space to learn from your lessons. We are doing too much and if we spent more time doing nothing, perhaps that could help clear the mind and approach life with a fresh perspective.