Love this, Liz. Gonna go listen to your convo. Have you read 4000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman? Fascinating perspective on the “use” of time. Also, I’m taking a meditation class right now. Mindfulness practices are changing the way I experience time in unexpected ways. And I mean UNEXPECTED.
You are the second person who has mentioned it so now it’s a must read! I have been doing some meditation and mostly it feels like a 30 minute gift of stillness to myself when I can do it. I think it would be good for me to do more often but again… It can be hard for me to do “nothing!” Working on it and I appreciate your encouragement!
Once I decided to stop trying to become a world-renowned consultant, which involved international travel and books and new ideas every season, I found my true calling: Learning to Simply Be and having time to Do “Nothing.” The ethic that taught us unless we are productive, unless we produce something of value, we are useless. Asking if we enjoyed our day, as you implied in this powerful piece, instead of what we did, is the healthiest way to honor each other. Thank you.
I find that nothing is valued and of course productivity is still valued, but true wasting time or scrolling on a phone or bad tv or movies is the stuff that isn’t valued. Now because mindfulness and meditation and silence retreats have value, it seems nothing has respect 🤔
I think "doing nothing" is having a bit of a moment. Or maybe it's just the zeitgeist, but yours was the second newsletter I got today about doing nothing, and I also listened to a rah-rah self help podcast also promoting doing nothing, at least for a minute or two. I haven't really worked full-time for many years, and I've always struggled with a need to justify how I spend my time. I somehow feel like my house should be spotless, and I should be in fantastic shape, and I should be writing a memoir, and baking more and and and. I long ago wouldn't let myself turn on the tv during the day, but then I'd play solitaire for hours. But at least I wasn't watching tv! So dumb. I'm getting better about doing nothing, but I still beat myself up if I spend too much time scrolling social media or playing games on my phone. It's okay if I spend 2 hours in a yoga class, but it's not okay to spend the morning on the couch looking at pretty things on IG? So I think I need to take the message from the universe that if I'm getting newsletters and podcasts about doing nothing, maybe it's okay to do less justifying and more enjoying.
Isn't it fascinating, this need we feel to "justify" the way we spend time? That to me is the most fascinating. To whom? To ourselves? Take the message from the universe: There are times for producing and times for...not.
Definitely going to listen to your episode, Liz. Two years back I ordered the book "Bored and Brilliant" and have never looked back. Constantly assigning pressure to myself (programmed pressure ofc) that idle time was lazy or unproductive. The topic of doing nothing being everything has been a common one in almost all of my conversations lately.
Thanks Liz. Women in particular need to be reminded of this regularly. Allowing myself the space to do “nothing“ has been a long journey and I am still learning. It’s also a lesson we need to teach our overachieving children. Just listened to a great webinar with Laurie Santos of Yale University about ways to reduce stress as we go through the college application process with our teens. She shares the data that shows we are often more productive and successful when we take something off of our plates or step back rather than lean in. I’m drinking THAT Koolaid!
I really do think it is more of a woman problem for some reason, yes. And fantastic point about passing this onto our kids. When I think about it, I do expect them to "do more" with their time, in part because they're in a huge growing phase. But they need that down time jus the same -- maybe more. Will have to check out Laurie. College apps-- phew, that's a whole next level of doing A LOT.
Love this, Liz. Gonna go listen to your convo. Have you read 4000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman? Fascinating perspective on the “use” of time. Also, I’m taking a meditation class right now. Mindfulness practices are changing the way I experience time in unexpected ways. And I mean UNEXPECTED.
You are the second person who has mentioned it so now it’s a must read! I have been doing some meditation and mostly it feels like a 30 minute gift of stillness to myself when I can do it. I think it would be good for me to do more often but again… It can be hard for me to do “nothing!” Working on it and I appreciate your encouragement!
Once I decided to stop trying to become a world-renowned consultant, which involved international travel and books and new ideas every season, I found my true calling: Learning to Simply Be and having time to Do “Nothing.” The ethic that taught us unless we are productive, unless we produce something of value, we are useless. Asking if we enjoyed our day, as you implied in this powerful piece, instead of what we did, is the healthiest way to honor each other. Thank you.
Living the dream!
I find that nothing is valued and of course productivity is still valued, but true wasting time or scrolling on a phone or bad tv or movies is the stuff that isn’t valued. Now because mindfulness and meditation and silence retreats have value, it seems nothing has respect 🤔
Ha, well said! (I think.)
I think "doing nothing" is having a bit of a moment. Or maybe it's just the zeitgeist, but yours was the second newsletter I got today about doing nothing, and I also listened to a rah-rah self help podcast also promoting doing nothing, at least for a minute or two. I haven't really worked full-time for many years, and I've always struggled with a need to justify how I spend my time. I somehow feel like my house should be spotless, and I should be in fantastic shape, and I should be writing a memoir, and baking more and and and. I long ago wouldn't let myself turn on the tv during the day, but then I'd play solitaire for hours. But at least I wasn't watching tv! So dumb. I'm getting better about doing nothing, but I still beat myself up if I spend too much time scrolling social media or playing games on my phone. It's okay if I spend 2 hours in a yoga class, but it's not okay to spend the morning on the couch looking at pretty things on IG? So I think I need to take the message from the universe that if I'm getting newsletters and podcasts about doing nothing, maybe it's okay to do less justifying and more enjoying.
Isn't it fascinating, this need we feel to "justify" the way we spend time? That to me is the most fascinating. To whom? To ourselves? Take the message from the universe: There are times for producing and times for...not.
And glad to hear I'm on trend for a change.
Definitely going to listen to your episode, Liz. Two years back I ordered the book "Bored and Brilliant" and have never looked back. Constantly assigning pressure to myself (programmed pressure ofc) that idle time was lazy or unproductive. The topic of doing nothing being everything has been a common one in almost all of my conversations lately.
Thanks Jess, I definitely need to check that out. I'm fascinated that we're all doing some thinking on this these days.
Same! Especially grateful that we’re all open to sharing notes on what it is/isn’t/means to be bored.
Thanks Liz. Women in particular need to be reminded of this regularly. Allowing myself the space to do “nothing“ has been a long journey and I am still learning. It’s also a lesson we need to teach our overachieving children. Just listened to a great webinar with Laurie Santos of Yale University about ways to reduce stress as we go through the college application process with our teens. She shares the data that shows we are often more productive and successful when we take something off of our plates or step back rather than lean in. I’m drinking THAT Koolaid!
I really do think it is more of a woman problem for some reason, yes. And fantastic point about passing this onto our kids. When I think about it, I do expect them to "do more" with their time, in part because they're in a huge growing phase. But they need that down time jus the same -- maybe more. Will have to check out Laurie. College apps-- phew, that's a whole next level of doing A LOT.
The shift to "Did you enjoy the weekend?" could be quietly life-changing, and certainly life-giving. Thank you for this gift.
I'm all for doing nothing ... if I could just get around to it.
Well said, Groucho!