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| Photo by Nathan McBride on Unsplash |
Are you keeping busy?
(adapted from an article in the New York Times 29/04/19 by Olga Mecking)
(adapted from an article in the New York Times 29/04/19 by Olga Mecking)
Running
from place to place and labouring over long to-do lists have increasingly
become ways to communicate
status:
The
message this sends is “I’m so busy because I’m just
so important”
Maybe it is time to stop all this busyness!
“Being
busy” is rarely the status indicator that we have come to believe it to be. Nonetheless, the impact is real, and instances of burnout, anxiety disorders and stress-related
diseases are on the rise, not to mention the “millennial burnout”
There
is, however, a way out of all this madness, and it is not more mindfulness,
exercise or a healthy diet (even though these things are all still important). It is quite simply … doing nothing or as the
Dutch say “Niksen”
What
is Niksen?
It is difficult to define what doing nothing
actually is, because we are
always doing something, even when we are asleep.
Doreen
Dodgen-Magee, a psychologist who studies boredom and wrote the book “Deviced! Balancing Life and Technology in
a Digital World,” likens Niksen to a car whose engine is running but isn’t
going anywhere.
“The
way I think about boredom is coming to a moment with no plan other than just to be,”
she said.
Sandi
Mann, a psychologist at the University
of Central Lancashire here in England
The
idea of Niksen is to really take conscious, considered time and energy to do
activities like gazing out of a window or sitting motionless. The
less-enlightened might call such activities “lazy” or “wasteful.” Again this is
nonsense!
There
are people who are fans of taking regular breaks
throughout the day, because many studies show that feeling drowsy, exhausted or
otherwise mentally depleted during the workday drastically hinders performance
and productivity.
In other words: Whether at home or at work, it
is permissible to spend the afternoon just hanging out.
So why do we need Niksen
in our lives?
Generally
speaking, our culture does not promote sitting still, and yet this is something
that can have wide-reaching consequences for our mental health, well-being,
productivity and other areas of our lives.
Technology
does not make it any easier: The smartphone you carry with you at all hours
makes it almost impossible to truly unplug and embrace idleness. And, by
keeping ourselves busy at all times, we may be losing our ability to sit still because our brains are actually being rewired.
Indeed,
the benefits of idleness can be wide-ranging.
It
has been found that daydreaming — an inevitable effect of idleness — “literally
makes us more creative, better at problem-solving, better at coming up with
creative ideas.” For that to happen, though, total idleness is required.
“Let
the mind search for its own stimulation,” Ms. Mann said. “That is when you get
the daydreaming and mind wandering, and that’s when you’re more likely to get
the creativity.”
Counterintuitively,
idleness can be a great productivity tool because “if our energy is totally
shot, our productivity is not going to be good because we’re not going to have
fuel to burn with which to be productive,” said Chris Bailey, a productivity
expert and author of the blog “A Life of Productivity.”
Niksen can help you solve problems
as well.
“It
takes you out of your mind, and then you see things clearly after a while,”
said Manfred Kets de Vries, a professor of leadership development and
organizational change at Insead in Paris
But
stopping the cycle of business can be challenging in a culture that prizes
getting things done. Here are some tips to help you stop and be:
Make time for doing nothing, and do it with
purpose.
Figure
out when you’re most productive and creative, then notice when your mind starts
to shut off or you start performing tasks just for the sake of doing them, Mr.
Bailey suggests. That’s when you should go for a walk or take a break. The
intention behind the decision is what counts.
“I do nothing with purpose,” Mr. Kets de Vries
said. “I know that without breaks I cannot be effective.”
Prioritize the things that are important to you and the things
that bring you pleasure, and outsource everything else when possible. Focusing
on the truly relevant parts of life can help you build free time in your
schedule. And take advantage of convenient opportunities to practice idleness,
like when you’re standing in line or waiting for the children to come home from
school.
Resist the culture of busyness.
If you’re doing nothing, own it. When someone asks you what you’re doing during a nothing break, simply respond, “Nothing.” Be unapologetic about taking breaks or holidays, and if you start to feel guilty about being seen as lazy, think of niksen not as a sign of laziness but as an important life skill. Choose the initial discomfort of niksen over the familiarity of busyness.
Manage your expectations.
Learning takes time and effort, so do not get discouraged if you do not catch on immediately to the benefits of idleness. Know that sitting still might actually be uncomfortable at first and might take practice — just like exercise.
Ms. Dodgen-Magee likens it to beginning a new workout routine: At first, you might get sore, but “after a while, you’ll find yourself in this moment where you’re like, ‘Oh, this feels fantastic.’
Reorganize your environment.
Your surroundings can have a major impact on how much nothingness you can embrace, so consider the physical space in your home and workplace.
Keep your
devices out of reach so that they will be more difficult to access, and turn
your home into a Niksen-friendly area. Add a soft couch, a comfy armchair, a
few cushions or just a blanket. Place
furniture around a window or fireplace rather than a TV.
“If those spaces are present, people will use them,” Ms.
Dodgen-Magee said.
Think
outside of the box.
If you
cannot sit still in your home or workplace, go to the park or book a relaxing
day at the spa. Ms. Dodgen-Magee encourages people to host boredom parties,
during which a host invites over a few friends to … be bored together.
Mr.
Bailey suggests experimenting with different lifestyles to find the right one
for you. For example, he lived like a slob for a
week and learned that it’s important to “let
the air out of the tires” once in a while.
If
you are still uncomfortable with the idea of doing nothing, try to trick your
mind into thinking you’re being productive. Ms. Dodgen-Magee suggests using
open- end toys such as kinetic sand, Baoding
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