Take a Break: Do Nothing

Sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something

George Carlin often paced the stage and wondered out loud about motivation. He didn't see any lack of motivation in the world, but observed that a lot of it seemed to be misdirected. We always feel that we need to "do something" because doing something is always the default setting. We don't want to be seen as unmotivated.

Most of us are motivated to do a lot. The 80/20 Rule states that about 20% of our efforts account for 80% of the results. Knowing this can help us live, by focusing on goals and the effective actions that help us meet them.

There is enough to do in life without adding things that do not get us closer to our goals. If 80% of outcomes are due to the most effective 20% of our actions, what about the 80% of what we do that accounts for only 20% of our results? Our ineffective efforts can be dropped to be focused on more fruitful activities. Like doing nothing.

We need time to do nothing. Not having a balance between action and rest affects our health and happiness. To get you started click on this link: Do Nothing For Two Minutes. It is harder than it seems.

I am curious about this frenetic phenomena, and am considering starting a companion blog to NBA called Not Doing Anything. Do you have difficulty doing nothing?

"All human evil comes from a single cause, man's inability to sit still in a room."
- Blaise Pascal