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The biggest challenge after I left my corporate job a few years back has been to do nothing when there is nothing to do.
Not that when I was in a job, I had a lot to do all the time. But there was a constant focus on doing something.
A lot of days even then I had nothing to do. I didn’t tell anyone though. Everyone seemed busy on their laptops. I didn’t end up staying with nothing to do for long. It was easier to get out of doing nothing then. All it took was a meeting.
But now, things are different. There is no one watching. I don’t need to appear busy. There is no compulsion for me to do something when there is nothing to do. Doing nothing is not an abnormal situation anymore.
It may sound like another way of saying I like leisure, but a writing life allows such luxuries. For a while, you write something, almost on a routine, and then, for a while, you do nothing.
The challenge is to really do nothing when you have nothing to do. It is easier said than done. Simple but not easy. Try it.
I specifically mention it because I met a friend from the busy category a few days back. He was a busy executive with lots of work, lots of meetings and lots of responsibilities. I met him and he asked me what I was doing for the year-end. I said I was doing nothing.
He looked at me and asked me what I do all day, otherwise.
I said – well, most of my mornings and some of the afternoons, I write. And the rest of the time, I do nothing. Maybe I read, if I feel like it.
He was surprised (which was not surprising). But to my surprise, he felt like he had to do something about doing nothing.
He said he needed more time doing nothing, as he was always busy. I said, well, I don’t have that problem. I don’t know what activity started in his head after that.
What he did after that surprised me even more, and that’s why I wrote this article, when I had nothing else to do.
He opened his calendar on the phone and set up a meeting inviting his staff for it, every Friday afternoon from three pm to five pm. The title of the meeting was ‘doing nothing.’
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