How many useful videos do you save on Facebook every day to watch them later?
How many interesting seminars are you going to visit each month?
Are you going to read many books each year?
Hundreds, I bet.
And how many of these promises do you actually keep? Yeah, I knew that.
Hopes and disappointments; plans and procrastination; failure and pangs of conscience. We’ve all been there.
Do you want to forget how does it feel?
Then I have one incredible tip for you.
DO NOTHING.
Sounds nonsense? Maybe. But it will help you succeed for sure. Here is how.
How to Succeed Doing Nothing
Do Nothing at Night
You can sleep 8 hours per day and still feel exhausted. Why? You do it wrong.
How do you usually spend your night time?
False: Take your laptop in the bed and watch a couple of seasons of your favorite show. Grab your smartphone and look through all the social media you are registered in. Then, scrolled the feed to the very end, start from the beginning.
This way, your brain has no chance to recover, as even after you fell asleep, it keeps analyzing tons of information you fed it overnight.
True: Put your phone and laptop aside at least 60 minutes before going to bed.
Wear your pajamas. It seems not necessary, but if you do it every day, eventually your brain will take it as a signal to slow down.
In about 30 minutes before you want to fall asleep, shut the curtains, the windows (if it is loud outside), turn off the light and lay down.
That’s it. Now do nothing.
Learn to use this time to clear your thoughts, in fact – to get rid of them.
Lack of sleep causes depression, apathy, paranoia, heart attacks, etc. Without doubt, poor health doesn’t increase your chances to succeed.
But proper rest does. Prioritize sleep. Do nothing at night.
Do Nothing at Home
Again, technologies. They brought to our life so many wonderful things that we missed the moment they took us hostage.
Thanks to technologies, we could work out of the office. And we do.
Sure, we try to keep that work-life balance, but it seems difficult to achieve.
How do you spend your time at home mostly?
False: Check your work email while having lunch, watching movie, feeding your child, speaking on the phone with your colleagues or trying to solve your work problems.
The only way to not mix up work and personal life is to fully be present at work when you are at the office and at home when you’re home.
When you leave the office, leave your work there too. When you’re at home, find a home activity.
True: Play with your kids, go for a walk with your dog, have a nap, simply look into the eyes of your loved one.
Spend time alone. Go to the beach, catch a bus and visit places you’ve never been to.
Release yourself from the job or social duties. Do nothing.
Make space for personal life, so there is space for fresh thoughts and performances in professional one.
Do Nothing at Work
Come on! Don’t be so surprised. You’re doing it all the time. But you’re doing it wrong.
False: Being over-pressed with the duties, you don’t leave the desk and have a rest, but pretend (and you believe in it too!) you’re working.
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However, many tasks and tough deadlines don’t make us work effectively. On the contrary, they overwhelm us, so we can’t concentrate on the each task in series and just procrastinate.
True: Do nothing at work occasionally. Find time to read a novel, meditate, make a cup of coffee and drink it watching through the window. Do something unrelated to your work. Create an island of a different reality. Close your eyes and dream.
As soon as doing nothing becomes a part of the professional routine, our productivity increases.
Plan your work schedule adding doing nothing paragraph to it.
At first, you can use a timer like Pomodoro, or other similar tools. It helps you not to refocus again and waste your time.
The trick of a productive work day lies in the easiness, serenity, and sequence – not in a rush and anxiety.
Doing nothing isn’t shameful. It is not a reward for doing an excellent job. It is what we need to do.
About the Author
Kate Maurice is a freelance copywriter, the creator of online project pay4homework.com/, who is interested in educational problems in modern society and self-improvement techniques. Kate is a typical introvert. You probably find her in a cozy coffee house reading a book or watching people passing by outside.
