Learn the Power of Doing Nothing
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About ten years ago, my husband gave my mother some of the most profound advice she had ever been given, advice that everyone in my family has put into practice whenever possible. What are these profound words of wisdom, you ask?
The answer is to “DO NOTHING.”
We discuss the “Matt Wilson Way of Doing Nothing” quite often, and I tell him he will always be remembered for doing nothing.
While this could sound like I am insulting my lazy “do nothing” husband, let me instead explain why this is actually amazing advice.
It began when my mother had a tree die in her yard. It was one of two identical and well-established trees on either side of her driveway, and losing one was quite upsetting.
While mulling over all of her options with my husband and me about the various ways she could fix this problem, and stressing over the expense and difficulty that could go into trying to get another tree of that size to match the one still living, she was seeking our input on which of the daunting ways to fix this she should choose.
That’s when Matt’s famous words were uttered.
“Can’t you just do nothing?”
It hadn’t occurred to my mother that she could just do nothing – that rather than stress over which course of action to take during a time when she had so many other things going on, she could simply take all focus away from this problem and just do nothing.
In the years following this revelation, there have been so many times we have all reminded ourselves to just do nothing when it comes to certain problems, that not everything is a life or death situation requiring an immediate course of action.
About a year down the road, she eventually did address her tree problem, but it was when she had way less going on and could easily focus her attention on the issue, and it turned out to be a rather simple fix – all because she allowed herself to go about it when she was ready rather than stress over one more thing being added to her already packed plate.
There are times in life that we stress about whether to do A or B, when maybe we can just do nothing and completely remove that obstacle or decision from our life. There are other times, like this case with my mother, where the answer is “do nothing right now.”
If the problem that has arisen is not truly urgent or time sensitive, rather than stress about there being one more thing you have to handle, just do nothing, and then address the issue down the road when things have settled and life isn’t so crazy.
My husband has also learned at work and teaches his employees about labeling each task that comes along as either “urgent or not urgent” and “important or not important.” Things that are both urgent and important are given first priority, whereas things that are neither urgent nor important can be discarded. This is where you can do nothing.
Please understand that I am not advocating procrastination or brushing something under the rug, particularly when it is important.
This is about allowing yourself to actively make the choice to do nothing.
It isn’t just passively deciding to ignore your problems or be lazy; it’s about prioritizing and realizing that not everything has to be done right away, that there are times where we stress decisions or what to do when there isn’t actually anything that needs to be done at all.
TRUE problems cannot be ignored, particularly when they are urgent. Often they must be handled immediately, or there are times where you can allow yourself to “do nothing for now,” but ultimately you will have to take action. It is more for the smaller dilemmas in life where we can make the choice to simply do nothing.
The bottom line is that there are times when we have way more to do than seems feasible, and it is easy to stress about how you’re ever going to get it all done. But what if you don’t have to get it all done – or at least you don’t have to do it all right now?
Find all of those not urgent and not important things that you’re stressing about, and just let yourself off the hook. Find the power and the freedom in doing nothing, and you too can one day thank my husband, the King of Doing Nothing.
~ Jennifer ~
