WHY DOING NOTHING

The greatest global challenge of our time is our race against time to keep the planet from melting humanity right off of its face. Yet, the answer can be profoundly simple: do nothing. By choosing not to give in to our desires to consume and produce at an ever-increasing pace, and instead mastering our discomfort with dissatisfaction, we can slow this pace down to a renewable rate once again. Just because we can have everything right away doesn’t mean we should have everything right away. Our greatest enemy is our own competition-driven mind, convinced it’s in a race for survival. Instead of doing less, perhaps what we need is to be as radical as doing nothing.

–
Part of the Harnessing Discomfort for Leadership series.

 

But how do you do nothing?

There’s no trick about it. You simply stop. No consumption, no production. Notice what happens. Your experience can only be yours, and to pay attention to it is the greatest gift you can give yourself and the world. Because what you notice in the flash of a moment may change the rest of your life on earth.


some practical tips

  1. Give yourself permission to do nothing.

  2. Don’t time yourself. If necessary, let someone else keep time for you.

  3. Don’t get frustrated. Stay calm.

  4. Shift your attention to nothing — and all its details. A glimmer of light, a subtle smell or taste, a tingle in your spine. A flash in your mind.

  5. Develop your ability to do nothing out in the world: Look at a painting for an hour. Smell the inside of your nose in a park. Watch your cup of tea cool down. Feel the inside of your throat run dry. Find stillness within yourself, enough to notice the subtlest changes and movements around you.

  6. Acknowledge and accept your discomfort or restlessness. Befriend it and invite it to join you in doing nothing.

“It was life-changing and joyous to be given permission to do nothing.”
— Margaret Carter, entrepreneur
 

book a session

 

It’s simple, not easy. That’s its beauty.

Doing Nothing alone is empowering. Doing Nothing together is electrifying. If you’d like to discuss a session at your conference, live event or company stage, please send us a message or schedule a call to discuss. We facilitate customised sessions depending on the size of your audience, stage, time block and budget.

We promise it will be the most talked about session of your event.