We equate doing nothing as laziness, wasting time, lacks of ambition, or boredom but many conducted researchers concluded that doing nothing is as important to our wellbeing as doing something but needs to be both balanced.
Our ancient forefathers, idling is the most important task to do because it conserves energy as a preparation for the physical challenges in hunting and gathering food. But today, as technology advances rapidly, we do not need to exert more energy to survive so we gain a lot of free time but doing nothing tends to make us get bored and unhappy. So we invent something that makes us busy. And as technological developments accelerate, there are more demands of work. Thereby, we invest our time and energy in our work reducing our time in engaging with our family or friends, leisure, community, meditation, introspection, and reflection. We have no time to stop, look and listen to what is happening around us plus the people around us. We keep ourselves busy and seemingly acts as a defense mechanism against disturbing thoughts and feelings. We bury our feelings and concerns and do not want to bother knowing it. We even consider idleness and boredom invaluable to the creative process.
But many pieces of research have proven that detaching ourselves from our work for a while and spend our time reflecting and contemplating is vital to health, sanity, and self-development. And doing nothing is part of productivity. It helps a person to germinate new insights, ideas, and inventions. Many brilliant people got ideas from idling like Isaac Newton. He suddenly understood the concept of gravity by sitting under an apple tree. Archimedes discovered the law of buoyancy by relaxing in his bathtub, and Albert Einstein spent hours watching into space in his office. Our minds are not programmed to work 24/7, it needs rest. We should learn to let our minds explore our world of imagination and perhaps it can go deeper into our unconscious thoughts where new ideas and solutions are located.
Moreover, many serious physical and mental health consequences are linked to chronic busyness. So being busy all the time has negative impacts on creativity, self-knowledge, emotional well-being, social life, and damage cardiovascular health.
Hence, it is okay to do nothing at all. It is okay to take a walk for a while then resume your work. But if your boss caught you napping, explain to him you are just boosting your productivity. 😉