🦥 FIELD GUIDE 47: In praise of doing nothing
Welcome to FURTHER AFIELD, our monthly foray outside FFOREST for stories and ideas we think you’ll love.
‘Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.’
(Proverb 6:6–8, NIV)
But get this: at any given time about 50% of ants in a colony are doing absolutely nothing. They are merely existing. In fact most animals spend huge chunks of their lives doing nothing at all.
We humans tend not to see value in doing nothing. Boredom expert Dr Sandi Mann – I hope this song is her walk-on music – says doing nothing is also import for humans. ‘Being bored is actually good for us. We wouldn’t have it as a carefully evolved emotion if it wasn’t good for us.’ In her studies she has learned that bored people who daydream are able to be more creative than non-bored people.
I learned this and other interesting things about doing nothing when I listened to ‘Lazy Ants and the Power of Doing Nothing’. It’s only 15 minutes, so you’ll still have plenty of time to do nothing afterwards.
Also…
Allowing yourself to be bored is one of the nine tips for stimulating your creativity in my book about Getting Ideas. You can download the PDF version here.
And…
Jenny Odell has written a book called How To Do Nothing. She says about our obsession with screens, ‘…digital distraction was a bane, not because it made people less productive, but because it took them away from the one life they had to live’. (Quoted in Christine Sweeney’s review.)
I don’t want to be taken away from my one life.
Having a brain full of good stories gives your mind interesting places to go when it wanders. Recently, I have thoroughly enjoyed ‘Who is Aldrich Kemp?’ and ‘Who Killed Aldrich Kemp?’ They are quintessential British spy comedy-dramas. Everyone loves a quintessential British spy comedy-drama right? I’ve linked to BBC Sounds. They are also available wherever you get your podcasts.
Happy weekend!
Jeff