The Art of Doing Nothing: Why We’re All Terrible At It

Look, I’ve Got a Problem

It’s 11:30pm on a Tuesday, and I’m staring at my laptop, wondering why I can’t just… stop. I’ve got work emails answered, my to-do list is completley empty, and yet here I am, scrolling through some helpful resources online guide about, I dunno, villa rentals in Turkey or something. I mean, who even am I?

This is a problem. A big one. And I’m not alone. We’re all terrible at doing nothing. We fill every second with something, anything, because the thought of just sitting there, doing nothing, is honestly kinda terrifying.

My Friend Marcus Hates This Too

I was talking to my friend Marcus about this last week. We were at this little coffee shop on 5th, the one with the weird art on the walls. He’s a lawyer, right? Busy guy. I asked him if he ever just… didn’t do anything. He looked at me like I’d suggested he start wearing onesies to court.

“Mike,” he said, “I have 214 emails in my inbox. I have a deposition tomorrow. I have a kid who needs help with his science fair project. I can’t just… not do something.”

“But what if you did?” I asked. “What if you just sat there and did nothing for, I dunno, 36 hours?”

He laughed. “I’d go crazy. I’d start cleaning the fridge. I’d reorganize my sock drawer. I’d probably call my mom and ask her if she wants to go skydiving.”

And that’s the thing. We’re all like that. We’d rather do anything than nothing.

Science Says We’re Bad At This

So I did some research. Because, you know, I can’t just take Marcus’ word for it. I found this study—okay, I read an article about a study—that said our brains are wired to seek out patterns and solve problems. It’s why we can’t just sit there and do nothing. Our brains start screaming, “Hey! There’s stuff to do! Go do it!”

And it’s not just that. There’s this other thing called “the fear of missing out,” or FOMO. We’re all afraid that if we’re not doing something, we’re missing out on something else. Something better. Something more important.

It’s ridiculous. It’s also completely normal.

But Here’s the Thing

Doing nothing is important. It’s how we recharge. It’s how we process stuff. It’s how we come up with new ideas. But we’re all so busy doing stuff that we never give ourselves the chance to just… not.

I remember this one time, about three months ago, I was at this conference in Austin. There was this speaker, let’s call him Dave, who talked about how he used to be this crazy busy guy. Always on the go, always doing stuff. Then he had a heart attack. And he told me, “Mike, that was the wake-up call I needed. I started doing nothing. And it saved my life.”

Which… yeah. Fair enough.

So What Do We Do About It?

I’m not saying we all need to become hermits. I’m not saying we should all start meditating or doing yoga or whatever. I’m just saying we need to give ourselves permission to do nothing sometimes.

Try this: set a timer for 10 minutes. Sit there and do nothing. No phone, no laptop, no TV. Just sit there. And see how long it takes before you start feeling uncomfortable. Before you start thinking, “I should be doing something else.”

It’s hard. It’s really hard. But it’s important.

A Tangent About Cats

You know what’s great at doing nothing? Cats. They’re the masters of it. They can just lie there for hours, doing absolutely nothing. And they’re happy. They’re content. They’re not worrying about their to-do lists or their inboxes or their science fair projects.

We could learn a lot from cats.

Back to the Point

So here’s the thing. We’re all bad at doing nothing. But it’s something we need to get better at. Because doing nothing is important. It’s how we recharge. It’s how we process stuff. It’s how we come up with new ideas.

And honestly, it’s okay to be bad at it. It’s okay to feel uncomfortable. It’s okay to want to do something else. But we need to try. We need to give ourselves permission to do nothing sometimes.

So go ahead. Set that timer. Sit there. Do nothing. And see what happens.

About the Author
Mike Davis has been a senior magazine editor for over 20 years. He’s written for major publications, covered everything from tech to travel, and has a serious coffee addiction. He lives in Austin with his cat, Whiskers, who is, frankly, better at doing nothing than he is.