All of us know that we’re usually hit with our best inspiration when we least expect it. Yet, many of us believe that we don’t have time to deliberately ‘not expect something’. Everything we do comes with an expectation of a projected outcome.
I recently read a LinkedIn post that cited known geniuses of our time like Einstein who would take deliberate care to include time in each day for doing nothing. Einstein notably said: “Creativity is the residue of time wasted.”
I love this concept specifically because I want to do nothing and I want my “doing nothing“ to be for a good cause without nagging to-do-list guilt. So I’ve been doing mental gymnastics to figure out how to schedule in “doing nothing” time and here’s the kicker: to actually follow through and not allow “more important” tasks to encroach on the time.
One of my first thoughts when I read that Einstein would purposely spend time just drifting in a boat was that, sure it was easy for him, he didn’t have an iPhone addiction. Just shedding our electronic devices is a chore and cognitively quite challenging. Wondering how I could create this reality in my life I turned to a known expert for advice: Claude AI.
Some advice from Claude:
Periods of “strategic idleness” provide several cognitive benefits and for today’s business owners, this might look like:
- Daily walks without devices
- Quiet morning reflection time before jumping into tasks
- Occasional days with completely unscheduled time
- Deliberate periods of daydreaming between focused work sessions
Rather than seeing these moments as unproductive, we might reframe them as essential investments in cognitive capacity and creative problem-solving.
And there you have it: Accept that these dedicated times of strategic idleness are essential investments.
Just because we can do more, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. I like the question: What is the purpose? Because for me, I want to soak up and enjoy as much of this life as possible, and one of the things I enjoy most is feeling inspired. So, if inspiration hits when I least expect it, then I must prepare for nothing, expect nothing, and enjoy my investment in doing nothing. The second and third order benefits will roll on in, but of course, I won’t expect them.
