Far Niente

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about the fact that no one is ever doing nothing. The post was titled, “Busy Doing Nothing.” Click here to read it.

What I did not mention, in the previous post, is the fact that the phrase, “Doing nothing,” is a contradiction. Perhaps a paradox, I am not completely sure.

At any rate, there exists a winery, in the Napa area, called “Far Niente.” Which, translated from Italian, basically means, “Doing nothing.” I have enjoyed some lovely wine, from Far Niente, and the name inspired this post.

The mind can be a very wild place. As the old saying goes, “An idle mind is the devil's playground.” It is for this reason people love to stay busy. Even if what they are doing is utterly useless. Soon I will post an interesting article titled, “Addicted to Distraction.” Stay tuned.

Being left alone, to our thoughts, can be quite intimidating. Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever tried to meditate? It ain't easy. That said, I am a huge fan of meditation. I think everyone should do it.

I first learned to meditate back in college. I had heard of the idea and it intrigued me. So, I bought a CD from Andrew Weil and gave it a whirl.

Quieting the mind can be a very difficult thing to do. Perhaps that is exactly what makes the practice so valuable. Meditation might be the best way to learn how to focus.

And, the ability to pay attention is the critical first step in improving the quality experience. That is a key takeaway from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's phenomenal book, Flow.

For our purposes, we are not really concerned with improving the quality of experience, per se. If you are an entrepreneur, or a knowledge worker, your work requires some degree of creativity. And, creativity demands that we learn how to integrate information.

For this reason, I believe you need to make time to waste time. Meaning, we need time to reflect. One of the best ways to do this is with a mundane task. Showering would be an example.

That great ideas come to us in the shower has become something of a cliché. It also happens to be true. The reason is that our mind is engaged but it is doing a task that it has mastered.

Newton's First Law tells us that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. This applies to the brain. The recommendation I am making is that you do structured activities. Activities that you know how to do.

Steve Jobs was famous for the walks that he would take. Myself, I like to hike in the hills. Either way, each one of us has certainly “mastered” walking. This engages the mind but leaves plenty of computing power to think of other things.

Lots of people enjoy driving to clear their head. And, if it helps you solve your problems, I say, “Go for a drive.”

All-in-all what I am saying is that we should schedule our ideal time. The time when we do nothing. But, there is a twist.

With all due respect to wine drinkers, for most people, casually enjoying a glass offers no structure or direction. I encourage you to intentionally do easy things that have a beginning and an end.

Walks, hikes, and showering are all great ways to free the mind for integrative thinking. Yard work and doing the dishes might work as well.

I am a believer in the mundane. And, I believe we should not pooh-pooh the ordinary. Properly channeled, mundane tasks can be great opportunities for creative thinking. Provided we pay attention to the times we are far niente.