The Idle Life

As you can imagine, I’m a big fan of Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits blog. He and I see eye to eye on a lot of issues, though it’s unlikely he’ll ever convince me to become a vegan. I loves my bacon too much!

He just wrote an amazing blog post, called The Tao of Productivity, that goes hand in hand with my ideas of how to live an idle life but still be satisfied with what you get done.

Taoism has always had a special place in my heart, partially because it fits perfectly with being idle, but also because it reminds us that you can often accomplish more by “not-doing” and letting things take their course than you can by trying to do too much and ending up frustrated when things don’t go according to your plan.

When I start to think about all the stuff I don’t have, and all of the stuff I’d need to do to get it, I get stressed and unhappy. When I sit back and realize that I have an amazing life and would rather take time to appreciate all the great things I have right now, I feel relaxed, refreshed, and satisfied. Reading the Tao always seems to instill that same sense of peace and satisfaction in me.

If you want to learn to stop and smell the roses more often, and stop struggling so hard all the time, try reading the Tao. It’s so simple and such a quick read, but the ideas in it can really help you take stock of your life and learn just how satisfying doing nothing at all can be.

Image courtesy of Carissa

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that at some point, everybody makes to-do lists. Maybe they’re trying to be more productive, maybe they’re trying to be less stressed, maybe they just feel like they should because everyone else does.

I’m going to propose an idea that can simultaneously help you be less stressed and more productive: create a to-don’t list. Honestly, I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this before.

It’s a really simple idea: a to-don’t list is just a reminder list of all the things you don’t want to do that day, but need reminding of. You can post it at your desk, or on your bathroom mirror, or wherever you want to have reminders of all the crap you want to avoid, that day or every day. These reminders can help keep negative stuff out of your life, and at the same time keep you focused on what’s really important, making you more productive.

Depending on what you struggle with, some ideas might be:

• Don’t get so angry with other drivers.
• Don’t stress out about stuff that doesn’t matter in the big picture.
• Don’t put work ahead of family.
• Don’t check email every 5 minutes.
• Don’t let the Man get you down.

The list could go on and on, but the basic point is: Reminding yourself, as often as necessary, to cut out the crap in your life that’s holding you back or making you unhappy.

That’s it! Give it a try- every time you think of something you’re doing now that you wish you weren’t, add it to your to-don’t list. See what happens, and report back to me! I’m really interested to see if this idea helps people avoid the things in their lives that make them miserable.

By the way, here’s a short list of my to-don’ts that I came up with off the top of my head (in addition to the ones above, which all apply to me):

• Don’t watch TV for hours instead of doing things that are meaningful.
• Don’t worry about getting distracted, if it means learning about wonderful new things.
• Don’t let all your free time get filled up. Leave some space.
• Don’t forget to tell people around you how important and valuable they are.
• Don’t think too much about the future.
• Don’t take on too many projects at once.

I’m sure I’ll think of a million more, but those are a good start. What about you? Please share your to-don’ts in the comments!