Doing nothing is productive

Let’s face it. We are busy ALL the time. We are hamsters in a wheel chasing real and many times, imaginary targets. I came across a recent report that says knowledge workers spent 58% of their time doing “work about work”, notably attending meetings or reading emails that have very little relevance. Another 33% of their time is spent in doing skilled work that they were actually hired to do, and the remaining - just about 10% - time is spent in doing activities that could make them better at their job. This is shocking and yet, a lot of us will relate to this.?

Now, we are supposed to be part of the knowledge economy and we have access to fabulous technology tools at our disposal (with Gen AI being the latest entrant to the repertoire) and these should free up some time for us to focus on personal growth and betterment. But we are always busy and there is no time for this.

The culprit is one of the most neglected yet important biases in behavioural science- activity bias. It is due to activity bias that people, when given a choice between doing something and doing nothing, prefer doing something (by being busy), even if this activity is not productive or not thought through.

There is nothing so terrible as activity without insight- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Activity bias is observed not only when we are at work. Here are some non-work examples:

·????? Investments tend to grow when we hold onto them for a longer time. There is enough data to support this. However, activity bias pushes us to day-trade or churn investments more often than needed, under the assumption that more such activity will provide more returns and also the feeling that we are doing ‘something’

·????? Most people learning a musical instrument (happened to me for sure) focus on speed i.e. to hit as many notes one can in rapid succession, instead of focusing on the pauses. Incidentally, I totally dig what French composer Claude Debussy said:

Music is the silence between the notes

·????? Activity bias also kicks in when the site of a beautiful sunset doesn’t lead to sitting in silence admiring the glory, but it rather leads to taking photos using various filters, tag people and share on social media.

Sometimes activities that scream ‘doing nothing’- sitting still, introspecting and not being particularly activity-oriented could be immensely productive. And, that’s exactly what I am doing right now on this lazy Saturday afternoon. And, I am loving it!

Are you ready to do nothing then?

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