How to Master the Skill of Doing Nothing
And you'll be more productive...
Contrary to what you may think, to sit in complete silence, even though you’re technically “doing nothing”, is a skill.
A difficult one to master, at that.
Most men I come across can’t sit and focus for even 30 seconds without minds wandering.
It takes practice, just like everything, to be able to do this. If you can learn how to sit with your thoughts, especially when it’s uncomfortable…
If you can learn how to focus on your breath and nothing else…
You will be able to:
Think more clearly
Make better and more timely decisions
Control your stress response
Recognize what your body is feeling so you can adapt training
Bring more focus your spiritual/prayer time
We have too much bandwidth taken up in our collective minds and very few of us have the tools to clear any of it out.
The best way to start this training is to count your breaths.
A practice I love to teach is called Box Breathing. You will partition your breath into an inhale/hold/exhale/hold pattern, each getting equal amounts of time.
How to perform Box Breathing:
Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5, exhale for 5, hold for 5.
Repeat this for 5 minutes and focus on nothing but your breath.
This is a great drill to begin the practices of breath work and you’ll realize how quickly that 5 minutes passes.
The practice of being able to clear your mind and be still, especially when everything around you is pulling for your attention, will help you immensely in your ability to think clearly through stress, and teach you how to center and calm your system when everything around you seems chaotic.
It really is a type of super power.
Bonus points if you can do it at sunrise next to a fire.
