Doing nothing is doing something
read it again. say it out loud. let's define what nothing means to you.
In a world where we are constantly stimulated and can feel behind a lot due to access to so much information, we have turned into humans that get validation through our productivity. We celebrate being over productive. The truth is, 100% is all we got. 100% = whole or the limit. We CANNOT deliver over 100% because we don’t have that much to produce and charge within a day. We are humans that need rest, we need to recharge and we need to do nothing sometimes.
The disconnect here is that “nothing” is defined as: “not anything; no single thing”. BUT, as a coach and educator that redefines all words, nothing is doing something.
A few years ago, while I was sitting in a therapy session and feeling very anxious because I felt like I wasn’t doing enough. I can’t remember if this was during the height of the pandemic or I was in a transition moment about to launch only yummy, always. Regardless, I was feeling all kinds of sticky because I could not get “enough” done within a day. My mind and body were actually begging me for rest, but there was a voice from within pushing me to try to be productive. The key word here, “try”. I was attempting to sit in front of my computer and produce whatever was on my to-do list to get done. Instead, I was sitting there staring at my screen, blocked, switching in between tabs. Sometimes, I stayed in front of the screen for hours at a time, feeding into the voice from within telling me I wasn’t productive enough.
I saw this as a topic to bring up during my session. My therapist listened and then looked me right in the eyes and very clearly and simply said “ Kim, doing nothing is still doing something.” I asked her to explain because I truly did not understand this statement. It took me WEEKS even months to understand this statement. I recited over and over. I told friends, family even my clients this. I knew there was some truth here but I didn’t understand the message because I hadn’t yet understood the impact it has on my entire system. I didn’t know what it felt like somatically. Everytime I told someone, I watched their reaction to the statement so I could understand it more. And then one day, I was soothing myself during a moment of putting pressure on myself to be more productive and pulled this statement out of my resource box. And for some reason, that day, it landed REALLY loudly within.
Read it again, doing nothing is still doing something. One more time - doing nothing is still doing something.
It is true. When we rest, pause, do “nothing”, we are taking care of ourselves in THE MOST beautiful and necessary way. Doing nothing means something different to each one of us.
I started defining what nothing meant to me and some days, I add more to the definition.
For me, nothing means sitting in quiet in my apt, it means cooking in the middle of day and shutting my computer screen, it means NOT responding to emails, texts and calls unless I have the bandwidth to, it means taking the time I need to process somatically what I am navigating each day, it means being ok with not getting through my to do wish list for the day and doing whatever else I’m inspired to do. Doing nothing is giving yourself permission to show yourself the hospitality that you give to others and be at service to your entire self.
For all of the leaders out there that seek validation and affirmation in being productive and crossing off your to do list, take a moment and define what nothing means to you. You too may be leading yourself to burn out. That’s ok, we all do it unconsciously. But I’d love for you to sit with this statement, repeat to yourself and others and then define what nothing means to you.
Guaranteed it will be an uncomfortable process especially if you are an intense perfectionist and thrive on productivity like I do. But it’s worth the discovery journey and it will support your growth into a more confident leader. And the beauty of it all, you then get to teach your colleague and teams what doing nothing means and how much of an impact it has.