I want you to waste time. Yep, you heard right. You should waste some of your time.

However I don’t want you to just sit on your arse [Sorry Anna, I promise that I won’t use too many bad words] doing nothing but be a couch potato.

No, what you should be doing is relaxing. Do something that you take pleasure in. Something simple. Something like a long hot bath. Doing some weeding in the garden. Have a gentle stroll around the local park. Or just sit in the garden and watch the clouds and day dream.

Don’t watch TV, use your computer, or play video games. Switch off the mobile phone, don’t browse the web on your smart phone, don’t peek to see what tweets you’ve got in the last 15 minutes.

The aim is to stimulate your alpha brain waves. When you brain is producing alpha waves you are in a more creative mode. You are more likely to do some free association. Ideas will pop into your head which you can throw away or mull over and toss around. Out of this you might get some insight into a problem that you have been concentrating on, or you might just break through the brick wall that you’ve been hitting your head against, or you could decide to do something that you’ve put off for ages.

You can use this technique at home to just come up with ideas to write a blog post about or you could use it at work if your job requires you to think such as a creative or scientific job, or even if you are trying to write a report for your boss.

The important thing is to realise when you are daydreaming or to actively find time to daydream. Daydreaming through a boring lecture is not the right thing to do as that is just switching off your brain. Use the period to play with the thoughts floating around your brain and remember them so that you can use something from the experience when you finish your daydream.

SBML

1
wh00ps
May 19, 2012 at 13:05

That’s not a waste of time though, is it?

2
Ex-Liverpool Docker
May 19, 2012 at 13:40

I was informed that watching a blank wall was actually pretty good as it ‘makes’ you think; burns off more calories than watching the tv!

3
SadButMadLad
May 19, 2012 at 15:02

I once had the choice of watching paint dry or watching cricket. I chose paint. It’s fascinating watching the wall change colour and see the patterns develop as different parts of the wall dry out at different rates. It can be made even more fun by trying to guess which bit is the next to dry.

4
Châtelaine
May 19, 2012 at 17:43

A bit like looking at a batch of multi-coloured washing in the machine and taking a guess as to in which order they will pass by next time. I did that when I was young and had to use launderettes. That and a book made me a relaxing evening

5
Simon Cooke
May 19, 2012 at 14:10

Busy doing nothing?

http://theviewfromcullingworth.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/on-spare-time-or-being-busy-doing.html

Enjoy the weekend!

6
Engineer
May 19, 2012 at 14:24

A long walk has the same effect – though preferably somewhere you don’t have to concentrate on not getting run over by passing traffic. Once you’re into the rhythm of striding, you can let your senses wallow in the sights, sounds, smells around you, and your mind can wander where it will. Very calming, even during heavy rain, provided you have suitable clothing.

7
Fred Thrung
May 19, 2012 at 14:31

Or learn how to meditate – TM is one technique but there are others.

8
Matt Wardman
May 19, 2012 at 14:35

Or painting a ceiling

9
macheath
May 19, 2012 at 15:46

I’ve been saying much the same thing all week to pupils suffering from exam stress.

Trouble is, they often have no experience at all of doing nothing. Bounced from nursery to swimming lessons from day one and bombarded with electronic media all their lives, they feel hopelessly adrift when cut off from mental stimulation.

Doing nothing is even more stressful for them that trying to do everything.

10
permanentexpat
May 19, 2012 at 16:13

“The time you enjoy doing nothing is not time wasted”…or something very similar, said Bertrand Russell.

I do a lot of that……wonderful!

11
binao
May 19, 2012 at 16:18

After a period working in Spain more than twenty years ago, I seem to have acquired the habit of an armchair half doze after lunch, no matter how small the meal. Highly commended.
Mowing grass is also good.
Even better is a friendly and relaxed game of lawn bowls on that grass on a warm afternoon. Much too good for impatient youth.

12
Randy hack
May 19, 2012 at 18:38

Wise words. We live lives that are too frenetic. Doing nothing is an art, and should be practiced regularly, for mental and physical health and creativity!

13
Single Acts of Tyranny
May 19, 2012 at 19:41

My compliments on a splendid photo to accompany the blog. Sadly thinking of nothing is not an option when you have a picture of a beauty.

For me anyway. Truly, is there anything more lovely?

14
Wigner’s Friend
May 20, 2012 at 09:48

To quote an old saw: “Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.”

15
Pompey Cowboy
May 20, 2012 at 16:06

Would masturbation counts towards relaxation?

16
Roshan
May 22, 2012 at 00:11

There is a solution for every problems , past time will never back

17
Amfortas
May 23, 2012 at 06:19

‘Arse’ is a fine and old English word. Keep using it Sir.

Francis Bacon made good use of it describing a social climber of his day…

“He doth make like an ape: the higher he doth climb, the more he doth show his arse”.

If Bacon can use it, So can you and I. Bacon makes a fine breakfast too.