Idling

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Sitting here staring at a blank page - as I've mentioned before, trying to dredge up an idea even for the shortest of posts - sometimes seems an intractable, self-imposed and almost certainly unnecessary task: however, I've not broken the one-scribble-a-day-minimum rule in the nearly five years I've been penning this daily missive, no matter the circumstances. Anyhow, 2,244 posts - and days - later, tonight's blank mind was woken up when I glanced at the small bookshelf on my desk here in the study/dining room/office [delete as functionally and descriptively necessary], and noticed my very old and battered copy of Jerome K. Jerome's 'The Idle Thoughts of An Idle Fellow: A book for an Idle Holiday', which vectored my empty mind back to a discussion on BBC Radio Four's 'Saturday Live' this morning, with Dr. Joseph Jebelli.

He was expounding on "the power of doing nothing". He argues, and I concur avidly with his thinking - as would the Jerome of the aforementioned book - that to get the very best out of the human brain, and hence mind, it is necessary to frequently rest the organ from stress and concentrated conscious thought: to take time out from the task(s) in hand and simply 'be' for a while. More often than not, this will result not only in the relief of the harmful side-effects of always being 'on' and over-stimulated to the point of distracted and fearful inaction, but to a greater level of creativity and performance as a result.

He noted - as I've mentioned here before - that problem solving is best often done in the realm of the brain's subconscious processing centres, which occupy the biggest percentage of both the brain's physical and its mental capacity. Looking away, going for a walk, disengaging from a task, staring into space and daydreaming should welcomed readily; not only into one's personal life, but encouraged in the world of work also. I can't imagine what bloody line-management, time & motion or HR would make of it, trying to wring every microsecond of every worker's day from them: a completely counter-productive strategy that simply leads to stress, burnout, inefficiency and a far less productive workforce than otherwise.

All physical machines need 'idle' times in order to function correctly and survive; so to, do human beings: it should be an implicit addition to everyone's workplace. When the time for working is over, then a mixture of busy and idle time is equally necessary: I try and balance the two in my retirement to mitigate the less positive side of retirement - lower income, higher winter fuel bills, etc. - with the positives: time to be oneself, under one's own management; and time to be creative and enjoy the pleasures of leisure more often. Most importantly, sometimes just staring into the distance; whence so often, the best creative ideas come...

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