The Merits of Idleness - Essay Example

20 April The Merits of Idleness There are thousands of self-help books that cite productivity, hard work andefficiency as factors to success but very few would dote on idleness as a virtue. Strange as it may seem, Tom Hodgkins wrote a book titled How To Be Idle that traces the work ethic of western civilization. As how our modern society got stressful and busy, everything else is explained in the book. The subject of the book concerns Northern Europe and American society mainly because this is where manufacturing and Industrial Revolution took place. At the introduction of the book, the author extols the rewards of hanging around – going to a pub, having sex or napping. However, there is a deeper insight that Hodgkinson is trying to convey to readers of the book. He is simply telling us that doing nothing can be as good as doing something because it has psychological and physical benefits. First of all, idleness can be a form of relaxation to stop us from completely ruining our physical health. It is not uncommon nowadays to see middle-aged managers suffering from diabetes or heart conditions. More often than not, these busy lot of young leaders resort to unhealthy habits like smoking or over-eating as a coping mechanism to stress. They run like headless chickens when deadlines set in and fire orders like missiles to their subordinates. Later, they succumb to various health conditions because they simply failed to stop and smell the flowers. These people would extract productivity from most of their waking hours by doing work-related tasks even on moments where they could be just resting. In fact, even on a very busy workday, there is time to breathe and daydream. Hodgkinson advocates daydreaming or meditation when caught in circumstances that leaves us no choice but to wait like being stuck in a traffic jam (228). Apparently, traffic jams are blessings because these situations are beyond our control despite all the planning we can make. Normally, when a busy person gets caught in a traffic jam, he starts calling on other people to arrange matters due to delay. Busy people would never consider an idle time. On the other hand, the art of idleness teaches us to pray, meditate or daydream which can be more productive and healthy for our psychological well-being. Prayer and meditation calms the body and lowers blood pressure. A power nap is also good especially on long trips because we can recharge our brain. Daydreaming brings forth our creative thinking that can help us solve some conflicts that we are dealing with. Busy people often miss out the benefits that they can derive from such idle tasks that Hodgkinson suggests. Actually, the author is not telling people to be lazy and counter-productive. He is teaching us to rewire ourselves and explore the advantages of using idle time to make us more productive. Another issue that this book is trying to emphasize is the struggle between quantity and quality. The set-up of our lives depends on parameters that are quantitative in nature. For example, a person who goes to the gym boasts of the number of hours spent on doing exercises rather than the quality of the routine. Instead of feeling good about being able to exercise, fitness buffs would worry about the calories they eat or the hours they spent at the gym. Hodgkinson cited the nap that Winston Churchill took every afternoon which made him very productive later. Likewise, if we want our bodies to grow muscle or lose weight, we need to sleep well. Sleep helps us regenerate and heal from the normal wear and tear of daily living. What more when we are subjected to daily stressful situations? Well, not far behind would be insomnia, depression, and burn-out. The mind and body also breaks down at a certain point. People normally think that more is better when the real maxim of living is quality not quantity. Lives should have more breadth or depth rather than a bunch of jam packed hours that crams tasks or things-to-do. While being organized is a good idea, too much of it makes us obsessive-compulsive, a disorder we can help avoid. For the past few years, people who got tired of going to work every day tried alternative lifestyles by working at home. Many people got hooked by virtual source providers like Odesk that offers freelance projects so they can work on a convenient schedule. What most of these people don’t realize is that they would also experience being heavily monitored by clients. In fact, Odesk and other providers tale screenshots of what contractors are doing every five minutes. This supposedly alternative lifestyle can even be more intrusive with “alternative set of rules“ that replaces an old system” (Hodgkinson 228). This time, the “eye” or the boss is digital technology that records every action that people take. It is just a matter of changing masters but the end result is the same – bonded into slavery by new masters. Indeed, there seems no such thing as “free lifestyle” only a change of hands in terms of masters and set of rules. Perhaps, the real bohemian lifestyle can only be successfully pursued by those who have much resources on their hands. Lastly, among the acts of idleness that presents real value to me is art of conversation. Because people are busy, communication is superficial as people rarely talk about their real feelings. Instead, people talk about events, other people or work concerns. Even couples don’t share much of their feelings anymore as they are concerned with expenses and other stuff. Friends only keep in touch through SMS or e-mail with no human touch at all. Indeed, we should all learn now to be idle from time to time because only by stopping from our usual routines can we fully experience life. It would be sad to say that in the end, we died as if we never lived. Unfortunately, we have to exert much effort just to become idle because if we don’t do so, we lose quality in our existence. References Hodgkinson, Tom. How To Be Idle: A Loafer's Manifesto. NewYork: Harper Collins, 2005. Print. Read More