Never Doing Nothing

I love to tell people I’m doing nothing, but nothing looks an awful lot like sitting on my phone.

I pick up my phone, I scroll Twitter, I put my phone down again, I look around for nothing, I pick up my phone, I scroll Twitter.

My brain (like yours) does not want to do nothing. It wants to do something. My brain and I just aren’t sure what some or thing are.

It’s possible if I scroll Twitter long enough I might find the answer to one or even both of those questions. I’ve spent the last decade scrolling and haven’t found what I’m looking for, but I won’t give up so easily.

Because it’s unnatural to sit in silence and listen to the mind. That’s for meditators and head cases, not for normal capitalists like myself.

Anytime my mind finds a moment to start thinking about all the nothing something in my head flickers and I reach for my phone. If my phone is not in reach I start ruminating or day-dreaming about all the things that could be or would have been or whatever can distract me from the fact that the now is empty.

If I was smarter my moments of nothing would be filled with productive distractions rather than the standard type. I’d read a book or some research, I’d comb through open tabs and if I felt really brave I might even close a few, I could even find us a new place to live as we’ve outgrown our little 1BR.

Instead, I scroll.

Scrolling on my phone is my default behavior. It’s what I do when there’s nothing else to be done.

There’s a bit of a wrinkle though. It’s not that I have nothing to do, I have lots of things I could be doing, but none of them are at the forefront of my mind. They aren’t part of my environment in the same way as my phone.

The solution is relatively simple; I need to create an environment that helps me refocus my mind. Twitter should not be so easily accessible. I need to break my mind out of its mold.

The best way for me to do this would be to delete Twitter (and all social media), but since I like it here I need other alternatives.

Research from Ulrik Lyngs helps us identify a few tools we can use to circumvent the need for willpower and empower better behaviors.

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I have two problems; I do not like doing nothing and the closer I get to doing nothing the more likely I am to fall back on my habits.

If I wanted to take back a few moments each day I would need to either change my habits are stop having moments where nothing is happening.

My ideal solution would be to make scrolling Twitter a productive act. One that aligns with my long-term goals. Aside from this, I could replace Twitter with a more productive app. One that can replace nothing with something while still aligning with my goals.

Both are a crapshoot. None of my goals align with sitting on my phone.

What do I do?

The answer is simple. I should lock-in. I should self-motivate from a lower tier of existence into a higher one. I need to do the work, I need to be effortful.