The power of doing nothing at all
When the old crocodile was floating on the river bank, a young crocodile swam up next to him.
"Many have heard that you are the most ferocious hunter on the river bed. Show me your way."
Waking up from a nice long nap, the old crocodile looked at the young crocodile with reptilian eyes, said nothing and fell asleep again on the water.
Frustrated and rudely swimming, a young alligator swam upstream to chase the catfish, leaving a flood of blisters in its wake.
Later that day, the young crocodile returned to the still-napping old crocodile and began bragging about his successful hunt.
"I caught two thick catfish today. What did you catch? Nothing? Maybe you're not so wild after all. "
The old crocodile looked indifferently at the young crocodile, said nothing, closed his eyes and continued to float on the water.
Again the young crocodile, angry at not hearing back from the elder, swam away once more to see what he could hunt.
After several hours of beating, he was able to hunt a small crane. Smiling, he took the bird in his mouth and swam back to the old crocodile, determined to show him who the real hunter was.
As the young crocodile turned the corner, I saw an older crocodile still swimming in the same spot near the river bank.
But something changed - a large wildebeest was enjoying an afternoon drink just inches from the old crocodile's head.
The old crocodile jumped out of the water with a quick movement, wrapped the big wildebeest in its jaws and pulled it under the river.
We watched in awe as young alligators swam with tiny birds dangling from their mouths and older alligators enjoying a 500-pound meal. the young crocodile asked him.
Bitten by a wildebeest, the old crocodile finally replied:
"I didn't do anything."
Doing What Matters vs. Busy Boasting
When I first created JotForm, I was like a young alligator. I always believed that something had to be done to get results.
If someone had told me at the time that I would get better results by spending more time doing nothing, I would have rolled my eyes and continued working 16 hours a day.
We believed that to be successful we had to constantly build, work, grow and develop the next. whatever that "thing" is.
We all have the problem of being busy. But being busy and being successful are not the same thing. And if you prioritize doing nothing, you may end up catching more wildebeest than tiny catfish.
It worked for me. I hope it works for you too.
But doing nothing, or doing very little, is easier said than done, especially in a society plagued by extreme busyness. Let's take a closer look at our unhealthy obsession with keeping busy...
The epidemic of super busyness. Humans have struggled with being busy since time immemorial, or at least since 425 BC. When Homer walked the earth.
The Odyssey is the story of lotus eaters - strange people who hang out all day eating lotus and doing nothing. And what was stranger than fiction was that these people were happy with their lives.
Homer wrote after some of Odysseus' crew ate the lotus seeds of the lotus eaters (
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