Focus - Leo Babauta [23]
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
– Lao Tzu
4: effortless action
"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
– Lao Tzu
There's a concept in Taoism, "wei wu wei", which is often translated as "action without action" or "effortless doing". I prefer to think of it more in the sense of "action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort".
This is an important concept, because effortless action is a way to not only achieve focus in a world of chaos, but to be effective without stress, to respond to any situation with economy of effort and action, and to pursue our passions while beating procrastination.
Think for a moment of times when you've struggled to work, and instead procrastinated by heading for your distractions -- email, social networks, blog reading, games, whatever your flavor might be.
This struggle is often a losing battle for most people. They fight against it, but only win occassionally.
Effortless action is an easier way to find focus and beat procrastination.
be like water
An appropriate mental image is that of water, which seems naturally effortless in its action. It isn't necessarily still, nor is it passive, but it flows naturally around obstacles and always gets to where it's going.
This is effortless action. It uses gravity and the natural contours of its landscape, instead of forcing things. Water can never be anything but effortless, and yet it is quietly powerful.
Be like water. Flow, respond to the landscape, move around obstacles, and be graceful in your movement.
position yourself effortlessly within the moment
In "The Civility Solution", academic P.M. Forni writes:
"We must learn to position ourselves effortlessly within each moment, rather than stumbling through time. We can either escape from the moment or stay with it as it unfolds and do something good with it."
And this is exactly right. Are you trying to escape the moment, fleeing from it and struggling against it? Or are you inhabiting the moment effortlessly?
One way to do this is to stop yourself when you find yourself struggling, and just pause. Be present, sensing your breath, and then everything around you. See the situation with some objectivity, instead of fleeing from it blindly. Carefully consider your options -- all of them. And then respond to the situation mindfully and with the appropriate response -- not an overreaction.
In this way, you respond flexibly, appropriately, and effortlessly.
steps for effortless action
There is no step-by-step guide to learning effortless action, but here are some things you might try:
Act because of passion. Not because you "should", but because you're excited to do so. It will feel as if you're going downhill, because it's what you want to do.
When you're going uphill, change course. Whenever you find yourself dreading something, procrastinating, forcing yourself and hating it, stop and ask yourself why. There must be a reason -- you'll never sustain any action for long if you hate doing it. Change course to something you're more excited about, and things will get easier. You may end up getting to the same destination, but you'll do it with a different course and things will flow more naturally.
Don't try to control what you can't control. When we try to control others, or obsessively control our surroundings, we are trying to control things that aren't in our control. This will inevitably end up in failure, frustration, and conflict with others. Instead, accept that we can't control these things, and flow around the obstacles with a minimum of effort.
Be in the moment. Be aware of the full situation, accept the situation, and respond appropriately.
See the possibilities. When we have