La Dolce Far Niente or the Sweet Art of Doing Nothing

With the introduction of the internet to the general populace circa 1990 the world was introduced to the beginnings of the 24/7/365 data cycle.  I say data because everything on the world wide web can be raw and truly lacking context and obviously may not be real. Around 2004 the world was introduced to social media via companies like Myspace and Linkedin and coupled with the pervasive nature of the cellphone Skynet was online or rather we were now always in a world where no matter the time of day or night you could get on line. Via the internet or social media we were bombarded with tons of data and stimuli. It seems very innocent but the constant connectivity and stimuli and the medium can have negative effects on you physically and I’m not just talking about tendinitis of the thumb and neck pain, lol.

I was on the fore front of this movement and believe me I was up every workday at 4am to start my commute and using my protestant work ethic to try and rise up in the organization and make money. One day I got a call at work from my Father and he said: “Son there has been a small fire at the house.”  I immediately left work to go check on my family. When I got home the house was destroyed. I took the rest of the work week off and with my father’s help we worked on cleaning out the house so I could begin the rebuild.

When I went back to work, the Vice President of the business group I support was upset because she hadn’t gotten her monthly package I complete. I convened with our Chief Financial Officer to ask for his thoughts on my approach to addressing this issue. He said: “just tell her what happened, she should understand.” This was hard for me as I I like to keep my private life separate from work. Against my own judgement I attempted to talk with my business partner about my personal tragedy. What I got was basically a who cares where is my business package.

In that moment I recognized that no matter how much good work I had done up until this point this lady didn’t care about me or my wellbeing after losing everything in the fire. I asked for a week and proceed to get things back on track but my entire approach to work changed as I started coming in at 8 am instead of 5 am. I started leaving after eight hours unless I absolutely had to stay late. This brings me to the concept of La Dolce Far Niente.

 The Italians have a concept called “La Dolce Far Niente” which means “the sweetness of doing nothing”. This was the pivotal moment I learned how important “nothing” truly is. When I say nothing, I’m not talking about sitting at home watching television, passively zoning out on the internet. I’m referring to putting down the devices, stepping back from the latest streaming show, get over “dammit I’m missing the latest episode of Shameless”, even putting work down (yes, even when it’s your own business). I’m not telling you to forsake your responsibilities I’m saying that the Protestant work ethic and connectivity will be enhanced with a little “La Dolce Far Niente”. In my mind this is the concept of stopping and smelling the roses. No matter where you are in the world I believe there is something beautiful to appreciate whether it is a beautiful urban garden, a nature spring, or a beautiful piece of graffiti as I take breaks and walk at work now.

La Dolce Far Niente.

We live in the San Francisco Bay area and my wife often says: “when you get stressed out or anxious just look up.” She says it because in her mind there is always an amazing view to capture. People talk about being present which I agree, but when I’m talking about being present, I want to focus on enjoying the moment its entirety. Mind, body and spirit. If you are sitting in the park people watching don’t let your mind drift to what you should be doing but rather focus on the people you see in your line of sight. Find joy in that sweet nothing. Work and responsibilities are always going to be there but mastering the art of doing nothing could help your quality of life.