Idleness is a poison to your life. In fact, I’m sure that you have heard the saying: , “idle hands are the devil’s workshops.”
At first glance there is nothing about my life that is idle. I work all day, come home, and spend time with my family. Your life is probably similar. Heck, you might think that you barely have time to be “idle”.
So let’s explore what this word means and how having the wrong perception of “idle” can actually be a disaster waiting to happen.
Clearly Defining the Word “Idle”
There are two definitions to the word “idle”:
- (of a person) avoiding work; lazy.
- without purpose or effect; pointless.
The first definition is the one I think that creates confusion amongst men. They think of the word idle in the sense of “lazy” and “avoiding” and so it is easy to disregard ever being idle because most men work a majority of the day.
When men have this belief in their mind, that they are never “idle” or “lazy” it lowers their defenses and they are no longer on guard for the other meaning of the word Idle…
But it is this second definition of the word “idle” that we need to guard ourselves against. There are small moments throughout the day, when our guard is down, where we can be lured into purposeless and pointless activities.
Small Cracks Will Sink The Ship
I have fallen into the destruction of “pointless idleness” more times than I like to admit. I am just as busy as any man out there. I have a full time job, I have two businesses with multiple clients, I can easily work 12 hour days. I am married and I have three daughters all under 7.
Not to mention other important aspects of life like eating, sleeping and regular household maintenance.
And yet, even with how “busy” I am I find many times throughout the day where there are moments I can choose to be freed from work. It’s either a lunch break, finishing a project ahead of time, or a meeting canceling To be totally transparent, when I am alone I sometimes feel like not doing anything.
These moments have often taken me into pointlessly scrolling social media, watching trash tTV with no purpose, or having a beer that turns into two or three and destroys any feelings of purpose I may have had before.
If we use these small slices of time pointlessly or without purpose they can become like small cracks in a boat that go unplugged. They can lead to our day sinking into the guilt of not doing what we should have, or worse yet: sunken into a pit of bad choices.
The 3 P’s of Incredible Living
However, I’ve learned that there is a way to avoid this – a way to patch the cracks in the ship’s hull before those cracks can turn into full-on disasters. I call this “The 3 P’s of Incredible Living”:
- Plan the night before – The days I am most productive and purposeful l are the days I prepared the night before.
Take fifteen minutes at the end of the night to write down the most important task you have to complete the next day. Writing these down takes time and brings your focus into your purpose for the following day.
- Prepare downtime activities – You and I both know what tempts us. Maybe it’s getting lost pointlessly scrolling through social media. Or maybe it’s reading numerous reddit posts, or playing video games.
If we do not prepare a list of activities that charge us up, we will be distracted into a day of pointless, time-robbing activities that leave us feeling guilty and lazy. So make a list of at least three incredible downtime activities like, reading, exercise, listening to a podcast, playing a chosen game (I personally love chess), or serving someone.
- Partner with a brother – This is by far one of the most effective ways to stay away from idle living and living more incredibly. Invite a brother to be your accountability partner. Invite your brother into a daily habit challenge for 30, 60, or even 90 days. Knowing you have someone who is also working towards intentional incredible living will keep you motivated to stay far from pointless idle living.
Stop Procrastinating And Take Action!
Don’t fall into the trap of lowering your guard and allowing time-wasting activities to invade your day.
I hope that you are reading this blog in one of these moments where you could have easily turned to social media scrolling. But now that you’ve finished it, what will you do?
My suggestion is two-fold:
- Partner with the other brothers of HeRose by joining our weekly PowerUp email
- Join our private Facebook group where the conversation is always with purpose.
