Doing less in order to do more paradoxically is the key to productive action and promotes creativity, I believe.
We are so focused on activity. We are actually obsessed with activity which is generally not focussed on achieving anything in particular. Our society demands that we are continuously active – doing something, anything, stuff! We are even made to feel guilty when we are inactive. “The more you do, the more you can do” is a popular expression and “if you want something done, ask a busy person”.
Load on the activity, then add some extraneous pressure. This is just stressful, meaningless and usually lands up messy! Unless your existence is based on a checklist, that is! The Buddhist saying “believe not in a fate that falls on men however they act; but do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act”, calls for action when the situation demands it. Activity is when you are so restless within that a situation is merely an excuse to be active although directionless.
I suggest that too much activity stifles awareness. In action, you are; in activity you escape from yourself, no worries, no anguish, but also no being. Activity for the sake of activity stifles creativity. Action with premeditated rationale and direction is meaningful. This is performance. This does not suggest creativity rather “doing the right things right”. This kind of action promotes the potential for creativity. Osho suggests activity is when action has no relevance. Too much of our energy is taken up with activity so that when action is required we are so wound up in activity, we have insufficient energy for creative action. Osho suggests a relaxed person is non-obsessive and energy accumulates in him. Relaxation only comes when there is no “must” in our lives. Relaxation according to Osho is that state of affairs when your energy is not moving you anywhere or being consumed for anything at all. Energy conserves in the relaxed person so that when the time for action comes, his entire being flows into it!
So how do we get to do less and thereby do more?
1) Prioritize Actions: according to impact first and then urgency. What serves your true purpose now creates the situation for action.
2) Limit Activity: by being aware of and by dropping more and more activities that serve no purpose; those that consume energy unnecessarily.
3) Allow Relaxation; to enter to create a state where there is no activity, nothing to be achieved, creating unmotivated, potential energy. Then, doing less so as to achieve more, we do find ourselves in a different place having experienced the journey to the fullest.