Strategic Stillness

There’s this distinct moment of bliss.

That point of release.

It’s like everything that was there in the background disappears.

You just let go of all the baggage that you didn’t even knew was there.

It’s incredible…

I’m talking about meditating, of course.
For me it usually happens somewhere after 20-30 minutes of absolute silence.

Somehow, answers just come up.

In the working world, there’s the idea that the time we spend “working” is all that matters.

Taking a break is only for smokers. Nobody (except me) stretches in the middle of the office. Walking away from your desk without a reason is laziness.

(Pro Tip: drink a lot of water so you have to take a lot of breaks)

But this often means we end up toiling for hours and hours chopping down a tree, and we never notice that there was already a pile of wood ready for us two meters away.

I can’t tell your how many times in my career I’ve taken a walk after hours (or days) of struggling to solve a problem—only to realize the simple answer in a few seconds.

Stillness is a necessity.

In computer science this is incredibly obvious: you can get a faster computer and make something 5% better, or you can change the way it works and make it 10’000% better.

Working creates linear improvement.
Ideas create exponential improvement.

But we can’t wait until the spiritual retreat before we come up with this one idea that changes everything.

It’s absolutely crucial to have regular moments where it’s just you and your mind. Where you chip away at everything that’s swirling around in your mind until it calms down and opens to receive. Open to receive what really matters.

That’s strategic stillness.