The Art of Doing Nothing: Why “Niksen” is the Productivity Hack You Need.

For the last few years, I have sat across from executives, entrepreneurs, and creative experts who have one aspect in common: they’re walking on empty. They come to me because they have tried each productivity hack inside the e-book. They have time-blocked, pondered, downloaded the apps, and optimized their sleep. Yet, they may be teetering on the threshold of burnout.

They always ask me the same question: “What is the only aspect I can do to get greater completion?”

And for the remaining few years, my best answer has been the only thing they hate the most: “You need to do nothing.”

Not meditate. Do not do yoga. Do not go for a “productive” run. I mean nothing. Stare at the wall, nothing. Watch the cloud; it’s nothing. Sit on the couch and let your mind drift into places unknown, nothing.

This is not laziness. This is a scientifically backed, culturally validated practice known in the Netherlands as Niksen. And after a decade and a half in the wellness trenches, I can tell you with absolute certainty: in a world obsessed with hustle, Niksen is the ultimate rebellion and the most underrated productivity tool we have.

What Exactly Is Niksen? (And Why It’s Not Laziness)

The word “Niksen” is deceptively simple. It derives from the Dutch word for “nothing,” and it translates literally to “to do nothing.” But as any Dutch psychologist will tell you, the simplicity is the point.

I often define Niksen in my coaching practice as “purposeful aimlessness.” It is the act of engaging in an activity—or a non-activity—without any goal, without any intention of being productive, and without a deadline looming over your consciousness.

This is where we hit the first major mental block. In my early years as a coach, I struggled with this myself. We are conditioned by faculty to consider that our price is tied to our output. If we’re “doing nothing,” we are “proper for nothing.” There is even a Dutch proverb that echoes this cultural skepticism: “Niksen is niks”—doing nothing is good for nothing.

But I have learned that there is a big distinction between being lazy and practicing Niksen.

• Laziness is avoiding matters that need to be executed out of apathy.

• Niksen is the intentional preference to drop purpose-oriented activity to let the thoughts and body reset.

It is the distinction between procrastinating on a document with the aid of scrolling through social media (which fries your mind further) and sitting on a park bench, watching the world pass by, without a purpose apart from simply being.

The Science of Slowing Down: Why “Doing Nothing” Repairs the Brain

I am no longer a neuroscientist; however, I have spent a few years making use of the findings of neuroscience on human behavior. When we are continuously “on,” our brains are in what is called the Task-Positive Network (TPN). This is the network we use for focused paintings, problem-fixing, and executing dreams. It is essential; however, it is also exhausting.

Niksen lets us shift into the Default Mode Network (DMN). This is the state our brain enters when we are not focused on an outside task. For years, scientists thought the DMN changed into simply the mind “idling,” losing strength. We now recognize this is where the magic occurs.

When you are staring out the window, letting your mind wander, the DMN is tough at painting:

• Connecting disparate ideas: This is where creativity and people’s “Eureka!” moments come from. A 2013 study published in Frontiers in Psychology confirmed that mind-wandering boosts suggestion and facilitates decision-making clarity.

• Processing emotions: It lets you subconsciously paint through complex feelings without the active strain of “considering them.”

• Memory consolidation: It helps transfer brief-time-period reminiscences into long-term memory.

I inform my customers that Niksen is like defragging your computer. You are not the user of the programs; however, the gadget is optimizing itself inside the heritage.

Niksen vs. Mindfulness: A Crucial Distinction

This is a question I get in each workshop: “Isn’t this just mindfulness?” The solution is an organization, and the distinction is fundamental to effectively practicing Niksen.

In my mindfulness teaching, we focus on anchoring the mind to the present moment—the breath, the frame, and the sounds around us. It is a mild but steady act of bringing the mind back whilst it wanders.

Niksen flips this on its head.

• Mindfulness is about focus and awareness.

• Niksen is about allowing and wandering.

In a Niksen state, if your mind wanders to a work problem, you don’t gently bring it back to the breath. You just… let it wander. You follow the thought to the next thought. There is no anchor. There is no goal to “be present.” There is only the gentle flow of consciousness.

I had a client, a tech founder, who hated meditation because he felt he was “bad at it.” He couldn’t sit still and focus. But when I gave him “permission” to just sit on his porch and think about nothing in particular—to let his mind jump from his childhood to his product launch to the shape of a cloud—he found it liberating. That was his entry point to mental stillness.

The Global Cousins of Niksen

In my travels and studies, I have even found that while the Dutch have given us the word, the knowledge of doing nothing is time-honored.

• Italy: Il Dolce Far Niente—This phrase translates to “the beauty of doing nothing.” It celebrates the delight of idleness without guilt.

• China: Wu Wei—A Taoist idea meaning “handy movement” or “doing nothing.” It is ready to perform in concord with the herbal go-with-the-flow of activities, rather than forcing consequences.

Understanding this allows my clients to comprehend that Niksen isn’t always a few overseas, unattainable concepts. It is a human birthright that we have forgotten.

How to Practice Niksen: A 15-Year Expert’s Guide

So, how do we actually do it? If you tell a burned-out executive to “do nothing,” they will either panic or pick up their phone out of habit. You have to train for it.

Here is the protocol I have developed over the years, moving from beginner to advanced Niksen.

Phase 1: The Micro-Niks (Days 1-10)

Start small. The average person reaches for their phone within six minutes of boredom.

1. The Window Gaze: Set a timer for 5 minutes. Sit by a window. Do not read, and do not listen to a podcast. Just look outside. Watch people, trees, or cars. If you think about your to-do list, that’s fine. Just keep looking.

2. The Coffee Pause: When you make your morning espresso or tea, do not drink it whilst scrolling on your phone. Sit down, preserve the warm cup, and just be with the aroma and the feeling. Let your mind float.

Phase 2: The Active Niks (Weeks 2-4)

Once you can tolerate stillness, you can introduce “active” Niksen. This entails activities that can be so repetitive that they permit the mind to wander freely.

• Knitting or Crocheting: The repetitive motion is an automobile for wandering thoughts.

• Walking Without a Destination: Leave your headphones at home. Walk around your neighborhood without a direction. Turn left just because it looks interesting. This aimless wandering is the physical embodiment of Niksen.

Phase 3: The Advanced Niks (The Lifestyle)

At this stage, Niksen becomes a habit. You start to see “interstitial” moments—the five minutes awaiting a bus, the two minutes at the same time as the microwave runs—as opportunities in preference to annoyances. You do not feel the urge to fill every silent gap with stimulation.

The Paradox: The Productivity of Doing Nothing

Here is the irony that I have witnessed in my practice for 15 years: when people consistently practice Niksen, they become more productive.

When you return to work after a Niksen wreck, you are coming back from a place of intellectual clarity. You have given your mind the space to resolve the issues you didn’t even recognize you were running on. You have decreased the cortisol (stress hormone) that was fogging your judgment.

I had a customer who became caught up in a marketing campaign for three weeks. She took my advice, went home, and spent an hour on her sofa doing nothing but taking note of the rain. The subsequent morning, she awakened with the complete marketing campaign structure absolutely formed in her thoughts. That wasn’t magic. That was the Default Mode Network doing its job.

Overcoming the Guilt

The biggest enemy of Niksen is guilt. You will feel like you ought to be doing something.

When that feeling arises—and it will—I tell my customers to apply an easy mantra: “This is my destroyer from being efficient. By doing nothing now, I am making an investment of my energy for later.”

Consider this: research has shown that the Dutch, despite promoting Niksen, suffer from burnout too. The concept is not a magic cure. It is a practice. It requires you to deprogram the toxic belief that your worth equals your output.

Your Niksen Challenge

As we wrap up this deep dive, I want to offer you an instantaneous task from my education toolkit. This week, I need you to find your “Niks.”

1. Identify one moment in your day in which you presently reach for your telephone out of addiction.

2. Replace that moment with a Niksen second. Stare out the window of the train. Sit on the front step for 5 mins after painting.

3. Notice the thoughts that come. Notice the guilt. Let it pass.

4. Observe how you feel afterward. Energized? Calm? Bored?

Conclusion

We have been sold a lie that the best path to success is through grinding. But after a few years within the burnout trenches, I am here to tell you that the path to sustainable fulfillment is paved with moments of practical idleness.

Niksen isn’t about being lazy. It is set as being human. It is about reclaiming the distance to think, to feel, and to sincerely exist without a transactional reason.

So, put down the to-do list. Turn off the notifications. Go look out the window.

Lekker niksen? (Deliciously doing nothing?) I hope so