Idleness is the mother of all vices.

Idleness is the mother of all vices. – Russian proverb

An idol to many, Jackie Chan is rarely idle. Even in wax, he looks ready to take action!

What does that mean?
This is an old saying, and it has been told in many ways. What it talks about is that vices usually aren’t the associated with a busy person. The people who tend to get into trouble tend to be people with time on their hands. If you keep busy, there is little time available for you to get into trouble.

This idleness is what gives people the time to either do nothing (sloth), to have an excess of desire (lust), eat or drink too much (gluttony), want too much stuff (greed), get really angry or riot (wrath), get really jealous of others (envy), or get really stuck on themselves and how great they are (pride).

Why is action important?
Action, or being busy is a significant factor in avoiding vice (at least in my opinion). If you are keeping busy, how do you find time for the vices listed above, or other things of that nature? In my life, the times I have been most prone to vice have been the times when I was idle, not the times I was busy. How has your experience been with this correlation between idleness and vice?

Action is part of human nature, part of how things flow in our lives. Have you ever gone to see an idle-flick, or do you go to see an action-flick? Humans seem to have a dual nature, where action is craved, but a lack of action is also craved. Have you noticed this duality in yourself? I know I have noticed it in myself.

Where can I apply this in my life?
Action gets things done. Action can be very exciting. Action can also mean risk and effort, some things that many of us are adverse to. That may well be a big part of the duality I have noticed. Minimizing the risk and keeping the level of effort reasonable is a big step in making action more meaningful and less onerous. Would you agree?

So the question is why are we idle? In some cases it is from a lack of work. Without a specific job, we don’t know what to do with our time. Not everyone has been trained to be a self-starter, right? In other cases, it might be a lack of direction or a lack of goal. What are you going to do if you don’t know where you’re going?

I want to make sure that we are clear on one thing: there is a difference between relaxing and being idle. How you distinguish between them, where you draw the line, may well be different from how I distinguish and where I draw, but we all need time to relax and unwind.

I think we can agree that it’s one thing to watch “the big game” and then get to the chores or yard-work. But it’s another thing entirely to watch the game, then channel surf for another 6 hours while the chores and yard-work wait.

For me, the trick is to keep a log of what I do, and to plan out the day so that I have some expectations of what I need to do. This allows me to plan my day (and week), and to track what I did and did not accomplish. Each week (in theory), I spend a while reviewing how the prior week went, and plan out the next week. This allows me to zero in on when I wasted time and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Do you plan any of your week? With my schedule and two busy kids, I have to keep a planner, or nothing would get done at the right time on the right day. Even if you don’t plan your week, it might help to jot down some of your accomplishments each day.

At the end of the week, I often feel like I didn’t accomplish much if all I look at is the ‘to do’ list. The accomplishment list is the counterbalance that says ‘Look at what I did this week’. As an example, just this morning I spent about a half hour trimming low branches in a tree that overhangs the sidewalk. It’s not on my to-do list, but it’s on my list of accomplishments.

In this day and age, it’s easy to stay busy. If you find yourself being idle, you can always find a worthy cause to keep you busy. If “Actions speak louder than words,” what does idleness say?

From: Twitter, @AncientProverbs
confirmed at : http://www.special-dictionary.com/proverbs/keywords/vices/ (#8 on the list)
Photo by Loren Javier
A list of Jackie Chan’s activities, besides the action movies – a non-idle idol. 8)