Tao and the Art of Productivity

In the pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can’t be gained by interfering.

- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, verse 48; translation by Stephen Mitchell, 1988

I first became interested in Taoism around 2 years ago. For some time, I studied the Tao Te Ching every day. And I would constantly talk about it with friends.

Recently I reconnected with my friends Erin and Gil after I was away for a few months practicing zen. Gil is a grad student researching algorithms for modeling quantum particles—work that he very much enjoys and is passionate about. Last time I saw Gil, we spoke about Taoism. This time, he updated me on how he’s been using Taoist principles in his research. I’ll tell his story in his own words as he told it to me, as close as I can remember.

I went to Orr Hot Springs with Erin at the end of spring break. The week before, I was really pushing. [He had earlier described a state of mind he gets into sometimes, where he really wants a certain strategy to work and gets focused on pushing it forward very hard—a sort of tunnel vision.]

I spent the first day and half chilling, cooking, hanging out with Erin, sitting in the hot springs. On the third morning, I was much more calm. I started thinking - “Huh, what’s really been going on with this project?” Then I had the idea, “What if I tried to apply Taoism?”

What if, rather than saying, “I think this method should work” — what if I instead ask the problem how it wants to be solved?

It felt like a strange prompt. But I’ve been struggling against the problem and it’s not been letting me through.

Reflecting on the problem in this new way, I had some key insights: “I can see why my current direction is not going to work… Oh, here’s this other way where I can get around the difficulty.”

When I returned home, I started working on the new ideas. They turned out to work really well! I’m not yet sure if my ideas from the hot springs will provide the ultimate solution. But they have continued to help move the project forward at multiple points over the last months.

Wu Wei

The verse of the Tao Te Ching I quoted above describes Wu Wei, an important concept in Taoism. Wu Wei can be translated as “effortless action” or “non-doing”. It does not mean inaction, but rather action that works in harmony with reality. It means action that is spontaneous and effortless, without forcing or striving. Here are some other translations of the middle few lines of the same verse:

Less and less, until at the end you achieve Wu Wei.
By Wu Wei, you can accomplish everything.
- Xiaolin Yang

Unlearn more and more until you know.
Then there is no doer, thus nothing to do.
Doing nothing, let things take their natural course.
- David Bullen

When Gil decided to work with the research problem rather than against it, he was aligned with the principle of Wu Wei. Conversely, when he was really focused on trying to move the research forward in a certain direction, he described the feeling as pushing. The energy of pushing against the problem blocked his ability to see the way around the problem. Letting go of pushing allowed him to move forward easily.

But don’t we need to work hard?

Burnout is a common issue among my coaching clients. I often encourage them to relax, and then we see what objections come up. A frequent objection is, But if I don’t push myself to work hard, won’t I just be lazy and not do anything?

We could ask a similar question about Gil’s story. Wasn’t it necessary for him to spend that week pushing hard before he took a break? If he hadn’t done that, maybe the break wouldn’t have been productive. He wouldn’t have had the problem on his mind.

My answer would be: Maybe pushing sometimes is necessary. Maybe not. In my opinion, the goal is to be engaged with the problem in a way that feels easy, interesting, playful. Playfulness and curiosity are good targets for how we want to feel when we’re working.

We can trust ourselves

Part of the flow of life is our natural inclination to produce and create. If we can trust ourselves to want to be productive, we won’t feel such a need to force ourselves. We’ll just see that using force on ourselves is unnecessary.

Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.

- verse 23, Stephen Mitchell translation

As an unimpeded river flows downhill, so does an unimpeded Gil research algorithms. Gil researches because he wants to research. Gil researches because he researches.

Therefore, if Gil uses Wu Wei it doesn’t mean he stops researching. It means he allows his research to become effortless.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

- verse 29, Stephen Mitchell translation

Trying to force ourselves to become effortless doesn’t work either though. The reality is that sometimes, we’re at ease. Sometimes, we’re using a lot of effort. That’s our natural flow.

We can apply Wu Wei even at this level. Standing back, we can see when we are pushing. We can see when we are at ease. We can see our effort and ease as they are, without trying to control them. This gives us a deeper level of ease, accepting that the flow is okay. This is standing at the center of the circle.