--- title: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing description: Also known as 'leisure' canonical: https://time.com/3918211/leisure-definition-need/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-17T11:00:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:30:14.810Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing og:description: Also known as 'leisure' og:url: https://time.com/3918211/leisure-definition-need/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ea63dd568b82ef6/69885420cd68483c7f0a04fa/478480771-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: man-resting-rowboat og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Art and Science of Doing Nothing twitter:description: Also known as 'leisure' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ea63dd568b82ef6/69885420cd68483c7f0a04fa/478480771-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Art and Science of Doing Nothing by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jun 17, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Man laying in rowboat on tranquil lake Man laying in rowboat on tranquil lakeGetty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jun 17, 2015 11:00 AM UTC Leisure or as some call it, [the art and science of doing nothing](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/04/the-art-and-science-of-doing-nothing/). It’s something we all want yet rarely have. Our modern workplace culture prides itself on filling every one of our minutes, even if it’s [all for show](http://betabeat.com/2014/07/the-appearance-of-performance-how-to-get-ahead-by-playing-the-game/). Yet leisure is necessary for insight, which is a key component in today’s knowledge economy. Far from being the result of productive labour, for the knowledge worker, leisure is a necessary part of the labour. While it may seem non-productive, that is only looking at it from one angle. In this excerpt, from [The Theory of the Leisure Class](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199552584/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199552584&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=53PAHFMFMVKH6YYB), Thorstein Veblen defines leisure as the “nonproductive consumption of time.” --- > “” --- (h/t Lampham’s Quarterly) **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3918211/leisure-definition-need/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3918211/leisure-definition-need/"},"headline":"The Art and Science of Doing Nothing","datePublished":"2015-06-17T11:00:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:30:14.810Z","description":"Also known as 'leisure'","url":"https://time.com/3918211/leisure-definition-need/","keywords":["Culture","society","Psychology","Work","Leisure","work life balance","vacation"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ea63dd568b82ef6/69885420cd68483c7f0a04fa/478480771-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ea63dd568b82ef6/69885420cd68483c7f0a04fa/478480771-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"man-resting-rowboat","caption":"man-resting-rowboat","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/culture/","name":"Culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3918211/leisure-definition-need/","name":"The Art and Science of Doing Nothing"}}]}] ```