Wu Wei: the Chinese Philosophy of Doing Nothing 

Wu wei , a core concept of Daoism, is older and more subtle than Jenny Odell’s philosophy, but they are connected.

From The School of Life website:

“Wu wei means – in Chinese – non-doing or ‘doing nothing.’ It sounds like a pleasant invitation to relax or worse, fall into laziness or apathy. Yet this concept is key to the noblest kind of action according to the philosophy of Daoism – and is at the heart of what it means to follow Dao or The Way. According to the central text of Daoism, the Dao De Jing: ‘The Way never acts yet nothing is left undone.’ This is the paradox of wu wei. It doesn’t mean not acting, it means ‘effortless action’ or ‘actionless action.’ It means being at peace while engaged in the most frenetic tasks so that one can carry these out with maximum skill and efficiency. Something of the meaning of wu wei is captured when we talk of being ‘in the zone’ – at one with what we are doing, in a state of profound concentration and flow.

“Wu wei involves letting go of ideals that we may otherwise try to force too violently onto things; it invites us instead to respond to the true demands of situations, which tend only to be noticed when we put our own ego-driven plans aside. What can follow is a loss of self-consciousness, a new unity between the self and its environment, which releases an energy that is normally held back by an overly aggressive, willful style of thinking.”