If you only have a single task to complete, then yes that's precisely justification to sit there and do nothing but collect a paycheck.
Hopefully your boss is putting multiple things in front of you that can be juggled so that as you put something in the background something can take its place.
I've solved some of the most challenging problems I've ever faced in my professional life this way. By focusing on something else, usually another task in an entirely different project or section or even just looking at Youtube I'll often have an epiphany about something in a completely unrelated task. I'll go to prove my assumptions and sure enough, problem solved. Much more efficiently I might add.
When I only have one major thing to accomplish this looks like I'm doing nothing because on the surface I'm not. I'm often here on HN reading articles or on other websites filling my brain with useless trivia but it doesn't mean my mind isn't churning through the plates I have spinning. I'll also often pull a task out of background, make more assumptions, prove them incorrect, then put the task back in background mode until that efficient answer comes. This is not every task mind you, some things I can solve immediately. For the things I can't, this model absolutely does work for me 100% of the time.
Hopefully your boss is putting multiple things in front of you that can be juggled so that as you put something in the background something can take its place.
I've solved some of the most challenging problems I've ever faced in my professional life this way. By focusing on something else, usually another task in an entirely different project or section or even just looking at Youtube I'll often have an epiphany about something in a completely unrelated task. I'll go to prove my assumptions and sure enough, problem solved. Much more efficiently I might add.
When I only have one major thing to accomplish this looks like I'm doing nothing because on the surface I'm not. I'm often here on HN reading articles or on other websites filling my brain with useless trivia but it doesn't mean my mind isn't churning through the plates I have spinning. I'll also often pull a task out of background, make more assumptions, prove them incorrect, then put the task back in background mode until that efficient answer comes. This is not every task mind you, some things I can solve immediately. For the things I can't, this model absolutely does work for me 100% of the time.