REST
Why you Get More Done When you Work Less
by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
THE PROBLEM OF REST
(page 21)
“Choosing to be prolific, he contended, meant closing off the possibility of doing great work”
(page 22)
“this race to superficiality is driven by external and structural, as well as internal and cultural, forces is still a useful way to understand why we struggle to recognize the value of rest and make a place for it in our lives.”
“ Before the 18th century, the boundaries between work and rest were not so clear-cut. Workplaces and domestic space were often intertwined”
(page 23)
“Labor movement advocacy…..contributed to the sense that work and leisure were opposites”
“See who looks busy, who looks engaged…workers awarded for not just performing work but also for “performing” busyness at work.”
(page 25)
“erosion of labor unions and workplace protection has let employers push for longer hours and decreased job security”
(page 26)
“We spend more time commuting to work”
(page 27)
“WE MAY SEE overwork and the marginalization of rest as a consequence of automation, globalization, the decline of unions, and the growth of a winner-take-all economy.”
(page 29)
“Philosophical arguments might seem arcane, but the assumptions that knowledge is produced rather than discovered or revealed, that the amount of work that goes into an idea determines its importance, and that the creation of ideas can be organized and institutionalized, all guide our thinking about work today. We treat workaholics as heroes”
(page 31)
“In other words, it is not constant effort that delivers results but a kind of constant, patient, unhurried focus that organizes the investigator’s attention when at work and is present but watchful during periods of ease.”
(page 32)
“When we rest and let our minds wander, our brains are almost as active as when we’re concentrating hard on a problem. Further, while we’re not conscious of it, the “resting” brain turns out to be consolidating memories, making sense of the past, and searching for solutions to problems that are occupying our waking hours.”
THE SCIENCE OF REST
(page 35)
“scans of people’s brains when they weren’t reading text but resting between tasks and staring at a blank screen, he was surprised to see that the subjects’ brains didn’t just quiet down; instead, a second, different set of regions switched on. When people turned their attention outward again, that region switched off, and other regions lit up. This resting-state activity wasn’t just scattered or random, either; it was as coordinated as when people were reading.”
“The brain automatically switches on a default mode network (DMN) when it is resting”
“your brain consumes only slightly less energy than it does when you’re solving differential equations.”
“Some people’s resting brains show greater levels of communication between different regions, or what neuroscientists call resting-state function connectivity. These stronger connections predict enhanced cognitive abilities like better performance on fluid intelligence tests and language ability. They can also correlate to achievements and outlook: various resting-state functional connectivity patterns can predict educational level and income, levels of life satisfaction, executive control, and focus.”
(page 37)
“The connection between development of the DMN and psychological development in children is especially striking.”
“children whose brains demonstrate greater levels of connectivity in the resting state tend to have superior reading skills, better memory, and higher scores on intelligence and attention tests. It also relates to their levels of empathy and ability to imagine playmates’ and parents’ points of view: the better-developed your DMN, other scientists have found, the better able you are to construct models of other people’s minds.”
“post traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and memory loss have DMNs that are structured and act differently than those in healthy brain”
(page 38)
“resting” brain is much more active than you realize, giving your brain the right kinds of “rest” is critical to its development, health, and productivity.”
“mind-wandering. Task-unrelated thinking is inward-focused and unconnected to external activity.”
(page 39)
“Some estimates, up to half our waking hours are spent mind-wandering.”
(page 40)
“Sifting through memories can let us imagine another person’s perspective on events or think about what we could have done differently. Imagining future events can help us prepare for them”
“mind-wandering is the secret of creativity”
“a little mind-wandering during focused tasks can boost creative thinking.”
(page 42)
“a small amount of background noise can boost creativity….people perform better on creativity tests when listening to music”
(page 45)
“default networks of creative people are organized differently than those of normal people”
(page 47)
“Creative process starts with the 1st phase….“preparation phase” …… formulate a problem, read, sketch, write, tinker, and think. You apply formal methods, ponder the details, and try to work your way to a solution….examine it from every angle.”
(page 48)
“Creative process, 2nd phase “Incubation phase”…might stretch out for weeks or months. At some point, it is important not to force it, ……“the answer will feel within reach”. Don’t rush it.
Trust that your unconscious will drive to the third phase,”
(page 49)
“We now know that our resting brains and wandering minds are actually quite active. We know that the areas recruited during spontaneous cognition aren’t hard-wired and fixed but evolve and grow and strengthen over time. We know that the structure of default mode and creative networks can change over time, through training or trauma or aging. And we’re beginning to see how we can tap into and improve the resting brain’s ability to help us generate insights, see novel connections, and make breakthroughs.”
“Whether they know it or not, creative people treat incubation and illumination like skills every day. That’s why they develop and refine daily routines and practices that preserve time for mind-wandering, sharpen their sensitivity to insights, and allow them to capture moments of illumination.”
“Incubation should include a large amount of actual mental relaxation.:
(page 50)
“The discovery of the creative potential of the resting brain gives us a foundation on which to build a biographical structure.”
STIMULATING CREATIVITY – Part I
FOUR HOURS
(page 54)
“key to unlocking the secret of their creativity lies in understanding not just how they labored but how they rested, and how the two relate.”
(page 57)
“a man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life”
(page 59)
“divided his day into half-hour blocks” (balance between work and outdoors & exercise)
(page 60)
“Their lives were full and memorable, their work was prodigious, and yet their days are also filled with downtime.”
“Darwin and Lubbock, and many other creative and productive figures, weren’t accomplished despite their leisure; they were accomplished because of it. And even in today’s twenty-four/seven, always-on world, we can learn how to blend work and rest together in ways that make us smarter, more creative, and happier.”
(page 61)
“hardest thinking between 10 a.m. and noon, and again between five and seven in the afternoon”
(page 63)
“Scientists working thirty-five hours a week were half as productive as their twenty-hours-a-week colleagues.”
“Sixty-plus-hour-a-week researchers were the least productive of all.”
(page 65)
“Dickens was done writing after five hours a day”
(page 69)
“Great students didn’t just practice more than the average, they practiced more deliberately.”
“Deliberate practice is focused, structured, and offers clear goals and feedback.”
“With deliberate practice you need a strong sense that these long hours will pay off, and that you’re not just improving your career prospects but also crafting a professional and personal identity”
(page 70)
“Deliberate practice,” they observed, “is an effortful activity that can be sustained only for a limited time each day.”
(page 71)
“They have shorter sessions, each lasting about eighty to ninety minutes, with half-hour breaks in between”
“it takes a decade to get Gladwell’s ten thousand hours: if you can only sustain that level of concentrated practice for four hours a day, that works out to twenty hours a we”
(page 72)
“The best performers devoted more energy to organizing their time, thinking about how they would spend their time, and assessing what they did.”
(page 73)
“immense value of deliberate rest.”
“”Deliberate rest is the partner of deliberate practice”
(page 74)
“Exceptional performance…. comes after 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, 12,500 hours of deliberate rest, and 30,000 hours of sleep.” (more than Malcolm Gladwell prescribes)
MORNING ROUTINE
(page 78)
“The early start makes room in the day for rest”
(page 80)
“scientists are often early risers.”
(page 84)
“creating environments rich in helpful distractions at a time when their creative minds are more likely to be responsive to them and better able to use them to form new associations and insights.”
“early morning start has practical benefits. It can be a way of getting creative work done before the world has a chance to intrude.”
(page 85)
“When you start early, the rest you take is the rest you’ve earned.”
(page 88)
“employees who exhibited more creativity had jobs with a higher proportion of routine, but they also had more control over their work.”
(page 89)
“Routines also save time and energy”
(page 90)
“Routines can also provide just enough pressure to stimulate creativity but not so much that they inhibit creativity.”
WALK
(page 93)
“I have walked myself into my best thoughts”
“Walking and thinking have been amiable companions”
(page 94)
“solitary or social walks, a chance for conversation with ones’ self or with others ”
(page 95)
“walking meetings have become popular in Silicon Valley” (Steve Jobs)
(page 102)
“walking stimulates creativity,” (Stanford study 2014)
(page 104)
“Students tested better when walking on a treadmill than sitting”
“striking relationship between exercise and creativity.”
(page 106)
“It isn’t being outside that stimulates creativity; it is actually the walking itself that is most responsible for helping people be more creative.”
(page 108)
“Even people who didn’t carry notebooks came up with similar solutions for note-taking. The English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes walked with a cane that had an inkwell built into the handle and would write on a piece of paper attached to a board. The great German mathematician David Hilbert wrote down ideas as he walked but abandoned notebooks entirely: he installed a covered blackboard in his garden, and he and his assistants would make notes as he walked or worked in the flower beds.”
NAP
(page 112)
“napped lying down got more out of their naps than those who napped sitting up”
(page 113)
“Discover the restorative power of an afternoon nap. Sleep scientists have found the even a short nap can be effective in recharging your mental batteries and have opportunity to have new ideas”
(page 114)
“Churchill’s habit of an afternoon nap and bath”
“Lyndon Johnson have a “two-shift” day….start at 6 am. and end at 2 am with a long afternoon nap”
(page 115)
“WHY DO NAPS do you good? The most obvious benefit of napping is that it increases alertness and decreases fatigue”
(page 116)
“Regular napping can improve memory.”
(page 118)
“Naps can also help workers avoid mistakes and bad behavior”
(page 122)
“favored time for a nap has been the hour after lunch,”
(page 128)
“Naps are powerful tools for recovering our energy and focus.”
STOP
(page 129)
“stop working at just the right point: to see your next move, but leave it until tomorrow.”
(page 132)
Hemingway recommended writers end the workday in mid-sentence. If you stop in the middle, he said, “your subconscious will work on it all the time””
(page 132)
“Breaks provide a fairly consistent boost to creative thinking.”
“Breaks provided a chance for the brain to recover some of the energy it had previously expended just as a break lets athletes catch their breath.”
(page 136)
“Like designing a distraction-free morning, cultivating a routine that creates space for both focused work and fulsome rest, and using walks and naps to restore creative energy and promote creative insight, stopping at the right time requires understanding the demands of your work, learning to monitor your energy and attention, and appreciating how focused attention and mind-wandering can become partners in creative enterprises, and in a creative life.”
SLEEP
(page 138)
“While you sleep, your brain is busy consolidating memories, repairing physical damage, and generating dreams.”
(page 139)
“All mammals sleep, but with huge variations.”
“Dolphins and whales, who live in the open ocean and must regularly surface to breath, are unihemispheric sleepers: half of their brain sleeps while the other half remains awake.”
(page 140)
“Humans sleep about seven hours a night on average.”
“We often wake up most restored and get the most out of a night’s sleep when, unknown to us, our brains have been at their busiest. During the day, our bodies are mainly occupied with the business of living, spending energy on motor activity and cognitive functions.”
“When we fall asleep, our bodies shift into maintenance mode and devote themselves to storing energy, fixing or replacing damaged cells, and growing, while our brains clean out toxins, process the day’s experiences, and sometimes work on problems that have been occupying our waking minds. This work isn’t evenly distributed through the night but is concentrated in those periods when we sleep most deeply.”
(page 141)
Five Stages as we sleep. Stage 1, the first and lightest phase (drift off), Stage 2. After 15 minutes our brain waves shift; the small burst of activity Stage 3 lower-frequency delta waves mark stage 3 and the first deep sleep of the night.
(page 142)
“Stage 4 sleep. REM sleep. Move our limbs, toss and turn, and rapidly move our eyes. Reflects a higher level of brain activity. Most dreaming happens during REM sleep.
Body releases a growth hormone GHRH. GHRH stimulates the repair of cell and in children and adolescents, the creation of the new cells their bodies need to grow. One reason fast-growing teenagers need so much sleep is their GHRH levels are higher than their parents.
“It’s beginning to look like our brains can either be awake and aware, or asleep and cleaning up,” but they can’t do both at the same time.”
(page 148)
“Sleep deprivation doesn’t just erode your reflexes, decision-making, and ability to learn; it also has physical effects. Sleep deprivation lowers your immunity and erodes your body’s ability to fight off infection.”
“There’s a high correlation between sleep disturbance and cognitive and functional impairment among people with Altzheimers.”
(page 152)
Sleep gives the brain a chance to repair itself; it also takes the time to process the day’s events and solidify its memory of new skills. As we sleep, the brain shuffles around the day’s memories, moving some from short-term to long-term memory.
(page 154)
“They respect the mind’s ability to continue working while they are asleep, they don’t expect revelations in their sleep. Rather they see their sleeping minds and waking minds as partners and recognize that each has abilities that complement the other. They treat sleep as active rest.”
(page 156)
“So not only does sleep help us stay healthy, make sense of experiences, solidify memories, and generate new ideas, our species has been shaped by its unique sleep patterns. The partnership of waking and sleeping hours heightens our ability to learn and perform, while the character of our sleep deepens our ability remember and create, as individuals and as a species.”
PART II
RECOVERY
(page 160)
“Taking a break from work – detachment – the ability to put work completely out of your mind and attend to other things- turns out to be tremendously important as a source of mental and physical recovery from work. It’s a necessity for people who want to do their very best work to be able to able to detach from the workplace, to have time to recover their mental and physical energy”
(page 162)
“Researchers found that those who took annual vacations had fewer heart attacks and lower overall mortality rates than men who did not.”
(page 165)
“Take time off……Workers who have the chance to get away mentally, switch off, and devote their energies elsewhere, are more productive, have better attitudes, get along better with their colleagues,”
(page 166)
“Four major factors that contribute to recovery: relaxation, control, mastery experiences, and mental detachment from work”
“Control means having the power to decide how you spend your time, energy, and attention.”
(page 167)
“Workers with more control over their time and attention felt less need to recharge at the end of the day”
(page 169)
“Business travelers…before, during and after business trips, found that levels job stress and burnout dropped significantly after a trip.”
“For women taking a business trip held even more benefits because it meant a break from household chores and childcare.”
(page 171)
“Relaxing vacations: the benefits don’t last very long. ”
Vacations benefits last 3-4 weeks
“When on holiday, studies find that happiness levels rise rapidly during the first few days, peak around day eight, then either plateau or slowly decline.”
(page 172)
“Long vacations don’t translate into greater happiness”
“Regularly and decisively breaking from our jobs, disconnecting from the office in the evenings and on weekends, and choosing to do things that are relaxing, mentally absorbing, and physically challenging—in other words, engaging in a form of active rest—will promote recovery of our mental resources and make us more effective, productive, and focused. Rather than treating vacations as big, annual events that are completely separate from our working lives, taking shorter but more frequent vacations every few months provides greater levels of recovery”
“Vacations are like sleep: you need to take them regularly to benefit.”
(page 173)
“We need to build rest into our schedule.”
(page 174)
“The most creative and most productive workers are the ones who are able to unplug from the office, recover their mental and physical energy, and return to their work recharged. We also now know that recovery isn’t just a function of time off. We get the most from breaks when we do things that are relaxing, that let us experience control and mastery, and that provide a sense of detachment from our working lives. Recovery is active, not passive, and we can design it to get greater benefit.”
(page 175)
“Deep play—hobbies that are challenging, mentally absorbing, and personally meaningful—provide another important source of recovery. “
“Sabbaticals give creative people a chance to reanimate their creative lives, explore new interests, and make life-changing breakthroughs. Together, they help intelligent, ambitious people stay curious, engaged, and productive, and help them lead long creative lives.”
EXERCISE
(page 182)
“Rowing was especially popular because it taught you how to deliver a consistent, “machine-like regularity of performance” on the river, and in the examination hall. Not only did they see exercise as the “complement of hard study”
(page 185)
“People of any age, gender, or athletic ability, exercise can increase brain power, boost intelligence, and provide the stamina and psychological resilience necessary to do creative work.”
(page 185)
“Effects of fitness programs on brain structure and health have shown that exercise improves brain structure, just as it does the cardiovascular system, and muscles.”
(page 186)
“Exercise actually “induces profound structural brain plasticity.”
(page 187)
“People who don’t normally exercise don’t get the same creative boost from a workout. Exhaustive exercise impaired the performance of nonathletes.”
(page 190)
“Exposing yourself to predictable, incremental physical stressors in the gym or the playing field increases your capacity to be calm and clear-headed in stressful real-world situations.” Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Elena Kagan, Alan Turing, Nelson Mandela, ”
(page 192)
“Physical activity can also slow cognitive decline.”
DEEP PLAY
(page 200)
“Hobbies and physical activities become what anthropologists and psychologists call “deep play,” activities that are rewarding on their own, but take on additional layers of meaning and personal significance. Play is one of the most important things we do.”
(page 201)
“Deep play is mentally absorbing.”
“Deep play offers players a new context in which to use some of the same skills that they use in their work”
(page 202)
“Deep play offers some of the same satisfaction as work”
“Deep play provides a living connection to the player’s past….can remind the player of childhood or home activities from youth. ”
(page 203)
“Billiards”
(page 205)
“Painting”
(page 206)
“Sailing….problem solving and observational skills”
(page 208)
“Unlike a long walk or hike, which can be an occasion for mind-wandering, mountain climbing requires focus”
(page 209)
“photography”
“indoor climbing walls”
(page 210-211)
“Nepal’s Dhaulagiri…new paths up hard-to-reach mountains….just like in science you try to do something new”
(page 212)
“Writing novels”
(page 215)
“Tolkein started by telling stories to his children. After a few years, he started writing them down.”
(page 217)
“Building models.”
(page 219)
“Deep play is also striking because even if it speaks to the same profound interests and uses common skills, it also establishes clear boundaries between work and play.”
(page 220)
“Deep play, helps creative minds keep working on problems even while playing music or painting or hiking.”
SABBATICALS
(page 224)
“A well-designed break from your normal working routine can recharge your creativity, help you discover new ideas, or lead you to achieve a breakthrough in your current work.”
(page 225)
“Gates’s “think week” has been imitated by executives at Microsoft and a number of Silicon Valley companies.”
(page 226)
“Huge improvement in work-life balance, family connection and physical health. 87 percent said they had greater confidence on the job after returning. Interesting only 13 percent said the sabbatical made them want to change jobs.”
(page 229)
“Took advantage of this slower pace to give themselves “leisure to think, to ponder, to write.”
(page 236)
“Learning to adjust to a new place requires going through culture shock, adapting to new surroundings, making new friendships and professional connections, and developing an ability to make sense of unfamiliar norms and customs.”
“Even a short time abroad was better than nothing”
(page 237)
“Working in two countries in a year was stimulating, but working in seven or eight was overwhelming: you just didn’t have time to assimilate or internalize what you’d seen.”
“As they escaped their everyday environments and were free to pursue high-level goals without the constraints of detailed schedules, their sabbaticals provided opportunities for professional and personal renewal that they could draw on to build their companies and careers.”
(page 238)
“These examples show how being in an environment that is new but not alienating, intellectually stimulating, and different from home helps free the mind to make creative leaps.”
CONCLUSION: The Restful Life
(page 240)
“We should treat work and rest as equals; that we should treat rest as a skill; that the best, most restorative kinds of rest are active; and that when practiced well, rest can make us more creative and productive, without forcing us into a funhouse mirror of endless work and ever-rising expectations.”
(page 241)
“Taking rest seriously requires recognizing its importance, claiming our right to rest, and carving out and defending space for rest in our daily lives.”
“We have to choose to make an earlier start to the day to earn time to rest later; we have to reserve space on the daily calendar for a walk, or keep time free on the weekends for a hobby or sport; we must arrange our finances and business affairs so we can take a sabbatical.”
“Vague plans and ambitions are far less likely to bring success than specific goals. The very act of making specific plans helps make a goal feel more realistic and accessible, and gives you a clearer sense of its value.”
“Taking rest seriously also helps bring more of your life into clearer focus. It heightens your ability to concentrate and discourages multitasking.”
(page 242)
“Deliberate rest helps organize your life.”
(page 242-243)
Deliberate rest helps cultivate calm. It deepens your capacity to focus, which helps you complete urgent tasks while driving off anxiety. It encourages you to work steadily rather than wait for a burst of inspiration (or simply the last minute). It reduces the number of things you have to do by helping you recognize and turn down inessential tasks. Finally it deepens your emotional reserves and resilience, which makes it more likely that you’ll meet challenges with greater confidence.”
(page 244)
“Deliberate rest also gives you more time…helps you work more effectively.”
(page 245)
“Deliberate rest helps you live a good life.”
“Deliberate rest restores your energy.”
(page 246)
“It creates a life that has purpose and pleasure, work and reward, in equal measure. And that life feels complete and well-spend at the end.”
(page 247)
“Rest is not idleness.”