Alex Pang

One of Silicon Valley’s sharpest strategists shows that success doesn’t demand longer, harder hours, it demands that you work less

Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

Rest

Fred Rivett

William Osler, warned that without care, good men are ruined by success in practice," and that "ever-increasing demands" can leave even the most curious person "worn out, yet not able to rest." It was essential to develop "some intellectual pastime which may serve to keep you in touch with the world of art, of science, or of letters."

Indeed, world-class performers often are more likely to call themselves "lazy" than their less-accomplished peers.

After spending a weekend at High Elms, Herbert Spencer observed a "remarkable peculiarity" about John Lubbock: his days were full of "many and varied occupations," yet "he never seemed in a hurry." Even when turning his attention to business after a morning spent hunting with his brothers, moving between meetings and his bank, or running off to deliver a lecture, "by his habitual calm, [Lubbock] gave the impression that he was quite at leisure."

Together, 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.

Breadth and cultural distance gave designers a creative boost early on, but in the long run, depth-how long they spent living abroad was most important. […] However, even a short period working abroad was better than nothing: the worst thing a creative designer could do was play it safe and stay home.

Many CEOs have found that getting away from the pressures of office politics, the thousands of minor decisions they have to make every day, and the cognitive whiplash that comes from jumping from one subject to another every few minutes, gives them a chance to get a broader perspective on their companies and industries. Sabbaticals improve employee satisfaction, give returning workers a greater sense of clarity about their jobs and future, and improve retention levels.

For creative and prolific people, seeing outside activities as expressions of the same interests that guide their professional lives builds a bridge between the worlds of work and rest and helps turn these activities into deep play.

Churchill found painting a valuable pastime for several reasons, lt required complete concentration, but it was an casy-to-achieve focus. "I know of nothing which, without exhausting the body, more entirely absorbs the mind," he said. "Whatever the worries of the hour or the threats of the future, once the picture has begun to flow along, there is no room for them." It offered an inexhaustible supply of new subjects, new skills to master, and a lifetime of challenges. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path."

Creative people dont engage in deep play despite their high levels of activity and productivity; they're active and productive because of deep play.

Strenuous exercise can retrain your body's reaction to stressors. 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.

Running seems to be particularly effective in stimulating neurogenesis. Scientists have found that mice running on wheels generate twice the number of new neurons in their hippocampus as mice who are sedentary; they are also better able to identify new objects and distinguish similar objects from one another.

A well-run tutorial, students said, was like a team of horses led by a coachman—or, as Cambridge students came to call their tutors, a "coach."

Deep play—hobbies that are challenging, mentally absorbing, and personally meaningful provide another important source of recovery. Finally, sabbaticals give creative people a chance to reanimate their creative lives, explore new interests, and make life-changing breakthroughs.

Relaxation, control, mastery experiences, and detachment all work together to promote recovery. An activity that is challenging and absorbing, and pushes thoughts of work of your mind, increases your sense of detachment. This helps explain why many noted scientists have been avid musicians.

US Air Force surveys found a similar effect among airmen after overseas deployments: even when they're stressful, short deployments can provide a respite from the usual routines of base life.

psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has found that people who seek out flow experiences in difficult but rewarding activities are happier and have more satisfying lives than people who pursue sybaritic pleasures.)

Sonnentag and her colleagues argue that there are four major factors that contribute to recovery: relaxation, control, mastery experiences, and mental detachment from work.

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, and are better able to deal with challenges at work.

Sonnentag's work assumes that emotional resources are as important for workers as physical energy is for athletes: however much you love the game, at some point you need to stop playing and rest.

In fact, according to a 2014 survey, one in five start-up founders got the idea for their company during vacations.

The Duke Divinity School’s Clergy Health Initiative found in a 2014 survey that 25 percent of full-time Methodist clergy suffered from emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of accomplishment (the three major symptoms of burnout), leading to poorer health and higher-than-average rates of obesity, hypertension, depression, and anxiety. (In fact, the term workabolic was first coined in a study of ministers.)

Framingham Heart Study found that over a twenty-year period, women who took infrequent vacations were more likely to have heart attacks than those who vacationed regularly. In a nine-year study of twelve thousand men at high risk for coronary heart disease, researchers found that those who took annual vacations had fewer heart attacks and lower overall mortality rates than men who did not.

This kind of break from work—the kind that allows what sociologists call 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 essential for those in unpredictable, high-stress jobs that require lots of focus and emotional control, like nursing or law enforcement. It's equally essential for people who love their jobs, who are perfectionists and passionate.

In 1906, American experimental psychologist Joseph Jastrow noted in his book The Subconscious that "the idler moments of contemplative revery are as essential to fruitful production as the intent periods of executive effort; the trough of the wave is as intrinsic a part of its progressive character as the crest."

This book paired with Jon Acuff's Soundtracks were a great resource for me. Good to consider that life's success is also built on rest. 

BC Hark

Interesting read with lots of anecdotes about the benefits of rest (both active and passive), thought provoking about the optimal amount of work (it’s less than you’d expect) and what to do when not working.

Luca Conti

Seppur non abbia imparato molto di più di ciò che non sapessi già, è bene﻿ confrontarsi con altri punti di vista e soprattutto fonti differenziate su un tema che mi sta a cuore: vivere consapevolmente, in equilibrio.

Ogni capitolo﻿ del libro di Alex Soojung-Kim Pang è dedicato a un'azione legata al riposo: routine del mattino﻿, dormire, camminare, fare un sonnellino, fermarsi, giocare, fare esercizio fisico e altro. Ogni capitolo﻿ cita personaggi noti del passato - Charles Darwin è quello che mi è rimasto più impresso - quali esempi di come queste pratiche contribuiscano al benessere psico-fisico, con un vantaggio anche sul piano del lavoro﻿ e della produttività. Darwin lavorava circa 4 ore al giorno, divise tra mattina﻿ e pomeriggio﻿, intervallando lunghe passeggiate, un buon pranzo e un sonnellino..

continua su http://www.lucaconti.it/2017/02/16/ri...

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

In our 24-7 global economy, rest feels like a luxury at best and a weakness at worst. We see work and rest as competitors - but what if they're actually partners in a productive, balanced life? Blending rigorous scientific research with examples of writers, painters and thinkers - from Darwin to Stephen King - Silicon Valley futurist and business consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang exposes how we've underestimated the power of rest for our success. Though it's as natural as breathing, it's also a skill we can all learn to boost our creativity and productivity. Full of tips for upping our downtime, from sleep to hobbies to vacation, Rest is a new roadmap for finding renewed energy and inspiration, and getting more done.

Jesper Bylund

While the central ideas are important, and some of the practical tips worthwhile, I find the book a typical american self-help books. Basically and endless tirade of repetitive examples to sell you on a core idea.
Read a abbreviated version, or get a cliffs notes, or on Blinkist. Don't read the book.

Harry Butcher

nda and

"In our 24-7 global economy, rest feels like a luxury at best and a weakness at worst. We see work and rest as competitors - but what if they're actually partners in a productive, balanced life? Blending rigorous scientific research with examples of writers, painters and thinkers - from Darwin to Stephen King - Silicon Valley futurist and business consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang exposes how we've underestimated the power of rest for our success. Though it's as natural as breathing, it's also a skill we can all learn to boost our creativity and productivity. Full of tips for upping our downtime, from sleep to hobbies to vacation, Rest is a new roadmap for finding renewed energy and inspiration, and getting more done."

Rest Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

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