Leave time and space in your schedule for doing nothing
Summary
- Leave time and space in your schedule for doing nothing
Details
- Leaving time for idling helps us to plan and think of creative ideas, that bolster our planned work time.
References
Quotes
Many people strive for efficient lives, where no hour is wasted. But an overlooked skill that doesn’t get enough attention is the idea that wasting time can be a great thing.
Psychologist Amos Tversky once said that “the secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours.”
A successful person purposely leaving gaps of free time on their schedule to do nothing in particular can feel inefficient. And it is, so not many people do it.
But Tversky’s point is that if your job is to be creative and think through tough problems, then time spent wandering around a park or aimlessly lounging on a couch might be your most valuable hours. A little inefficiency is wonderful.
I take time to go for long walks on the beach so that I can listen to what is going on inside my head. If my work isn’t going well, I lie down in the middle of a workday and gaze at the ceiling while I listen and visualize what goes on in my imagination.
Mozart felt the same way:
When I am traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during the night when I cannot sleep—it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly.
Related
- The secret to doing good research is always to be a little underemployed. You waste years by not being able to waste hours - Amos Tversky
- Creativity is labor intensive - John Adams
- Creativity comes from combining previously unconnected things
- The benefits of walking
- Happiness is not in the mere possession of money but in the thrill of creative effort - Franklin D. Roosevelt