One of the most difficult challenges for any ambitious person is eliminating the guilt associated with free time and rest.
The idea that free time is bad is one of the greatest lies you’ve been told. Free time is a “call option” on future interesting opportunities. When you have free time, you have the headspace and bandwidth to pursue new ideas. Free time increases your serendipity surface area.
All growth requires balance: Ideas are executed during periods of work, but formed during periods of free time & boredom. Muscle is trained during exercise, but grown during recovery. Minds are engaged with togetherness, but fortified with solitude. Find balance—find growth.
Many of history’s highest achievers were aware of the value of rest: John D. Rockefeller would take regular breaks from his notoriously demanding schedule to mill about in his garden—it was his personal escape. Lesson: When you sprint, sprint hard. When you rest, rest hard.
Embrace the role of free time and rest in your life. It’s an asset, not a liability. It’s not about a “break” from productivity. It’s an integral part of your productivity.
Remember Benjamin Franklin’s Calendar: Periods of work broken up by periods of rest, conversation, reading, and boredom. I write a lot about creative boredom, thoughtful productivity, and growth. Follow me @SahilBloom for more.
I still fight the guilt associated with rest. I often find myself wondering what I could be doing to make progress during those periods. It’s difficult to rewire yourself to embrace it after years of being conditioned to hate it. Awareness is the first step to change.
This is also a major key to avoiding burnout: We have to reframe rest and recovery as a core part of our daily systems, not a reward for our efforts. We don’t need to “earn” our recovery—it should be a central part of our ritual that allows us to thrive.
This appears to have struck a chord as something a lot of us are struggling with. I’ll write a deep dive on the topic—including ways to fight back and escape the guilt—in an upcoming newsletter. Join the 117,000+ others who will receive it here:
sahilbloom.com/newsletter
One idea to try: Take 15 minute tech-free walks throughout the day to break up blocks of focused work. The walks will provide a reset and let your thoughts and ideas mingle. The walks are just as much of a contributor to the output as the focused work itself.
