WHY YOU SHOULD WORK LESS (TO ACHIEVE MORE)

Yes. You read the title correctly. 

You can actually be more productive by working less. In this issue, I’ll teach you how to take advantage of rest - and why should you work less. 

When I first heard this concept, I thought it couldn’t be true. I thought, maybe it is just a made-up excuse that you don’t need to work hard…

Let’s start, my friends...

You might have heard of the saying “Work SMART not hard”. I believed this was the way to go… until I read Relentless by Tim S. Grover.

He said something like this (I’m paraphrasing): 

“Successful people work smart, not hard. World-class people work smart and hard. People say it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. True. But world-class people sprint a marathon every day.”

I thought this was very powerful. And I started working more and pushing myself more. I enjoyed the grind… but I had noticed something had changed during these months…

Then it hit me. I had been less creative…

Not as many new breakthrough ideas. New ideas were much harder to come by. And thus, I hadn’t made as much progress on the creative front. This lasted until 3 weeks ago. But then I bumped again into a concept I had heard first a couple of years back called Deep Work.

Deep work is a concept made popular by Cal Newport. The book Deep Work is incredible. I highly recommend reading it. But in a nutshell, this is what Deep Work is, It is extremely concentrated focus for a maximum of 4 hours a day. Deep work can be anything you can focus deeply on, such as editing a YouTube video, writing or making relationships on social media. When you do deep work, your Task Positive Network is active.

Shallow work is the opposite of deep work (also made popular by Newport). It doesn’t need much focus. This can be emails, meetings or some other creative work.

why should you do a maximum of 4h deep work a day?

Answer is, that we can’t do more. 

It’s impossible. 

Well… some studies argue that we can do 5 hours – if we have trained our focus to that point. (I haven’t reached that, yet – and if you’re hearing about this the first time – neither have you).

In other words, you’ll become less productive after 4 hours of deep work.

Now, you might wonder “Shouldn’t I work anyway – even if it’s not as productive?”. The answer is… if you have to. Depending on what you do as a job, you might not be able to do only 4 hours of work a day - i.e. if your job is to manage other employees, or you work 9-5. But if you’re a full-time creative, maybe you can do this. Or if you’re in a job that allows you to stop work once you’ve finished all the necessary tasks.

If you don’t need to work more than 4 hours, that’s ideal. Now, this is why.

When we’re deeply focused on a task, such as writing, reading difficult text and so on - our brain is in a certain brain state.  And when we’re in this brain-state (beta brainwave state) it is unable to function similarly and solve problems. When you think about it… what actually makes the biggest difference for you? Taking actions… Or breakthrough ideas?

I believe you need both. New ideas. But also to work on them. But ideas overall are the most important, in my opinion. I believe it’s foolish to not make time for idea generation.

Deep work for productivity. Rest for creativity.

When we rest, our brain gets into a state in which it starts solving problems more. 

This is called Default Mode Network (DMN). (And thus, you’ve shut off your Task Positive Network. They can’t be active at the same time.)

You might think your brain is working more when you’re working, and being concentrated. But that is not exactly true. If you’re an “average” person, not a creative, that might be true for you. However, if you’re creative, or you feel you’re more creative than people around you, this is different. As Alex Soojung-Kim Pang puts this in his book Rest; Why You Get More Done When You Work Less.

They’ve found out that the DMNs of people who score high on creativity tests differ from those of people who are average: some regions of their brain are more active and there are higher levels of connectivity between some regions, while other regions are less tightly integrated.

Basically, if you’re creative, your resting brain is working more than your working brain. But even if you’re not, once you stop paying intentional attention to external tasks, your DMN gets automatically activated.

Brain continues to work on the problem when you aren’t aware of it. 

Everyone’s conscious mind can handle only 40 to 50 bits of information per second. Our unconscious mind, can handle 11 MILLION bits of information per second.

This is why rest works for creatives especially. 

This is why you might get some of your best ideas just before you go to sleep (you’ve finally taken some time for your DMN to kick active). 

This is why many successful people have contributed their success to long walks and why many speak of them highly.

Tapping into the unconscious mind has tremendous benefits. (You tap into it when you’re not working.)

Geniuses who contribute their success to rest are such as Steve Jobs, Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Darwin, many mathematicians and Noble Prize winners. This quote by Eugene Wigner summarises this well: It is quite nice to have an office and even nicer to have a warm, well-furnished home. But my mind often comes to a standstill after some hours indoors. So I take a walk. Once outside, my mind immediately begins to move freely and instinctively over my subject. Ideas come rushing to my mind, without being called. Soon enough, the best answer emerges from the jumble. I realize what I can do, what I should do, and what I must abandon.

This is great news for all of us. No need to work 24/7 to get the best results. AND this means if you aren’t a full-time creative yet, there’s no need to just randomly quit and put a lot of pressure on yourself. Some “gurus” recommend you “burn the ships to take the island” (that you must achieve the goal then - you have no option to turn back. You either win - or you die). But what I’ve found, and others more successful than me, is that stress just makes you less creative. And you produce less good work - thus making it harder to achieve your goal.

So, you don’t need to work 24/7 IF you spend your hours wisely.

Escaping the 9-5.

If you aren’t a full-time creative yet, and you want to become one and quit your 9-5, just take time every morning before work, or after work, to chase your dream. 

Or heck, maybe during the breaks at work. Just make sure to focus deeply. Then your 15 - 30 minutes, or 1-2 hours might be more productive than someone’s distracted 2-3 hours.

Focusing deeply makes you move forward with your priority tasks that actually move the needle forward. So do not get discouraged that you don’t have the full day to work on things. Just ask how someone full-time is actually working.

What I’ve found out, is that they work the same amount - but then just have more time for everything else (i.e. rest, family time, reading books and so on). Many do count learning as work as well - to make the work hours sound more sexy.

In fact, many people doing 9-5, or who are juggling school at side of their creative projects, actually make the most progress. 

This is because they’re forced to think about what moves the needle the most. Many young people especially fall into this trap when they have nearly the whole day to themselves. That’s why most of them don’t make significant progress compared to those who have responsibilities. 

(And yes, this is something I noticed happening with me too - and then I changed it.) 

So… don’t get discouraged. 

You actually have an advantage - when you look at it from a certain perspective.

Even leaders rest.

But even when you’re busy, and don’t have a lot of time for rest - try to make some time for it.

In fact, even Winston Churchill prioritized rest. He took naps during World War II. Yes, this part of his story rarely gets mentioned. He had made a habit of taking daily naps. Churchill said his midday naps were essential for maintaining his mental balance, renewing his energy, and reviving his spirits. This is what Churchill’s valet, Frank Sawyers, had to say about him and the naps:

It was one of the inflexible rules of Mr. Churchill’s daily routine that he should not miss this rest.

Many leaders were inspired by Churchill’s napping habit. At least 2 of these are American presidents, John F. Kennedy being one of them.

If these guys got time to rest, I believe you can too.

Napping is one of the great ways to rest. But keep it below 90 minutes. 

That’s what the current science suggests. 

(Churchill took naps of 1-2 hours.) 

Otherwise, you’ll start to get into REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep - after which - you’ll feel sluggish.

What about other forms of rest?

The best ways to rest, according to science are; long walks (in the city or nature doesn’t matter a ton – nature is a bit better), being at the gym, spending time with loved ones and friends…

And yes, going to the gym is rest.

Is it physical rest? No, of course not. Well I mean I hope you don’t go to the gym just to lie down on a sofa.

But it’s mental rest. You do recover well when you aren’t deeply focused on being productive.

Long walks are beneficial because you get to pay attention to either

1) Nothing – and let your mind wander and be connected to your subconscious mind better whilst getting some good exercise, or

2) You pay attention to things you normally don’t. Such as the sound of the wind, the details on the ground or the leaves, or how the light reflects from the ocean.

The best rest isn’t to do nothing. It is to actively do something else than work.

Something else Pang talks about in his book Rest is the concept of Deep Play. 

When reading this book, it was the first time I had heard about it. What is it: Deep play—hobbies are challenging, mentally absorbing, and personally meaningful.

When you start to study highly successful people, many actually have time for their hobbies. And they dedicate a lot of time to them.  Examples of Deep Play are rock climbing, golf, surfing, tennis, football and so on.

What about binging Film?

Maybe this goes without mention, but mindlessly binging Netflix isn’t exactly one of the best ways to rest. It doesn’t engage you - but it does put you into an Alpha brainwave state which means you’re deeply focused on the action.

Alpha brainwave state is the reason why：

1) Someone might not hear what you have to say when they’re watching TV and why

2) movies might go by fast.

It can divert your focus from work, but whether it's considered productive depends on your goals.

If you’re watching a movie to get inspiration for your art, it can be productive. But binging for the sake of it, isn’t productive, but it can be restorative. By getting active rest, you also eliminate another challenge. 

A weekend depression. And until a few weeks ago, I felt some weekend depression. 

By that I mean sadness and feeling down. 

This was down to a rule of mine which was… “From Monday to Friday, whenever I’m awake, I’m either working out - or working on my goals. On weekends, I can be as lazy as I want.”

Because of this, I tried to limit my hours of working and doing stuff - because I was afraid I’d burn out.

I often ended up trying to relax in a bad way. And didn’t schedule my days which made me feel bad.

This changed when I discovered a study (which for the life of me I can’t now find). Basically, doing nothing over 5 hours isn’t good for us. It can make us sad. It’s too much time for just being. By having active rest, you have things to do. And you don’t just lie down and scroll social media. That kind of rest, shouldn’t make you feel bad. Unless you’re of course conditioned into feeling bad when you relax. The good news is… this conditioning isn’t permanent - and can be changed with repetition.

An example of my Deep and Shallow workday.

As I just started to understand this topic well recently, I’m still playing around with an ideal routine. But what’s certain, is that not every work day can always be the same. 

Some days I do 4 hours of deep work. Some days I do only 2. Some days take a little longer (5 hours + 1 hour of shallow work/distracted work).

I do my work often in 45-minute blocks (in order to get into the flow state). I often have completed at least half of the deep work time - if not more - before noon. After I’ve eaten, I’ll go to the gym. This is 6 times a week. But I’m experimenting with replacing some cardio with even longer walks. (I dedicate my best ideas from my walks. I’m the most productive then by far.) After I’m back home, and eaten, I’ll go for a walk that takes around 1 hour. I’ll do at least 1 big walk a day - I might start to do even 2. After the walk, depending on the day, I’ll do some learning on whatever I find myself needing to learn the most. Then, I do my remaining deep work. At 6:00 PM I stop work latest and start winding down for sleep. I meditate, rate how the day went - and might read and schedule the upcoming day - depending on the evening and the upcoming day.

I might go more in-depth behind the science of my routine and workday in the future. But this 1st issue has already been quite a decent length. But the last point of this issue: 

When you work, work 100%. 

When you rest, rest 100%.

This is something I’m still learning. I was conditioned into thinking I must work 24/7 - and thus - at times it is hard to not check social media or email outside the work hours I set myself. But… a change doesn’t just happen like that. Things take time.

As mentioned earlier, this is not 100% set in stone - this is the average - but I have many rules in place that I get enough rest. And I probably will go more into the routines and so on in later issues. This has already been quite a decent length. But here is the summary of what you could try out:

1) It makes sense to limit your working time according to studies. Ideally to 4-5 hours. Don’t romanticize the work hours—the hustle culture (god I hate that word).

2) After you’ve done your work, rest actively. Take a long walk, go to the gym, read a book – or do something else that takes your focus. Some video games are decent too although they won’t be physically demanding.

I hope you enjoyed reading this 1st issue. You can expect these to come on a weekly basis. These issues will just get better every week as I learn more about writing.

If you found this issue helpful, feel free to share this with a friend. Make sure to subscribe - if you already haven’t - so you won’t miss the next issues. 

Thank you for reading.

All the best, and until next Saturday,