Rest

Rest is actually about creative work. That’s the thesis behind a 2016 book by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a Silicon Valley consultant, author, and founder of the Restful Company. The book is subtitled Why you get more done when you work less.

In the introduction, Pang makes four claims. (1) Work and rest are partners. (2) Rest is active, examples includes exercise, stimulating hobbies, REM sleep. (3) Rest is a skill. It takes practice and discipline to reap its rewards. (4) Deliberate rest stimulates and sustains creativity. This last one is the selling point, and the reason why there’s a consulting business surrounding the idea.

There is a chapter on the ‘science of rest’. It has neuroscience related acronyms such as fMRI, PET, EEG and DMN (default mode network) and acronyms for standard creativity measures such as RAT (Remote Associates Test) and AUT (Alternative Uses Test). The tests might measure certain variables associated with small-c creativity. The neuroscience methods measure several proxies for brain activity. All this small-scale semi-quantitative information is meshed (or mashed-up) with anecdotal accounts of big-C Creativity individuals in the science, music, the arts, technology and leadership. Only a few of these examples are contemporary. Most are fifty to a hundred years old, some older (such as Charles Darwin). Einstein is of course mentioned.

While the anecdotes are interesting, correlation of creativity with certain ‘habits’ of possibly unique individuals, who may or may not even form a reasonable sample, is tenuous at best. From the historical examples (that form the majority), many of these individuals had resources, access and opportunity, in an era when few had such advantages, and without the global competition and connectivity of today. To this reader, it is unclear if these habits on their own will indeed boost creativity, or the spark-of-genius, or even elevate your company/corporation above the competition. After all, many people have these habits in some measure, but we don’t classify them as creative geniuses. That being said, the book is a light-and-easy read, and it made me feel good about myself since I have many of these habits. Now, I just need that spark of genius to illuminate me and unleash my creativity!

So I thought it would be amusing for this post to go through the different habits and see where I stand or fall in each area or activity. Let’s begin with the six habits of Part I: Stimulating Creativity.

(1) Four Hours. According to the author, that’s how much of really good-difficult intellectual work you can accomplish in a day. Putting in more hours just leads to diminished returns. That’s not to say you should leave work early every day. There are many routine tasks that are part of one’s job and can be interspersed with your four hours. While I log my time, I haven’t logged the intensity of my intellectual activity. Some days I might get in those four hours, but most days, it’s likely to be one or two at best. And on busy days with lots of administrative busywork, it might be close to zero. The lesson here: I should be more deliberate in carving out time and be more disciplined with high intensity intellectual work.

(2) Morning Routine. Apparently many creative folks start their day early, given the sample of anecdotes chosen by Pang. I’m pleased to say that when I started my faculty position, I shifted my schedule earlier. This was partly to accommodate my wife who is a morning person (while I was a night owl for many years), but partly because I detest looking for parking. So I happily teach the MWF 8am section of General Chemistry most semesters. However Pang’s examples got most of their high intensity creative work done in the morning. Should I still come early, do my creative thinking in the morning, but teach later classes when my energy levels are lower? Or is teaching my creative work and therefore it’s good for me to keep those in the morning? Hmm… I’ll have to think about that and maybe experiment a little. I do notice that I get some great ideas when I’m driving to work at 7am.

(3) Walk. Apparently that’s when ideas may come. I walk 1-2 miles every day for my aerobic exercise. That’s a far cry from some of those great thinkers who took much longer walks, sometimes with pals to bounce ideas off. Not sure how many great ideas I get walking in the evening (when I’m more tired). Maybe I don’t walk long enough.

(4) Nap. Good for many of those famous scientists back when they had more leisurely schedules. The author does single out Winston Churchill as an example of a very busy man whose naps were crucial. I used to nap in my days as a student night owl, mainly because I didn’t get enough sleep at night. I’d fall asleep after lunch anyway so I might as well do it in comfortable conditions at home. But now that I hold a ‘regular’ job, or at least I keep such hours, I no longer nap. I think that’s okay, because of the next item.

(5) Stop. Separate your work and non-work activities. That’s the advice from Pang given his anecdotal examples. By not napping, and being very good about separating my work and non-work, I’ve managed to stay very productive and happy in my career. It might have improved my creativity, but as measured with a small-c, perhaps I haven’t noticed any genius in myself. I do think I have creative ideas at least some of the time, and I enjoy turning these ideas around in my head.

(6) Sleep. It’s important to get good sleep. That’s a problem for me because I’ve had insomnia for many years, although things have improved the last five years partly with some lifestyle changes, and possibly because I’m simply getting older and sleeping earlier.

There are four other habits in Part II: Sustaining Creativity.

(7) Recovery. Take those vacations and take time off from work. It’s closely related to #5 Stop. I’m good about doing these actively and I enjoy my mind-stimulating hobbies: daily crossword puzzle, reading, playing games, and even cooking.

(8) Exercise. Apparently a number of creative folks took part in strenuous physical activities, running marathons, scaling mountains, etc. Niels Bohr and his mathematician brother Harald were top-notch soccer players. I don’t see myself doing very much in this category although maybe I can up my daily exercise routine a little more.

(9) Deep Play. When I have a larger block of time, I enjoy deep puzzles and immersive boardgames. Got this covered!

(10) Sabbatical. I’m blessed to be an academic where sabbaticals are built into my job. (I do have to apply for them and write a reasonable proposal.) I’m very much looking forward to my next sabbatical (coming up in 2019) and I’ve already been thinking about new directions and new possibilities! My last sabbatical was wonderful because I immersed myself learning about origin-of-life chemistry. This led to a funded proposal, lots of interesting projects, a bunch of papers, some academic activity opportunities (grant panels, editorial boards, etc.), and being a consultant on a successful origin-of-life game!

In the meantime it is Winter Break and I’m enjoying my Rest with a variety of non-work activities. I might even be feeling some creative juices churning!