I want you to picture something: It’s a random Thursday morning and you decide to take the day off! Has your anxiety ramped up a few points? You have meetings. Phone calls. A never-ending to-do list!
Deep breath in and you decide to do it. Submit the PTO email…and you’re officially off today. Now, picture yourself at home but instead of getting everything done around the house that needs to be tackled…the laundry, the grocery shopping, the cleaning, the mowing…I want you to imagine yourself ignoring it. Yep. Ignore all of it! The blood-pressure is really spiking now!
To most of us, the “idea” of doing nothing sounds amazing, right? But to picture yourself actually doing it, actually taking a day off and doing nothing…it’s sort of terrifying.
My question to you: At what point did we accept the idea that our days had to be jammed packed with stuff? Side hustles, kids in five different activities each night, a Pinterest worthy house, Cross-fit workouts all while learning Mandarin in our spare time? Oh, don't forget about that rescue dog (or cat) to train and squeeze in some volunteering. Go…go…go…
In a 1965 Time Magazine article, the author wrote: “Men such as IBM Economist Joseph Froomkin feel that automation will eventually bring about a 20-hour work week, perhaps within a century, thus creating a mass leisure class.”
Missed it by THAT much, yes?
There’s no one, singular reason why we continue to fill the void created by new found efficiencies and automation with more work (that’s a blog post all on its’ own, but hint: it's all about our ego), but instead, let’s focus on the impact.
Our brains share a lot in common with computers and machines. From electrical currents to memory storage and retrieval. What happens if too many processes are running on a computer? You experience a noticeable slow-down.
What happens if a machine begins to over-heat? Components break-down.
Red-line the engine in your car for long enough? You’ll soon find yourself stranded.
Yet we treat our brains no differently than the above examples. We run too many processes without a break. We allow our brains to red-line continuously. We never shut down or reboot.
We have forgotten that we are more than the sum of our crossed-off to-do list.
Our value as humans’ rests in our ability to think, create and innovate…yet we treat that “tool” that enables us to do so, terribly. Innovation, creativity, dreaming…doesn’t happen while we’re “hustling” from checklist to checklist; it requires downtime. Our brains must be free to wonder, rest, explore and recover.
Ancient Greeks focused on leisure and downtime and were still able to develop complex mathematics that we still rely on today. They contributed an enormous amount to the field of astronomy (and possibly the first computer), Hippocrates set the path for our modern day physician and on and on.
Could the ancient Greeks’ accomplish all these innovative creations without thinking time? While we’ll never know the answer, it should cause us to think about our own value. Is sending that email at 11 PM truly “adding value,” or rather, could you be adding more value if you were asleep and recharging?
Look at your over-booked calendar…is every meeting necessary? Better put, is the value from (and to) the meetings greater than the value you could be contributing on other work?
Time is our only non-renewable resource. Every task and activity must be viewed through the lens of an investment. We are investing our time in that activity…is the ROI worth it?
Someday, AI and automation will do many of the tasks we pride ourselves on accomplishing. If we don’t find a way to shift our mindset away from placing value on these menial, task-oriented objectives to an innovative and creation mindset, we’ll find ourselves obsolete. And if we don't allow our brains to rest, recharge and think? You'll get left behind during the next "industrial revolution."
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