Home > Work > Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
1 " If you want rest, you have to take it. You have to resist the lure of busyness, make time for rest, take it seriously, and protect it from a world that is intent on stealing it. History "
― Alex Soojung-Kim Pang , Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
2 " If your work is your self, when you cease to work, you cease to exist. "
3 " Routinization of work, the researchers concluded, does not have to diminish creativity; if it’s accompanied by freedom, routine can enhance creativity. "
4 " One thing at a time” will always perform a better day’s work than doing two or three things at a time. By following this rule, one person will do more in a day than another does in a week. "
5 " As Jessica de Bloom, a psychologist at the University of Tampere and vacation researcher, puts it, vacations are like sleep: you need to take them regularly to benefit. "
6 " Aerobic activity is beneficial in several ways. Exercise strengthens your cardiovascular system and improves your circulation, which means your body can deliver more blood to your brain when it’s working. Because the brain’s demand for oxygen and sugar rises when you’re concentrating hard, this can make the difference between grasping that insight or feeling like it’s just out of reach. A firing neuron uses as much energy as a leg muscle cell during a marathon. Further, sustained aerobic exercise stimulates the body to generate more small blood vessels in the brain, and a better-developed cerebral vasculature can deliver blood to the brain faster and more effectively. A 2012 study found that episodic memory improves as maximal oxygen capacity increases. (Conversely, comparative studies of adults who do and don’t exercise find that couch potatoes have lower scores on tests of executive function and processing speed and in middle age have faster rates of brain "
7 " Strenuous exercise can retrain your body’s reaction to stressors. Exposing yourself to predictable, incremental physical stressors in the gym or the playing field increases your capacity to be calm and clear-headed in stressful real-world situations. "
8 " Pablo Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. "
9 " When we treat workaholics as heroes, we express a belief that labor rather than contemplation is the wellspring of great ideas and that the success of individuals and companies is a measure of their long hours. "
10 " When we reach stage 4 sleep, our bodies release a growth hormone referred to by the acronym GHRH (for growth hormone–releasing hormone). GHRH helps bruises and cuts, and fights off infections at the cellular level. GHRH stimulates the repair of cells, the growth of replacement cells, and, in children and adolescents, the creation of the new cells their bodies need to grow. GHRH also induces sleepiness. One reason fast-growing teenagers need so much sleep is that their GHRH levels are higher than their parents’ or grandparents’, and in laboratory experiments GHRH has been shown to help people with sleep problems get a better night’s rest. Conversely, a lack of sleep can inhibit cellular repair and growth. There’s evidence that long-term sleep deprivation can stunt growth. "
11 " Rest doesn’t just magically appear when we need it, "
12 " (The production of myelin by OPCs in the brains of infants and children helps explain how they do smart things; the incomplete myelination of the prefrontal cortex in the brains of teens helps explain why they do stupid things.) "
13 " Visual tasks, emotionally laden experiences, and procedural memories (for example, hard-to-describe skills like riding a bike) tend to be consolidated during REM sleep, while declarative memories (things like lists of words) are consolidated during slow-wave sleep. "
14 " The supreme quality of great men is the power of resting. Anxiety, restlessness, fretting are marks of weakness. —J. R. SEELEY "
15 " 4 major factors contribute to recovery: Relaxation, Control, Mastery Experiences, and Mental Detachment from work. "
16 " The supreme quality of great men is the power of resting. Anxiety, restlessness, fretting are marks of weakness. "
17 " How we spend out non-working hours determines very largely how capably or incapably we spend our working hours. "
18 " One reason the findings of Bernstein, Root-Bernstein, and Garnier are striking is that they challenge the belief that intellectual activity and athletic ability are mutually exclusive. Terms like “vita contemplativa” or “life of the mind” don’t exactly conjure up images of physical prowess, and they tap into a medieval belief that cultivation of the mind and spirit requires a denial of the body. Economists’ classifications of “white-collar” versus “blue-collar” jobs, “knowledge work” versus manual labor, and knowledge-based economies versus ones that produce mere stuff, all tell us that work divides into neat, separate categories. In the United States, the notion that integrals and intervals don’t mix is reinforced by American stereotypes about collegiate athletics and the unfortunate willingness of some sports-mad universities to tolerate underprepared student athletes while discouraging bright ones from pursuing academically demanding majors. "
19 " But I’ve also come to see our respect for overwork as, perhaps a bit paradoxically, intellectually lazy. Measuring time is literally the easiest way to assess someone’s dedication and productivity, but it’s also very unreliable. "
20 " if it’s accompanied by freedom, routine can enhance creativity. "