Summary: In our 24-7 global economy, REST feels like a luxury at best and a weakness at worst. We see work and rest as competitors - but what if they're actually partners in a productive, balanced life? Indeed, knowing how to rest well turns out to be the secret to how many writers, scientists, and artists managed to be creative and prolific, while having less harried and busy lives than ours. Julie Ann's ConsciousSHIFT Show guest - Alex Pang, author of REST: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less - shares scientific research, along with examples of writers, painters and thinkers - from Darwin to Stephen King - to expose how we've underestimated the power of rest for our success. Though it's as natural as breathing, REST is also a skill we can all learn to boost our creativity and productivity. We'll explore three big ideas: Work and rest are partners. We normally think of rest as the opposite of work, or a negative space defined only by the absence of work. Conversations about “work-life balance” imply that work and rest are competitors. In the lives of the people I write about, work and rest complement and complete each other. Periods of focused work allow people to feel they’ve earned rest, and to enjoy it without guilt; rest offers a chance to recover from work, and creates a space for creative minds to stretch, explore new ideas, and generate insights. These lives show that work and rest need not be opposites; they can be partners, each making half of a whole life. Rest is a skill. We often think of rest as mindless relaxation. Laying in the sun or binge-watching Netflix has its place; but the best kinds of rest are not passive, but are active, mindful, and deliberate. Rest enhances creativity. History’s most creative people rested in common ways, and built similar relationships between their work and rest. Fortunately, science can help explain why deliberate rest helps us be sharper, smarter, and more innovative, and helps us see how we can build deliberate rest into our own lives. Join Julie Ann and Alex to discover ways that upping our downtime, from sleep to hobbies to vacation - we can craft a new roadmap for finding renewed energy and inspiration, and getting more done with more ease.
