Take the Time to Play
December 28, 2006 · Print This Article
I have a theory. Since I will probably never have the resources to try to prove it, the next best thing is to share it with readers and see what type of feedback I get. My theory is this: There is a direct relationship between your maximum creative output and the amount and quality of time you spend doing non-work activities.
The idea is that you will never reach your full potential for
efficiency and productivity without significant investments in
non-work, fun activities. If all your time is spent working, you will
accomplish less than if you leave some time to relax and pursue
recreational activities. I think this only holds true for creative type
work. If you are simply counting pebbles every day, I don’t know that
spending the weekend water-skiing will make a noticeable improvement in
your counting skills.
However, if your job involves coming up with ideas, finding
patterns, or pretty much any work that is thought based, your
productivity will be somehow tied to your leisure activities. What do you think? Can you reach your peak productivity without spending time on leisure?
Mark, great observation. Do you count “thinking time” as leisure or work time?
It depends on what I’m thinking about.
Most of my work involves hours of thinking followed by a few minutes of action, so I would tend to consider thinking about work part of work itself.
To be perfectly honest, I’m not very good at taking the time to relax. I tend to work way too many hours and in the end I think my productivity suffers. I’m trying to get better at relaxing. This week I sat down and read a novel just for fun. I hadn’t done that for a long time. After taking a break and reading something just for enjoyment, I seem to have more creative ideas for my work.
I know I’m better for myself, my company, and my employees during hockey season when I get to go to hockey games a couple times a month and just get completely away from work. Geocaching, motorcycling, anything that isn’t at the house or driving where I can brood or obsess about a work problem.
I find my mind is refreshed for having been off-task for a while, it breaks me out of the circular thinking I can get trapped in when all I look at is the problem I’m working on or situation I’m dealing with.
Down time makes for better up time.
i think its a well researched fact that a lot of creative ideas get generated in the subconscious and especially when the mind is calm and clear of disturbance (remember archimedes’ eureka moment?). i have personally experienced more creativity when my mind was calmer than normal. and one way is to do things that you really like as recreational stuff - painting, photography etc
about the part of ‘counting pebbles’ - i think even if its a mechanical job - creativity could help do the job faster and maybe better. it could help create a tool to automate the counting! :).
there is one saying which we refering to in most of our KM presentations - something about stopping for fuel to enable going longer distances.
Srini, good point about the “counting pebbles” still being improved. Sometimes the most mundane jobs are the ones that can benefit the most from creativity.
Oh god, if you’re ‘counting pebbles’ you *definately* need to play, just to still be a human being. Otherwise, you get to a point where you’re counting pebbles in your work, counting pebbles in your sleep, and feeling like you’re losing your brain, and any social contact you might have, because all you can talk about is… counting pebbles.
Urgh.
And I mean all sorts of menial tasks for this. McDonalds fry cook, office admin, etc etc et.