Why Rest Is The Key To Creativity

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I did an Instagram AMA about blogging recently. I do those randomly when I feel like responding to a bunch of questions in 24 hours. It’s a very specific impulse, I know πŸ˜‰ . But one of the questions I kept being asked in one form or another was: How do I keep posting weekly?

I’ve been writing at least one post every Tuesday since I took this blog public in July 2018 and I hadn’t ever really paused to think about that fact. Another person asked me how I overcome writer’s block (Spoiler: I don’t) and another asked how I write posts at all.

Well a book that I read recently helped me figure out the answer. It’s a very fresh book with the latest stats that came out in January and is amazingly called Laziness Does Not Exist. And here’s the grand epiphany the book gave me for why I’m able to churn out consistent creativity: It’s because I don’t do shit πŸ™‚ .

Endless Possibilities?

Before I retired, there was always something to write a post about. Money is connected to every aspect of our lives so the topic possibilities are endless. Almost anything new I do or encounter, might help someone else avoid my mistakes or learn something new so there is seemingly infinite information to share.

Did I do something to make or save more money? I should write about it in case that helps anyone else. What are my latest numbers and plans for retirement? Let me write about that in case someone wants to point out why my plans are a horrible idea πŸ˜‰ .

In direct contrast to that endless sea of possibilities, my retirement is intentionally devoid of hardcore monthly or yearly goals. I just want to see where life takes me. As a result of this lack of rigid structure, there’s less to talk about and less set topics I want to hit on.

However, despite seemingly having less topics to discuss, I have written more words than ever in retirement. So I reflected on why that might be. I think it’s because I have time to do nothing. The countdown to retirement may be over, but I’m still a person trying to learn, explore and navigate my way through life in the most conscientious way possible.

And at times, that includes watching films and writing mini reviews of them on Instagram as I do, and other times, (like right now…), it means awakening from a nap and having longer form thoughts that flow out of me into a blog post I share with the world.

Creativity

Overall though, I feel like I have more creative energy than ever – and I can say that for certain πŸ™‚ . One of the aspects of my life that I track in my monthly retirement updates is creativity specifically, and it’s been increasing monthly and overall holding steady at “the highest its ever been.” I’ve never had more creative energy than I do now.

Instead of using all my creative energy at my job and wishing there was more to wring out at the end of the work day in order to tackle the mountain of projects I mentally want to, I actually have the energy to do so now and I think I have downtime to thank for that.

If someone were to look at my life now, they might say I do “nothing.” There are a lot of naps and reading and walking along the beach on my calendar currently (yes of course I put these things on a calendar πŸ™‚ ). However, I suspect that it’s that downtime that allows my creativity to flourish. Let’s see if that’s true.

Laziness Does Not Exist

This book was extremely helpful, not just in dispelling the myth of laziness and how it’s been equated to a sin in American culture, but also in helping me explain my slug tendencies and how they are linked to my ability to write consistently on this blog.

One of the greatest examples of how rest can foster creativity given in this book, was of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the musical Hamilton. Apparently, he came up with the idea for the show while reading a history book on vacation. He wasn’t intending to create a musical before going on vacation – he was just trying to find a way to relax after seven years of performing nonstop.

But the moment he had time to actually recharge, he had a creative breakthrough that changed his life. Miranda said in a 2018 interview, “It’s no accident that the best idea I’ve ever had in my life, perhaps maybe the best one I’ll ever have in my life, came to me on vacation. The moment my brain got a moment’s rest, Hamilton walked into it.”

While that is a powerful anecdote, it is still just an anecdote. Luckily though there have been actual studies done on the effect of rest – even rest that takes place in the workplace. Decades of productivity research have shown that an average white-collar worker can only focus on job tasks for at most 3-4 hours a day. The rest of the workday is spent doing things like socializing and β€œcyberloafing” (a term researchers now use for messing around online at work).

However, studies that included wide ranges of workers found that taking a few minutes to check the internet is actually helpful and restorative. In some studies, it was even found that cyberloafing can help people switch from one task to the next. Taken it straight from the book:

“When people don’t get access to breaks and “lazy” time, they think in more conventional, uncreative ways, and are more likely to get stuck…Though the Laziness Lie would love for us to believe otherwise, idleness can help us to be insightful creators and problem-solvers. But the value of laziness also goes so much deeper than that. When we give our lives space for slowness, relaxation, and doing ‘nothing,’ we can begin to heal some of our greatest wounds and to create lives for ourselves that are nourishing rather than exhausting.” Preach!

Rest Isn’t Idle

Rest is important for our mental and physical wellbeing and can lead to some amazing ideas and additional creative energy. Giving your brain the time to work on a problem, even if you’re doing it subconsciously, is a powerful tool. To quote Mad Men’s Don Draper “Just think about it, deeply, and then forget it. An idea will jump up in your face.”

However, a myth I want to dispel is that this outpouring of creative energy is linear because in my experience, it’s a wave – it ebbs and flows. And after retirement, the flows that were a trickle when I was working are now a tsunami.

While there are some days that I don’t write anything at all, there are others where I’m pounding out thousands of words, and ideas are flowing out of me faster than I can type them. It’s almost night and day compared to my creative process when I was working. I guess all that birdwatching and napping is actually good for something πŸ˜‰ .

Conclusion

Downtime has allowed me to be the creative person of my dreams. It didn’t happen on a schedule of any sort, but it happens if I just give my body and mind what it asks for – even if that’s watching the sunset for an hour in a comfy chair. After more than a decade of running myself ragged, I now allow myself to rest, and just recharge until my brain is ready to pump out cohesive thought again.

I wish that when I felt zapped of creative energy previously that I would have just paused and allowed myself to rest. I wish I had cancelled some plans and done what my body was asking me to so that I would be a little more fresh and better able to tackle the world. I also wish Laziness Does Not Exist had come out a decade ago, but sadly there’s nothing I can do about that.

So I’m going to keep giving my brain and body what they need and doing as much “nothing” as possible. When it comes to creative thoughts I’m going to just “Wait for It” πŸ˜‰ .

How do you restore your creative energy?

33 thoughts on “Why Rest Is The Key To Creativity

  1. Love this. LOVE IT. This is actually massively reassuring to read. Right now I’m in a massive creative funk and it’s so difficult to find energy to make things. ‘Trickles’ is the right word. This is a great reminder to make rest a priority. Thanks as always!

    1. I’m so happy you liked it!! And ugh I am familiar with the funk lol – hang in there and enjoy your rest πŸ™‚ .

  2. So true! I feel like I have put on hold all of my creative projects or hobbies because I am just exhausted by the end of the day and the week. This gives me motivation and hope to continue on the path to FI!

  3. I borrowed it in e-book from the library, and then ordered it in hardcover so I can keep it on my shelf and read it again!

    I loved that the book had a mix of hard data from research studies and also personal stories. It helped me understand the impact of the β€œLaziness Lie” on society and really clarified how it hurts other people at the same time as it made me reflect on how I’ve internalized judgments around productivity. I don’t think I’ve read other books like it that included so much specific context to encourage empathy to understand others and not just focusing on the β€œself” part of self-help.

    1. Woohoo!! And yeah it’s a really great book – thank you for articulating some of the reasons why πŸ™‚ ! That’s so true about self-help books – it’s not all about us haha.

  4. Love this so much, Purple, and couldn’t agree with you more!!! This is what I do too to recharge myself and my creativity. I rest, I take a bath, I do mundane things like pull weeds and water my flowers. It’s during these times of letting my mind and body be at peace that my best ideas come through. So glad you’re doing the same for yourself and finding that your creativity keeps on flowing! πŸ’œ

    1. I’m so glad!! And that sounds like a lovely list of recharge activities – you know what’s up πŸ˜‰ !

  5. I loved when you said you book naps, reading and walking on the calendar, and then you quoted Hamilton! You’re the best.

    I haven’t been resting enough between grinding the 9-5, starting a blog and planning a wedding. Learning to be more patient with myself and as you said, learn to take some rest!

    Thanks for another great blog post, Purple! I’ll see if this book is available on libby.

    1. Haha thank you! And wow yeah that’s quite a list. Definitely be patient with yourself (I have trouble with that too) and rest when you feel the need. Let me know if you end up reading the book and what you think!

  6. interesting: i started writing my little blog right after i got this cushy job about 4 years ago. i have always had free time and plenty of rest but the structure helps me. i find the creative thoughts are there but to get them onto a screen i really need a desk and computer.

    i can write from a laptop but i just hate it and tend more towards just not doing it. i have to agree on the importance of rest and not just sleep. good on you for keeping it all going. doing nothing is underrated. you watch birds and i watch baseball.

    1. As always freddy, you have it all figured out and I love it πŸ™‚ . You do you – we’re all different. Personally I write from my laptop only and find desktops/desks too ‘intimidating’ so my weird thoughts lol. And doing nothing is indeed underrated!

  7. It’s amazing just how much of our life is bettered when we actually give it time to rest. Taking a step back to move two steps forward is something the workacholic culture of America just doesn’t understand.

    They think the day off is a waste of time. Ford finally figured out that humans need.. well.. a break once in a while and implemented the 2 day weekend that we all enjoy.

    We need to make that 3 days at some point!

    1. Haha yeah – also what happened to our workweek shortening in proportion to how much our productivity has increased hmm? I’m still waiting lol.

  8. So true! I find especially that working on social media management and copywriting in my freelance work right now is sapping all my will to write for myself in the downtime (or is that a convenient excuse? Maybe I just need to watch more birds.)

    I’m hanging out for another mini-retirement break away from work from September-January or so. Looking forward to another reset in attempts to get closer to the goal to “create lives for ourselves that are nourishing rather than exhausting”.

    1. Yeeep haha. Well I managed that stuff for my previous company it sucked the ideas I had for my actual self. That’s probably why I’m posting on social more than ever basically – all this creative juice is for me now πŸ˜‰ . And that’s amazing about your break!!

  9. Hi Purple! There’s a reddit post going on at the moment that you’re probably not aware of, but has some interesting dialogue about purpose and meaning post FI.

    I know you recently read a a book kind of on this topic and you might enjoy reading the thread, but more importantly if you feel called to add to th discussion I’d love to read your thoughts over there.

    Take Care!

    1. Hi There! And yeah I’m not aware of it and don’t have the time to go digging for it – there are too many ocean waves to catch πŸ˜‰ .

        1. Haha no worries. Thank you for the link! I’m all for the “lazily eaking by for 20 years” plan. Sounds like the best approach and that only parts of the Laziness Lie is what’s holding them back.

  10. Thank you so much for demonstrating how this flow works Purple. I work on weekend nights and I can tell you the lack of deep uninterrupted sleep is a bit of a killer. Very little repair going on in the brain in that situation. Sleeping deep on the week nights doesn’t make up for the loss either because the weekend habit is now giving weeknight sleep the elbow. It’s very difficult writing poetry now. And my blog has 2 articles. Two! As to the birds, my condo building is 8 floors high and there is a tree almost as high as the building sitting in the β€œquad”. The birds love it. Can you see the scene when the poor cicadas came out 2 weeks ago? It was a mini safari. Nature at its best. Them bird will be talking about it for decades. β€œRemember when …!” Like you say, that’s rest too – watching nature work. The only things I need now: true night rest and FI. πŸ’€πŸŽΆπŸ’€

    1. Of course! I’m sorry to hear about your sleep and hope it improves soon. And oh wow the great cicada feast sounds wild πŸ™‚ .

  11. Back when I was a W2 wage worker in the cube farm, I used to do my best thinking at home during my morning shower. I wouldn’t be focused on problem solving – just idly rinsing the shampoo from my hair – when a problem solution would just pop into my head out of the blue. This happened to me so often I started leaving pen and paper on the bathroom counter so I could quickly jump out of the shower to document my creative solution for any work problem(s) from the previous day that might have been weighing heavily on my mind.
    As I neared retirement, a much more experienced colleague who I greatly respected told me, β€œI’ll miss having you at my meetings because you are always full of good ideas.” That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside; it was a very high compliment coming from this person. I’m pretty sure I did NOT confess to him I did my best thinking in the shower! LOL

    You can’t think creatively if you are too busy to think.

    1. That’s so awesome you figured out where your best ideas came from and how to actually remember and implement them! Also amazing that you got recognized for it (even if it was near retirement). And “You can’t think creatively if you are too busy to think” needs to be added to the pile of awesome things y’all see that need their own t-shirt.

  12. Love this! Buying this book because I definitely suffer with comparing my productivity to my self-worth. Thanks for making this post πŸ™‚

  13. Added this to the to read list.

    I’m always amazed at the clarity of my thoughts when driving ( I live in the country and have a fairly long drive to get to anywhere). Definitely some of my best thinking time.

    I’m a fairly new blogger and my list of ideas is growing faster than my number of posts. A good problem to have IMO

  14. This is important information to remember, especially when you’re worried that you’re not getting enough done! πŸ™‚

    On a related note, sleep is also highly important for daily functioning, as the past few days have painfully reminded me…

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