Three Reasons Why You Should Have Times of Prolonged Unproductivity
21st January, 2019 // in The Coffeehouse Cleric // by Alex Rowe
// Intro
In this week’s blog I want to convince you of the importance of having extended periods of time off especially dedicated to being unproductive.
I recently spent five weeks in New Zealand celebrating Christmas and New Year with my girlfriend and her family. This length of time away from Oxford, away from my desk and the libraries and their great many resources, significantly impeded my ability to work. At first, this was something I bemoaned, even resented. Oxford’s short terms afford extended ‘vacations,’ which are the ideal opportunity for independent research, and here I was ‘wasting’ this gift of time.
Slowly (embarrassingly slowly, as my girlfriend will attest) but surely, however, I realised that five weeks of being unproductive were exactly what I needed. In fact, quite ironically, they were more productive, a better kind of productive, than I ever imagined.
What follows are three reasons to take extended periods of time off, three things I learnt anew over my trip to New Zealand.
1 // To step back and evaluate
Step back and evaluate who it is you are becoming. You probably don’t do this often enough. Without time off, it is very difficult to step back from with what you are daily immediately occupied and get perspective. It is easy to forget who you are, what your own goals and priorities are, and instead be shaped into a mould that isn’t you or steered in a direction you don’t want to go.
We are always becoming somebody. As living, developing, human beings, we are dynamic creatures. And one of the greatest influences upon who we are becoming is our environment: our home lives, work spaces, or any other context in which we spend long periods of time. This might be no problem, if we like and want to embrace the values and ideals espoused to us in these various contexts. But if not, and if we can’t step back to realise this, we will start to lose ourselves.
I found this especially to be true when I moved to Oxford last October. Oxford is a town underwater, its own unique ecosystem, teeming with high achievers. In my first couple of months, I found myself caught in currents that spun me around and dragged me down into underwater sinkholes. I compared myself too much with peers, I overcommitted myself in the hope of impressing professors, and as a result, I began to forget who I was, what I felt God had gifted me with, and what He had called me to do.
2 // To redefine success
Redefine success, because you want to be more successful than you realise. Sadly, our society tends to define success in narrow terms, usually based on profession or occupation and the associated lifestyle that affords. According to this metric, you are a successful human being so long as you have a high salary, receive promotions, and steadily climb the career ladder towards the top.
There are many problems with this single measure of success. First, there are only so many spaces available at the top, and they become increasingly competitive. Otherwise the ladder would topple. Second, it doesn’t reflect our lived experience. We tend to diversify, to look for success in many places. We have families, romantic partners, and friends all of whom we want to love, as well as side projects and other personal goals we want to pursue. Thirdly, and more fundamentally, this singular definition of success doesn’t correspond with some of our most deep-seated intuitions. We wish for lives that are balanced, lives of flourishing that go deep and wide, lives that are whole.
My extended time off helped me to realise this anew, and to redefine success to correspond with the many things that were important to me, of which my work was only one: my girlfriend, whom I hadn’t seen for months; her family, many of whom I was meeting for the first time; my desire to travel, to experience new cultures, to eat good food and drink fine wine, to rest, go slowly, and take better care of myself; my relationship with my God, with whom life simply makes sense.
3 // To stop and rest
Stop and rest, to remind yourself of your true worth. Your worth is not contingent upon your work. And if it is, your sense of self-worth will be in a constant state of flux, up or down depending on whether any given month, week, or day has gone well or badly for you. While you have success, you might cope fine, though you risk being prone to pride; when you fail, or when you have one of those sadly-all-too-frequent days of mediocrity, you will only feel inadequate.
The Christian faith claims, on the other hand, that we are creatures gifted with existence by God and made for His love. We are beloved. Before we achieve or accomplish, we are adored. Before we do anything, we are something, or rather somebody. We are people of intrinsic value and worth and dignity. This means that we can rest without guilt and work without fear.
God’s unconditioned love is not always a reality I easily perceive or acknowledge. But I think it is hinted at and represented to me in ideal human relationships, which, thankfully, I have been fortunate to have experienced. The love of a good mother, the acceptance and support of a good father, both of whom have been there for me regardless of how successful I might be, are shadows of a divine reality and point me to a divine Father or Mother who loves and accepts me perfectly.
// Invitation
The above were three lessons I learnt or relearnt while taking extended period of time away from work, away from productivity. But, as I hope is obvious, I actually found the five weeks to be “productive” in more, better ways, and now I am glad that the holiday afforded me little opportunity to work.
Consider for yourself, whether you too could benefit from taking an extended period of time off especially dedicated to being unproductive. If not five weeks, how about one? If not a whole week, try a weekend.
Step back and evaluate, redefine success, and learn to stop and rest.
Thank you for reading this post. If you liked it, please do share it with your friends and family. The Coffeehouse Cleric is a weekly blog on spirituality and simple living by Alex Rowe.
