How to use rest to maximize creative output

You may fantasize about being optimally productive all of the time. When it comes to creative productivity, part of being optimally productive is giving yourself a chance to Recharge.

When you Recharge, you give your ideas incubation time, solidifying and improving them. You also Recharge your mental energy for all of the other components of Full Focus.

But, just because Recharging is valuable, doesn’t mean you should be doing it all of the time. Recharge strategically to maximize your creative output.

Creative productivity is different from the usual notions of productivity. You aren’t just cranking out widgets. You’re connecting disparate elements to create explosive ideas.

But to connect those disparate elements, you need rest. Scientists who study creativity call these rest periods incubation. Study participants who are given an incubation period when solving creative problems solve them at a higher rate.

Incubation periods can be spent doing other types of tasks unrelated to the creative problem. You can be working on the other elements of Full Focus, for example. But, sleep is especially effective in creative problem solving. When you sleep, you strengthen connections in your brain, consolidate your knowledge, and discard the weak connections.

It seems nearly every religion in existence recognized the value of rest. Jews have the Sabbath, Catholics have Sunday, and Buddhists have the Uposatha.

The tough part about resting productively is that The Resistance will make you want to rest. If you aren’t careful, you’ll want to rest during your prime creative time. Conversely, your passion for your work, and your desire to be productive, may keep you from valuable Recharge time.

Here are some ways to Recharge in a way that will optimize creative productivity.

1. Make a habit of Recharging. Pick times or days throughout the week when you will Recharge, and stick with them. You may need to start with a 2–4 hour block once a week. The weekend is an obvious time for Recharging. Give yourself permission to ignore your work, and experiment with weekend activities—what makes you feel Recharged on Monday morning?
2. Deflect the urge to work. When you’ve designated time to Recharge, it can be tempting to check email, or talk about work with your partner. Try not to do those things. Remind yourself how valuable it is to rest. If you’ve designated a different time when you’ll do creative work, that can ease anxiety you may have over solving your creative problems. You know you will work on it at a different time, so you can be in the moment.
3. Sleep like it’s your job. It’s tempting to cut into sleep for the sake of getting ahead in your work, but it will do more harm than good. Sleep helps form your ideas, so take it seriously. I sleep with earplugs and a mask, keep a strict bedtime, and don’t do social media an hour before that bedtime.
4. Rest on a problem. When you’re doing Recharge activities in the middle of the day—such as going for a walk, or going for the gym, prime yourself with a problem before your session. I like to review a creative problem I’m trying to solve, and what pieces of the problem I know so far. Then, when I’m at the gym, eating lunch, or taking a nap, that problem is incubating more actively in the background. Don’t take this too far, though. You do need some time when your mind is far away from your work.

You need to Recharge to be fully-focused when the time comes to do your creative work. But, don’t let your Recharge time become an excuse to not work when The Resistance pushes back on you. By creating Recharge habits, taking your Recharge time seriously, and making the most of your rest, you’ll be well on your way to boosting your creative output.

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