{"id":131288,"date":"2024-09-29T10:35:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T14:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=131288"},"modified":"2024-09-30T11:20:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T15:20:34","slug":"importance-of-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Rest: A Time for Recovery &#038; Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Are you feeling exhausted and uninspired at work? Is there a secret to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-become-more-creative\/\">boosting your creativity<\/a> and productivity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-rest-is-important\/\">importance of rest<\/a> cannot be overstated. In his book <em>Willpower Doesn&#8217;t Work<\/em>, Benjamin Hardy explores how effective rest is crucial not only for recovery but also for skill improvement and creativity. Rest allows your mind to wander, fostering new connections and ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to discover why rest is just as vital as work and how to strike the right balance for optimal performance and well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-rest-is-as-important-as-work\">Rest Is as Important as Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book, Hardy discusses the importance of rest. Effective rest is, naturally, crucial for recovering after working your hardest. However, Hardy adds that <strong>resting is also when your skills and abilities improve.<\/strong> The cycle of work and rest functions just like exercise does for your muscles; you go to the gym to break down your muscles, then they become stronger when they repair themselves. However, without a rest period, that process doesn\u2019t work; if you kept working the same muscles every day, they\u2019d have no chance to repair themselves, so you\u2019d never get stronger (and you\u2019d probably injure yourself).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In addition, you\u2019re more likely to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/original-ideas\/\">original ideas<\/a> and creative insights while resting. <\/strong>This is because rest frees your mind to wander, so you can make connections between thoughts that you\u2019ve never made before. Conversely, while you\u2019re focused on work you\u2019re only thinking about how to accomplish the task in front of you, which doesn\u2019t give you much opportunity for creativity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Many experts agree with Hardy that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/q-a-why-a-rested-brain-is-more-creative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rest is crucial<\/a> for coming up with creative ideas, but that doesn\u2019t mean creativity is a passive process where you just wait for ideas to hit you. It\u2019s much more common to come up with creative ideas while you\u2019re searching for answers to questions or solutions to problems. In fact, at least one scientific study has found that the most creative people are those who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3682183\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">actively try to come up with new ideas<\/a>. This means that rest doesn\u2019t have to be a time when you completely turn off your brain\u2014although there may be days when that\u2019s what you need\u2014but rather, rest is an opportunity to think deeply about ideas that you couldn\u2019t explore while you were working.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, Hardy warns that most people simply don\u2019t spend enough time resting, no matter how well they design their environments. <strong>He says that you should spend at least as much time resting as you spend working, and preferably more than that.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Why\u2014and When\u2014You Should Rest<\/strong><br><br>Comparing mental abilities, like willpower and technical skills, to physical muscles is fairly common because they work similarly in many respects. Another way your mind works like your muscles is that overusing it without rest can cause you to injure yourself\u2014in this case, that injury takes the form of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">burnout<\/a>.<br><br>As productivity expert Ali Abdaal explains in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/feel-good-productivity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Feel-Good Productivity<\/em><\/a>, two common <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-burnout-at-work\/\">causes of burnout<\/a> are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/feel-good-productivity#burnout-type-1-strain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">working too hard<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/feel-good-productivity#burnout-type-2-drain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not resting enough after working<\/a>. Abdaal doesn\u2019t say exactly how much rest you need, because it\u2019s different for each person, but he does advise using your feelings as a guide: if you\u2019re still tired when you go to work, or if your work is starting to feel tedious or overwhelming instead of enjoyable, then it\u2019s likely that you haven\u2019t rested enough.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-exercise\">Exercise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s one way you could modify your rest environment to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-push-yourself\/\">push yourself<\/a> toward one of your goals? This might mean how you design your physical environment, or it could mean finding people and activities that help you to relax.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are you feeling exhausted and uninspired at work? Is there a secret to boosting your creativity and productivity? The importance of rest cannot be overstated. In his book Willpower Doesn&#8217;t Work, Benjamin Hardy explores how effective rest is crucial not only for recovery but also for skill improvement and creativity. Rest allows your mind to wander, fostering new connections and ideas. Keep reading to discover why rest is just as vital as work and how to strike the right balance for optimal performance and well-being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":131297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7,30],"tags":[1604],"class_list":["post-131288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-lifestyle","category-work","tag-willpower-doesnt-work","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Importance of Rest: A Time for Recovery &amp; Growth - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Benjamin Hardy says rest is crucial not only for recovery but also for skill improvement and creativity. Learn about the importance of rest.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Importance of Rest: A Time for Recovery &amp; Growth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Benjamin Hardy says rest is crucial not only for recovery but also for skill improvement and creativity. Learn about the importance of rest.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-29T14:35:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-30T15:20:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/man-journaling-in-the-woods.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1344\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"The Importance of Rest: A Time for Recovery &#038; Growth\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-29T14:35:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-30T15:20:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/\"},\"wordCount\":633,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/man-journaling-in-the-woods.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Willpower Doesn't Work\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Lifestyle\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/\",\"name\":\"The Importance of Rest: A Time for Recovery & Growth - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/importance-of-rest\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/man-journaling-in-the-woods.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-29T14:35:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-30T15:20:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"Benjamin Hardy says rest is crucial not only for recovery but also for skill improvement and creativity. 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