Wellness Wednesdays: Have an Unproductive Day
Controversial, I know - but maybe it's time for a day off
I’m all about hustling, working hard and giving all you’ve got. After all, that’s what The Daily Grind is all about. Grinding, every day.
In contrast the image you might have of me, however, I’m also a firm believer in the importance of taking a day off. And not feeling bad about it, either.
It seems to be quite a trend within the weird and wonderful world of productivity to work yourself to the bone during every single waking hour. And I’m here to tell you that that’s a terrible idea.
I’m sure we’ve heard that interview from 50 Cent where he says the following:
“When do you sleep 50? ‘I don’t sleep, I might miss the opportunity to make a dream become a reality.'”
Christ, 50, for your own sake, please get some sleep. Of course 50 Cent does sleep, but the implicit message in his answer is that in order to succeed you have to be prepared to prioritise working over sleeping.
For most of us, when we’re working hard to succeed, we aren’t just neglecting our sleep, either We’re neglecting our physical and mental health, too. We’re working so hard that we constantly feel stressed, burnt-out and like we’ve quite never done enough.
If that sounds like you then I have some great news for you, my friend. It’s time for you to take a day off.
When was the last time you spent a day doing nothing? Literally, nothing. Not one ounce of productivity and not a single care in the world.
If you’re anything like me, it’s probably been a while, which is all the more reason why you need to give yourself a day to re-cooperate.
See, although being a creative is great because we get to work from home and do things our own way, it also comes with one enormous gripe. It feels like there’s always more to do. There’s always more work to produce, more marketing to execute, more learning to be doing and always just more of something that we haven’t yet done.
For that reason, taking a day off is no easy feat. There’s always that little niggling voice in the back of our voice when we’re resting telling us to roll up our sleeves and get back to work. But sometimes, we just have to ignore it.
If you’re feeling stressed, stretched thin and like your brain is becoming more and more frazzled by the day, you need some time off. You need an unproductive day.
Here’s what I do when I take a day off. I wake up late, sleep in and stay in my pyjamas all day. I turn off notifications on my Gmail app and leave my laptop lid shut. Then I proceed to eat whatever I like, do whatever I like and spend an entire 24-hours doing nothing productive.
Sounds blissful, doesn’t it? Well now it’s your turn. Pick a day, mark it off the calendar and make it your own. No work, no emails, no nothing. Just pure relaxation.
You can thank me later.
Adrian
Wellness Wednesdays: Creativity isn’t all about working hard. To continue producing meaningful content and moving forward, we have to look after ourselves. We have to keep our mind and body sharp. That’s what Wellness Wednesday is all about.
Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash