In a fast-paced world full of intense economic/scientific/intellectual competition and decreasing opportunities for solitude, it is harder than ever before to justify spending significant time on intangible work that may or may not pay off. You can’t put on your resume—“I spend a lot of time thinking about ideas and scribbling notes that I don’t share with anyone.”
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These are just a few of the ways that the pure chemistry of ideas mutates into new compounds through exposure to the oxygen of real societies, patterns which mean that the originators of ideas can rarely know what will happen to them. Nor is there any easy way to situate imaginative ideas in time—to know whether they might bear fruit in a decade, a
... See moreIf these are some of the material conditions, there are equally important social ones, in particular the presence of a surrounding network or milieu. It’s rare for people to develop compelling and coherent ideas on their own. Individuals and teams flourish best in a vibrant milieu that brings together comment and criticism, competition with peers,
... See moreCreativity requires nimbleness and the ability to put in hours on uncertain projects, both of which may get harder as the obligations of success set in.
We have inherited from all this a deeply bizarre idea of what it means to spend your time off “well”—and, conversely, what counts as wasting it. In this view of time, anything that doesn’t create some form of value for the future is, by definition, mere idleness.
Relaxing is not a waste of time—it’s an investment in well-being. Breaks are not a distraction—they’re a chance to reset attention and incubate ideas. Play is not a frivolous activity—it’s a source of joy and a path to mastery.
Hard work is in pursuit of a goal, and once that goal is met the relaxation that feels so justified removes paranoia. This allows competitors and a changing world to creep in unnoticed.