Blogger: Wendy Lawton
A couple years ago, our colleague, Rachelle Gardner, sent us a fascinating article by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries in the Harvard Business Review. It has become a favorite. In it he makes the case for kicking back. He says, “. . .slacking off — making a conscious effort not to be busy — may be the best thing we can do for our brain’s health. It is the incubator for future bursts of creativity.”
I love that. The incubator for future bursts of creativity.
I believe in slacking off. It’s been on my to-do list for several years. In fact, for more than one year it has been one of my goals. I wrote, “Take ample time to dream and plan. This may be the most valuable thing I do. Otherwise I’m just shuffling papers and knocking out tasks.”
My spiritual goals reflected seeking that “white space” as well. Here’s what I wrote:
- Explore deeper prayer adventures
- Continue to spend time with God each morning.
- Continue to maintain Prayer Journal
- Continue to work on Life Plan (longings, goals)
- Map out one “Day in the Desert” for reflection/ creativity every quarter.
I have to admit that busyness and travel scuttled my Days in the Desert this year, but this item will be back on my list for 2017. It is vitally important. If we don’t create space to imagine and to dream we will dry out. Our work product and our relationships will dry up as well. Take a break from busyness.
As our Books & Such offices officially close for our Christmas break each one of us is committed to intentionally slacking off. Truth be told, we still work many days, doing those jobs for which we can never find time, but we recognize we need to turn off the computer, put down the phone and enjoy some electronic silence for a change. I’ve heard that when many families gather they now pass a basket for everyone to drop in their cell phones. Take a break from outside “noise.” What a great idea!
There are several things on which I will not stint over the holidays. I’ll take time to sit alone in a room lit only by the twinkling lights of the Christmas trees. As I prepare several different festive meals for family and friends, I plan to lavish time on the food, the table and the guests. I will actively enjoy each minute with people. I’ll set aside time to read. My daughter and I will have another of our annual all-night Jane Austen movie marathons. My husband and I will celebrate our anniversary. I’ll also celebrate my birthday. I’ll spend time at church including our most beautiful service of the year– The Candlelight Christmas service held from 11:00 to midnight Christmas Eve.
How about you? Will you be able to carve out any time to dream over the holidays? To recharge? How will you take a break? And on the other hand, what will you embrace this Christmas?
Yes, normally during the festive season I have a good break. My birthday starts the season a little earlier. The children’s excitement builds up over the next couple of weeks. There is extra time with our church family; Christmas parties & carol services. Welcome spiritual celebrations to counter my own parent’s faithless ones.
We do travel a lot between families at opposite ends of the country (sorry, that’s UK distance nothing like your massive US distances!), which can be tiring, but it’s also a captive family time too.
Then after new year, the celebrations don’t stop as we have another birthday to look forward to.
Nearly two weeks away from work is a great time for switching off. All jobs are left undone as we make time for each other, friends, family and God. There is no pressure to think about anything else.
This year may be little less celebratory, due to our little family ‘difficulty’, and more about healing. Thank you all for your prayers. I believe the most difficult part is now over and, thankfully, things are nowhere near as bad as they could have been, but now we are in a time of healing of wounds and trust. My prayer is that we, as parents, would be forgiven and our motives understand as powered by love. I also pray that no others have been hurt and that none will in the future.
Prayers on your behalf continue, Nicholas.
Still praying for you until you say not to.
I’m married to a minister, and a Sunday Christmas (and Saturday night Christmal Eve) turns some holiday traditions topside under. Our son is preaching in their own church while their pastor is on medical leave, so it will be just hubby and me till Sunday afternoon. We will have a quiet house after Christmas Eve service, and an extra hour Sunday morning because Bible study is canceled. What a gift! I plan to set my alarm for my usual Sunday early time–and wake up to a room lit by Christmas light and the fire in the woodstove. Silence, a soft glow, coffee (of course), me . . . and God-with-us.
*Anniversary and birthday blessings to you, Wendy. And a blessed Christmas to all!
Shirlee, I hope your quieter Christmas and extra time is refreshing for you!
I love getting up early and reading the Christmas story before the kids wake. Being Australia, we don’t have the fire going!! Just the Christmas lights.
I’ve taken the last two months off. It’s given my brain and heart time to rest and recharge. I’ve also had the time to get caught up on some project I didn’t have time for before. And I decided to have guest bloggers for January and February so there’s less pressure on me to jump right back into producing all the time. A writer I admire once told me that people won’t notice when you don’t write or share on social media, but they’ll be glad when you come back. I’ve taken that seriously and I think it’s only made me a better writer.
This past weekend, it was just me and our ancient dog at home, allllll alone. Bummer, eh?
I planned ahead of time what exactly I was going to do all weekend, and I did it! I did, wait for it, 8 or 9 loads of laundry, and cleaned my middle son’s man-cave/room/science experiment. And I baked. I finished the tree. I puttered.
Why did I do all that, instead of lazing around, which would have been way more relaxing? Well, so that this coming week, I would just slide into Christmas weekend, unstressed about messes and to-do lists.
I didn’t need a rest then, but I needed to prepare for a rest coming up. Stressing out my family because of non-important stuff is a great way to wreck Christmas, or at least injure it.
I always spend Boxing Day (a holiday up here) reading in my room. If anyone needs food? There’s a tonne of it in the downstairs fridge. (Yes, with 4 kids, one needs 2 fridges). Do NOT come and ask me to make anything!
Yup.
I’ve got slacking off down to an art form. And one needs to support the arts.
Jennifer, I find doing that puttering stuff can be cathartic. And I am a firm believer in planning ahead so rest time can truly be a time of rest. I hope your family enjoys their time together!
We’ll be singing Christmas Eve’s midnight service, as always. Total joy–especially with another soprano daughter and a husband at bass.
Merry Christmas.
Love that your family sings together, Michelle! Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, everyone, and happy anniversary, Wendy. Yes, I love the break. When I empty myself, that’s when I’m filled–with new ideas, new hope, new energy.
Lovely post, Wendy, and great thoughts.
* I suppose I might be an outlier, but I get recharged through work. If I slow down too long I start to sink. Barbara calls me The Shark…he swims or he dies.
* Lately, physical considerations have made ‘rest’ during normal operating hours (0400-2359) mandatory, and it takes a toll. The burden of memory is heavy, especially this time of year, and spending time alone with a lit Christmas tree in a darkened room would be a pretty bad – and potentially dangerous – idea.
* Our Christmas will be low-key and, like every day, extremely noisy. With a couple of football teams’ worth of canines roaming the house, mealtimes are deafening. Well, make a joyful noise to welcome the King of Kings, I suppose…and I think the HolyFamily would not have found the ambience here entirely unfamiliar.
Wendy, after a month of crazy, I’m so ready to slack off! With hubs traveling this month, things have been busier than usual. Many late nights organizing for Christmas travel, keepig up with boys’ schedules and life have left me weary and ready to slack off. I believe this next week will give me that opportunity.
*I love the ways you slack off at this time of year. Setting a beautiful ambiance always helps me to relax too. 🙂
*Happy birthday and Happy anniversary!I hope your Christmas season holds much joy and much slacking. 😉 Merry Christmas!
I used to dread this time of year when I got little or no freelance work. Now I see it as God’s way of providing a break that I wouldn’t take otherwise. Last year I benefitted so much from giving my brain a rest for the Holidays after finishing my book that I decided to intentionally pull back this year. I still have some work to do, but I’m limiting myself to that and taking notes on my next book idea.
This year as I spend time making gifts and doing a lot of baking, I’m reminded how much a benefit from other forms of creativity. A few weeks ago I got a set of calligraphy pens at a gift exchange, so I’m practicing calligraphy as part of my quiet time (writing out a verse or quote from a devotional book). It has been wonderful!
Thank you for this reminder that we really do need to rest our minds. Have blessed Christmas!
I don’t need any more breaks. I already have 4 cracks from the car wreck, and that forced downtime from most things that require walking. My daughter’s comment this morning was that whatever Mrs. Klaus needed done for final Christmas preparations, Mr. Klaus and the elf (her) would take care of. A daughter like her is a true blessing!
*I don’t know about your advice to stop “working.” Taking a break from writing on my WIP-that would be punishment, not a relaxing break.
*May you enjoy a blessed celebration of Christmas!
A resounding “yes!” to all of this, Wendy. I believe all that you’ve said with all my heart. Have you read “A Technique for Producing Ideas” by James Webb Young? It’s a tiny pamphlet-like book, a classic from the ’30’s, which can be read in probably less than an hour. But it’s pure gold, and the third step in his explanation is exactly what you’ve detailed here.
He says, “In this third stage you make absolutely no effort of a direct nature. you drop the whole subject and put the problem out of your mind as completely as you can. (…) You remember how Sherlock Holmes used to stop right in the middle of a case and drag Watson off to a concert? That was a very irritating procedure to the practical and literal-minded Watson. But Conan Doyle was a creator and knew the creative process. …drop the problem completely and turn to whatever stimulates your imagination and emotions. Listen to music, go to the theater or movies, read poetry or a detective story.”
This is all couched carefully with hard work, dedication, brainstorming and the like, so it’a not all about setting things aside for the whole creative process. Just when it’s timely, and so needful to carve out time for. This whole notion of setting things aside and letting the dots connect during that “down-time” has been revolutionary for me in many ways.
I read a quote years ago that sums it up nicely: “Taking time to live your life only inspires your work.”
Thanks for sharing this today, Wendy. May your quiet time this season be full and rich and restful. You deserve it.
Wendy, I, too, love the phrase, “The incubator for future bursts of creativity.” I suspect that you saw the same video I did that suggests we take a break from our use of the Internet. Of course, as an author I’m too chicken to completely stop, but I did declare a hiatus from blogging for December, and suddenly I’m noticing I have more time to write. Thanks for this post, though.