Why laziness is underrated

Why laziness is underratedWhy laziness is underratedBusy. But good busy.This was my go-to response to the Hows life? question. For the vast majority of my life, I wore busy as a status symbol. The wordlazyreminded me of my pot-smoking, Halo-playing college friends who would cut class and lounge around for hours on end. In my own life, I bounced to the other extreme, priding myself on my discipline and my choice to fill- no stuff- every moment of my day with activity.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreI know Im not alone here. Think about it Have you ever told anyone, Im loving my work, but I also have plenty of time to play and relax? Laziness- which I define as unstructured chunks of time free of distractions- has become a major shame trigger. In a2017 survey, roughly 80% of Americans reported that they spent no time whatsoever relaxing or thinking.If you have any doubts about our obsession with productivity, look no further thanthis viral articleabout a computer scientists productivity system. One of his many hacks involves walking in the woods with a laptop strapped around his neck so he can keep typing while getting fresh air (see the photohere).You may be thinking youd never do that, but if youre like the average American, youcheck your phoneevery 12 minutes during waking hours, which adds up to 80 times a day (if youre a millennial, thatnumber is 150). Its the handy equivalent of having a laptop strapped around your neck.This is a recipe for cognitive burnout. Overtraining your mind- just like overtraining your body- without adequate recovery time is a surefire path to injury and poor performance.As the saying goes, its the silence between the notes that makes the music.During that silence, it appears nothing is happening, but appearances deceive. Even when its idling, the brain isstill active. When youre staring into space, Alex Soojung-Kim Pangwritesi n his bookRest, your brain consumes only slightly less energy than it does when youre solving differential equations.So where does all that energy go?Your mind may seem to be drifting from one irrelevant topic to the next, but your subconscious ishard at work, consolidating memories, making associations, and marrying the new with the old to create new combinations. The phraseunconsciousmindis an insult to a part of our brain that does so much work behind the scenes.Theresa TV commercialwhere business executives squeeze themselves into a shower at work. One person asks, Why are we meeting in the shower? The boss replies, Well, ideas always hit me in my shower at home.The idea-in-the-shower moment is cliche- because it works. When we sit or stand still, we turn into a magnetized rod that attracts ideas. This is why phrases like epiphany, flash of light, or stroke of genius are often used to describe theEurekamoment- Greek for Ive found it.Ideas explode into life during times of slack, not hard labor. Niels Bohr literally dreamed up the structure of an atom when heenvisioned himselfsitting on the sun with all the planets hissing around on tiny cords. Archimedes famous Eureka moment arrived when he was easing himself into a bath (he then reportedly ran naked through the streets of Syracuse to celebrate).Laziness landed a woman named Joanne her first publishing deal. In 1990, her train from Manchester to London was delayed for four hours. This was way before the smartphone age, so Joanne just sat there doing nothing while she waited. Out of nowhere, a story came fully formed into her mind- about a young boy who attends a wizardry school. That four-hour delay ended up being a blessing for Joanne Kathleen Rowling- better known as J.K. Rowling- who wrote the Harry Potter series that captivated millions around the world.These pauses cant be reserved for your twice-a-year vacation in the sun. They need to be built into the day. Give yourself permission to lounge in bed for too long. To put your body and mind in airplane mode. To sit and stare at the ceiling. To wander aimlessly through a park (without your laptop). To blow a Tuesday off.It sounds so simple, but theres no magic here- at least not in the Hogwarts sense. The magic is the intention of a designated time to pause and reflect- a moment for interior silence to oppose contemporary chaos.The next time youre tempted to fill your time with something productive, just remember Laziness might be the most productive thing you can do.Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned law professor and bestselling author.Click hereto download a free copy of his e-book, The Contrarian Handbook 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, youll get the Weekly Contrarian - a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access to exclusive content for subscribers only).This article originally appeared on Ozan Varol.You might also enjoyNe w neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people