Alex Soojung-Kim Pang - Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less

Advance Praise for Rest

In his fascinating, well-researched, and highly readable new book, Dr. Pang makes an excellent case for the critical importance of rest in our lives. You will consider how and why you rest in a completely new light after reading this book.

Wendy Suzuki, PhD, professor of neural science and psychology, New York University, and author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better

Its high noon for the global economys thinking class, who are locked in a losing battle for clarity in a crowded, clickable world. This book is a science-packed call to arms: its time to claim rest as a right and pay close attention to the needs of our beleaguered brains.

Anthony Townsend, author of Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia

Finally, indisputable proof that to raise happy, healthy, and productive adults, parents and educators must teach the next generation how to practice intentional rest... [and] how to partner work with play, exercise, and sleep.

Nanci Kauffman, head of Castilleja School

ALSO BY ALEX SOOJUNG-KIM PANG

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Empire and the Sun: Victorian Solar Eclipse Expeditions

Copyright 2016 by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

Published in the United States by Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, a division of PBG Publishing, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 250 West 57th Street, 15th floor, New York, NY 10107.

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Designed by Trish Wilkinson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Pang, Alex Soojung-Kim, author.

Title: Rest: why you get more done when you work less / Alex Soojung-Kim Pang.

Description: New York, New York: Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC., a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016036492 | ISBN 9780465096596 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: WorkPhysiological aspects. | RestPhysiological aspects. | Performance.

Classification: LCC QP301 .P336 2016 | DDC 612/.042dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016036492

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Thomas Parke Hughes and Linda Wiedmann

Table of Contents

Contents

T HIS IS A BOOK about work. It is also, of course, a book about rest. This sounds paradoxical, but it illustrates the books central idea.

Many of us are interested in how to work better, but we dont think very much about how to rest better. Productivity books offer life hacks, advice about how to get more done, or stories about what CEOs or famous writers do. But they say almost nothing about the role of rest in the lives or careers of creative, productive people. When they do mention rest, they tend to treat it as nothing more than a physical necessity or inconvenience.

Books about rest or leisure, meanwhile, seem mainly interested in escaping work, not improving your ability to do meaningful work. They praise idleness as an antidote to overwork and an expression of wisdom. The clever man may work smarter, not harder, they say, but the creative man doesnt work at all. Other writers portray leisure as a luxury to be consumed and broadcast. For them, the good life is an endless summer, shared with just the right washed-out Instagram filter.

As a result, we see work and rest as binaries. Even more problematic, we think of rest as simply the absence of work, not as something that stands on its own or has its own qualities. Rest is merely a negative space in a life defined by toil and ambition and accomplishment. When we define ourselves by our work, by our dedication and effectiveness and willingness to go the extra mile, then its easy to see rest as the negation of all those things. If your work is your self, when you cease to work, you cease to exist.

When we think of rest as works opposite, we take it less seriously and even avoid it. Americans work more and vacation less than almost any other nationality in the world. Contrary to the expectations of economists (and in defiance of common sense), as we become more productive, we work longer hours, not shorter. We leave vacation days unused. When we do finally go on vacation, we compulsively check our e-mail.

I argue that we misunderstand the relationship between work and rest. Work and rest are not polar opposites. You cannot talk about rest without also talking about work. Writing about only one is like writing a romance and naming only one of the lovers. Rest is not works adversary. Rest is works partner. They complement and complete each other.

Further, you cannot work well without resting well. Some of historys most creative people, people whose achievements in art and science and literature are legendary, took rest very seriously. They found that in order to realize their ambitions, to do the kind of work they wanted to, they needed rest. The right kinds of rest would restore their energy while allowing their muse, that mysterious part of their minds that helps drive the creative process, to keep going.

So work and rest arent opposites like black and white or good and evil; theyre more like different points on lifes wave. You cant have a crest without a trough. You cant have the highs without the lows. Neither can exist without the other.

We underestimate how much good serious rest can do us. And we also underestimate how much we can do if we take rest seriously.

I enjoy both good work and good rest. I love intellectual and physical challenges, the sense of purpose and accomplishment that comes from getting both big and little things done. For me, the feeling that accompanies a creative breakthroughand even just the feeling of chasing an idea, immersing myself in a problem, and matching my talents against a big challengeis as addicting and exciting as any game, as physically satisfying and stimulating as food (and I really like food), as emotionally fulfilling and essential as being in love. Hard work can be both honorable and rewarding. I look back fondly on some of my hardest jobs because of the camaraderie I found working long hours with good people, pushing the boundaries of our company, and trying new things. I find visions of the good life that feature wealth-creation systems and early retirement crass and distasteful. In contrast, the arguments of psychologists like Viktor Frankl and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that the good life is defined by a search for meaning and an abundance of challenges, make profound intuitive sense.