As someone who is lucky enough to work for herself, and who likes her work very much, I find it very difficult to take downtime. I LIKE working, damn it! Why should I be tethered to some arbitrary constraint of working hours?
And yet, this tends to blow up in my face. High as I’m flying when I’m working, if I go too long, there’s a gruesome crash at the end of it.
I’m good at taking care of some constraints. I know my body is quite finicky, and prone to fits if I starve it for food or sleep, so I rarely ever do. (Last week I missed a meal, and I spent the next two days trying to keep food down. My big, beautiful brain, utterly at the mercy of this persnickety body. ) So why can’t I regulate my activities in such a way as to avoid having meltdowns like an overstressed toddler?
Wisdom from Unlikely Places
There’s a nifty brand of personal finance called “Financial Independence” and the biggest blogger in this field is Mr Money Mustache. He’s quite good. He saved 50-60% of his income and retired after only ten years of working. He is officially “retired”.
I’m sure we all want to be retired some day. But we’re not going to spend day in and day out rocking on the front porch or perhaps playing the odd game of checkers.
And neither does MMM. He likes to do woodworking and small construction projects, flip houses, and of course, blog. However, some people still think of those activities as work (he’s getting paid, you see) so he wrote an absolutely hilarious post/rant about what constitutes “work”.
“The “internet retirement police” (IRP), which you’ll meet in various online forums, have established five main directives:
In principle you can only participate in certain pre-approved retirement activities such as beach-sitting, staring out the window, and receiving visits from your grandchildren.
Traveling is also okay, as is eating “delicious food”, just make sure you don’t cook it yourself. Think twice before doing anything that’s not on this list! The IRP is watching you.
The IRP does grant one exemption should you become bored with the activities above. You can work for a nonprofit organization. Make sure you’re not getting paid though even if you have to plead your case with the CEO to put in special exemptions. Accepting money obviously means you didn’t do your retirement-math and that you ran out of money a couple of years after retiring. After all, what other obvious explanation could there be? (Besides the obvious ones) If you can’t find a way to work without pay, it’s best to head back to the beach towel and sit on that.
Just to be clear: You’re most definitely NOT allowed to be a kayak-instructor in your retirement. While it may sound like a fun job that you picked yourself even if you didn’t have to, the keyword is J-O-B. You can, however, spend a Saturday morning dressed up as an elephant handing out fliers and free lemonade at the entrance. And if you really must instruct in kayaking, please avoid doing something more engaging than blogging about kayaks (and if you do blog, try not to make the blog popular… because … then the blog would be a job!).”
(Technically, this quote is a quote from the ur-FI blogger, Jacob Lund Fisker, whose blog, I am delighted to note, is live again after a long hiatus.)
While we are not all “retired,” I think pretty much everyone reading this is more like the above-mentioned kayak instructor than not, what with our “fun jobs we picked ourselves.”
Buzz, buzz, buzz
Our work, our fun jobs, tend to be high in flow. But you can’t be in flow indefinitely—or maybe that’s what enlightenment is, I don’t know. But what I do know is that as much as I love my client calls, they pack a helluva whollup. And writing is almost as draining.
I’m sure that whatever your thing is, you have flow activities as well.
So, hypothetically, I could have 4 client calls a day, and sleep about 12 hours a day, and during the other six hours I’d probably feebly attempt to bash out coherent emails and read Gawker. Or I could have 2 client calls a day, 2-3 hours of writing a day, and you might get a return email from me in 4-6 weeks. Or, I can do what I currently do, which is 2-3 calls M-W, and Th/Fri is given over to writing and creating.
Or at least that’s the plan. But what actually seems to happen is that I write, and then I have calls, and then I email, and then I plot and then I write some more, and I make supper and I read, and I’d really like to write about what I’m thinking about at I read but I’m far too brain-dead and so I fall asleep at 10pm because I am an old woman.
I LOVE each and everything I spend my time on— but for some reason it’s not as restful as I think it should be.
I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this. =D
Part of the reason for this, I’m convinced, is that because we’re self-employed, we see an immediate and direct correlation between the work we do and the success or fulfillment we achieve. That creates a positive feedback loop— working hard produces all sorts of great things for us, so of course we work harder. Why not? But there’s no such thing as a perpetual motion machine. We have to feed this cycle somehow. So how do you make sure you’re fueling yourself properly?
Working hard produces all sorts of great things for us, so of course we work harder.
The Artist’s Way
Julia Cameron talks about this in The Artist’s Way. She refers to these rejuvenating activities as ‘filling the well’, and there does seem to be some evidence that people who work less are happier and more productive than the people who work more. She advocates taking your inner child on play-dates.
I think this is a good way to think about it, because there is a general tendency to make our play “productive.” I think this is because in our over-scheduled lives “if you don’t schedule it, you won’t do it.” Just leaving an hour open here or there leads to defaulting to the lowest common denominator (often TV) or using the hour to guiltily “catch up” on some other work that slipped through the cracks.
But thinking about it like you would a child is very smart.
We know that kids need unscheduled time to play without constraints.
We know that working them past a certain point is utterly useless.
We know that too much stimulation causes meltdowns and makes them require naps (or at least a time out in a quiet room.)
Shockingly, adults’ needs aren’t so very different.
Differentiating between Play and Rest
I used to be a member of the “Work Hard, Play Hard” school of thought. But since I started allowing myself to be the introverted Highly Sensitive Person I am, I notice that playing hard doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to full rejuvenation. For that I need Rest.
The reason for this is a psychological state called arousal. Arousal isn’t as erotic as it sounds. It just means that your body is alert. If it’s negative arousal, your body is alert and stressed. Positive arousal is when your body is alert, but calm.
The flow state that we enjoy when doing our best work is positive arousal. However, you can’t maintain a state of high alert forever without stress creeping in. That’s why the work hard/play hard model is flawed. Eventually, you must come out of a state of arousal to rest. Extroverts may need less rest than introverts, but the still need some. If you don’t get it, you are like an overstimulated child, on the verge of a meltdown, and in dire need of respite from busy surroundings.
The difference between Play and Rest is subtle. Only you can gauge your level of arousal. For me, TV is play, because it is emphatically not restful. Rest is more like chilling on the front porch with a glass of wine watching the fireflies. Or it might be reading a cheesey space opera. Unless it’s too funny. Then it’s arousing and becomes play. Are you confused yet?
Similarly, Play projects might become Rest tasks, similar to the way that some people enjoy puttering around, tidying things up at the end of the day, and others see it as a dreaded inconvenience. A certain task can even switch depending on how stressed we are at the moment, so you really have to go at your own pace, and be prepared to switch things up if your chosen activity isn’t meeting your needs.
But what about Work?
Differentiating between Work and Play When They Are All Too Similar
Our work is very rewarding. Being rewarded is fun, hence work is fun. However, the tasks we do with our jobs have certain details associated with them that do make them Work. As ‘kayak instructors’, we have to show up for all the classes, whether we want to or not. Freelancers have deadlines, and often not too much choice in subject matter. Writers don’t get to play parcheesi until inspiration strikes. Sometimes you just don’t get to say ‘Fuck it’ and go fishing.
But work is not so terrible that I’m ready to put it to bed at 5pm. In fact, I’m often cranky at 5pm because I’m just getting my second wind but my stomach is demanding supper. If I go back to work after supper, it’s a 50/50 chance I’m going to over-arouse myself and not do any Rest before bed. (Your personal cycles will vary, of course, but I think everyone does better with at least an hour of Rest before bed.)
Same thing with weekends. Not working weekends is torture. I have often “joked” that I literally cannot have fun unless there’s a goal involved. But again, it has to do with arousal– having a target in mind makes me a bit more competitive than aimless, and that puts my mind in the arousal “sweet spot” that is most enjoyable to me. But it’s a double-edged knife. As soon as stress starts to tinge the arousal, BAM! Overwhelm and burnout strike.
I shared this sentiment with Erin, and she agreed. Her trick, she said, was to do a project that had no deadline.
I was gobsmacked by this small, brilliant differentiator (it seems obvious, but I’d truly never thought of it). I’d even go a step further and say that the concept of “should” shouldn’t be anywhere near it. For instance, if you feel like switching out your winter wardrobe for your summer wardrobe as a weekend project, go for it. But if you catch yourself thinking, “I really should put away my winter clothes this weekend,” you’re not Playing. You’re Working.
Your Turn
How good are you at monitoring your arousal? Is it hard to keep track of whether you’re working or playing? What sorts of activities work as Rest for you?
[ssbp]
