Why wasting time isn't always a waste of time

Modern productivity culture would have us believe that if we want to reach our full potential, we need to fill up our planners with tasks for each and every hour of our workday. Getting the results you want means that your time needs to be used as efficiently as possible: check off the items on your to-do list as quickly as possible with as little effort as possible.

“Work smart, not hard” is an oft-repeated piece of advice. But is a persistent focus on optimizing our productivity the most important thing we can do to achieve more in less time? Not necessarily. As we are about to find out, this can actually be what’s holding us back. 

Perhaps you have heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the multitalented artist who wrote and starred in a musical called Hamilton. This hip-hop rendition of the story of the Founding Fathers of the United States was a smash hit and has won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a Grammy Award, and 11 Tony Awards. What is less well-known is how Miranda came up with the idea for Hamilton: while on a beach vacation, he decided to read a book about Alexander Hamilton. This created a spark of inspiration that resulted in the creation of the beloved musical.

In Stress-Free Productivity, a book on how to personalize your approach to getting things done, psychologist Alice Boyes uses Hamilton as an example of the benefits of letting your mind roam free. She argues that “your most innovative work will come from seeing the unfamiliar through the lens of the familiar.” It’s not as straightforward as taking some books with you on your next beach vacation, though. To produce meaningful work, we need to reframe our assumptions about what it means to be “productive.”  

How Efficiency Can Be Inefficient 

Even if you stick to a strict schedule and are great at minimizing distractions, if what you’re working on does not contribute to outcomes that are likely to have a big impact, you aren’t actually being productive. Having bulletproof focus sounds great, but staying on-task is not the most important part of achieving your goals. According to Boyes, there are multiple reasons for this. 

1. Learning a new skill requires an investment of time and energy that does not initially produce a desirable outcome. To see a return on our investment, we have to persist without an immediate reward. In the long run, though, acquiring new skills can contribute to expertise that positively impacts potential employers’ impression of us. This is especially the case if our skill set is rare and valuable. 

1. A preoccupation with managing your tasks and the time you spend on them can negatively impact our well-being. More of a good thing is not always a good thing. Achieving a balance is key. 

1. Rigid schedules can impact our relationships with other people. When sticking to our plan for the day is always our number one priority, we make it difficult to accommodate other people and miss out on opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration. 

1. Aiming to plan out our entire workday makes us less capable of adapting to change and any unexpected tasks that may come up. In other words, it makes us less resilient. Many employers value workers who can “go with the flow” when things don’t go according to plan. 

1. Seeking to maximize efficiency can give us “tunnel vision” when it comes to our work as we push ourselves to get more done in less time. However, well-developed ideas require taking a step back and looking at the big picture from multiple perspectives. Sometimes we need to revisit our approaches and assess whether we need to try something new or shift our focus. 
   

While time management strategies are certainly helpful, when they are prioritized above all else, they can actually work against us. Approaching our goals with flexibility and open-mindedness can help us identify when we might need to change course or experiment with different strategies for getting things done.

Are you someone who could benefit from looking at “wasted time” differently? Are there any opportunities you might be able to take advantage of by adopting a more flexible approach to planning? By allowing time for your mind to wander, you might make some insightful connections that lead to valuable innovations in the way you do your work. Can you remember a time in your life when taking a break lead to a “eureka!” moment?