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I was intrigued by this line from a 2012 New York Times<\/em><\/span><\/a> blog quoted by the essayist and cartoonist Tim Kreider<\/em><\/span><\/a>, providing a memorable self-description ” I am not busy. I am the laziest ambitious person I know “. He continues, and I can imagine, reluctantly to add ‘ I’ve insidiously started, because of professional obligations, to become busy…every morning my in-box was full of emails asking me to do things that I did not want to do or presenting me with problems that I now had to solve “.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This thinking runs starkly counter to the ‘ hustle and be productive<\/span><\/em> ‘ culture that we are outrageously immersed in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ESSENTIAL<\/strong>ism:\u00a0The Disciplined Pursuit of Less<\/em>. Sounds blasphemous in this day and age. The art of separating the trivial many from the vital few. A few years ago, I came across this fascinating book and after a gentle outreach and gracious response from\u00a0Greg McKeown<\/em><\/span><\/a>, the author, had me falling for the content\u00a0Book, Line and Sinker<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There has been always something obscene about the\u00a0cult of the hustle,\u00a0the\u00a0treadmill\u00a0of\u00a0alienated insecurity<\/em> that tells you that the moment you stop running for even an instant, you will be flung flat on your face. Arbeit Macht Frei<\/em><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0Meaning work sets you free<\/em>. These words first appeared in an 1873 German novel. And later got adopted by\u00a0Nazis<\/em>\u00a0as a slogan. The mantra of work as freedom or a magical route to happiness has proved incredibly resilient.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A study called \u201cSlack Time and Innovation<\/em><\/span>\u201d shows that even companies like Google, 3M<\/em><\/span> and Wella<\/em><\/span> encourage their workers to be innovative besides their strongly innovation-oriented work environments, by providing slack time. <\/em><\/span>As\u00a0Paul Graham<\/em><\/span><\/a>, Y-Combinator<\/em><\/span><\/a> founder,\u00a0wrote<\/a><\/span><\/em>: \u201cMicrosoft<\/em><\/span><\/a> and Facebook<\/span><\/em><\/a> both got started in January. At Harvard<\/em> <\/span><\/a>that is (or was) Reading Period<\/em><\/span>, when students have no classes to attend because they\u2019re supposed to be studying for finals.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many innovative ideas seem to be generated as side projects by employees and students.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tim Kreider<\/em><\/span><\/a> has an explanation- Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as Vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets…it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to award-winning author and innovator\u00a0Phil McKinney<\/a><\/em><\/span>, slack time<\/em> <\/span>allows the brain to roam freely, decreases stress, provides an opportunity to refresh, and, ultimately, creates \u00a0a better work environment, making people happier and more productive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How about maintaining a ‘ ledger of slack<\/em><\/span> ‘ ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yes, this is different from the ‘ idol worship ‘ that we are so used to hearing. Though phonetics will continue to play its part.\u00a0 And so would ‘ herd mentality ‘ or is it ‘ heard mentality ‘? I was intrigued by this line from a 2012 New York Times blog quoted … Continue reading “Idle Worship!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sureshdinakaran.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/HURRY.jpeg\")
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