Rest summary

Eight hours of work a day sometimes just doesn’t feel like enough. Surely you have to put a longer shift in if you want to become the next New York Times best seller, right?

Well, not quite. What really makes the difference isn’t how much you work, but when you work.

What’s the best way to recover from an energy-depleting mental workout? Well, there are two proven ways to recharge your creative batteries: walking or taking a short nap.

Let’s start with walking.

There’s a saying that it’s best to quit while you’re ahead. It’s a great motto to remember when you’re working. Choosing the right moment to stop greatly supports your creativity.

That’s because there’s nothing worse than overextending yourself. If you’ve just nailed a brilliant scene in your screenplay, don’t try to top it in the very next scene. Leave the next line half-finished and come back to it tomorrow. Who knows what your subconscious will have come up with by then.

Beauty sleep? More like brain sleep!

Sleep it off isn’t just a miracle cure for hangovers, bad days at the office and break-ups; it also fights brain toxins. In fact, sleep helps repair your whole body. That’s because while you sleep, your body is restoring depleted energy levels and repairing or growing cells.

In every company, there’s that guy who’s clocked in every single day and hasn’t taken one vacation day in the last 15 years.

Although this is often celebrated as a great example of hard work and dedication, it’s not healthy. In fact, as we’ll soon find out, he’s probably on the verge of a burnout.

What do Rhodes scholars, Nobel Peace Prize winners and footballers all have in common? Well, they all know that physical exercise is great for both the mind and the body.

That’s because intellectual rigor and athleticism go hand in hand.

Did you know that Winston Churchill loved painting when he wasn’t determining the fate of the world? Like physical exercise, art is a type of deep play, as well as an obvious way of tapping into your creativity.

So, what is deep play?