When you have free time, you have the headspace and bandwidth to pursue new ideas. Free time increases your serendipity surface area.The idea that free time is bad is one of the greatest lies you’ve been told.

Free time is a “call option” on future interesting opportunities

Ideas are executed during periods of work but formed during periods of free time & boredom.<ul><li>Muscle is trained during exercise, but grown during recovery.</li><li>Minds are engaged with togetherness but fortified with solitude.</li></ul>Find balance—find growth.

All growth requires balance

It’s an asset, not a liability. It’s not about a “break” from productivity.It’s an integral part of your productivity.

Embrace the role of free time and rest in your life.

We have to reframe rest and recovery as a core part of our daily systems, not a reward for our efforts.We don’t need to “earn” our recovery—it should be a central part of our ritual that allows us to thrive.

A major key to avoiding burnout

Many of history’s highest achievers were aware of the value of rest:John D. Rockefeller would take regular breaks from his notoriously demanding schedule to mill about in his garden—it was his personal escape.Takeaway: When you sprint, sprint hard. When you rest, rest hard.

The value of rest

In his calendar, work periods were broken up by periods of rest, conversation, reading, and boredom.

Benjamin Franklin’s calendar

<ul><li>Take 15-minute tech-free walks throughout the day to break up blocks of focused work.</li><li>The walk will provide a reset and let your thoughts and ideas mingle.</li><li>The walk is just as much a contributor to the output as the focused work itself.</li></ul>