After toiling for more than 300+ days, as the year draws to a close, fatigue fills the bodies and eyes of every worker.
In the past year, many have experienced
this: When work becomes challenging, the more you rush to finish quickly, the
more mistakes you make. When temporarily unable to find solutions, the more
anxious and panicked you become, the more counterproductive it is, resulting in
chaos.
With the rapid development of the times
and increasing competition around us, we dare not stop.
Humans are like rubber bands—the tighter
they are stretched, the easier they break. Those who know how to rest also know
how to work; resting is the first step to improving work efficiency.
As the end of the year approaches,
giving yourself time to breathe after a year of hard work enables you to handle
things efficiently and orderly, and life and work will progress and develop as
you wish.
More important than working hard is knowing how to rest.
Henry Ford, the automotive tycoon, once
said: "People who only know how to work without knowing how to rest are
like cars without brakes—extremely dangerous." Indeed, a person, like a
machine, if relentlessly pursuing efficiency without understanding the need to
stop and rest, will only backfire.
I recalled a story my friend shared with
me before. One school vacation, she and another girl, both graduate students from
top universities, interned at a bank. To secure a permanent position, my friend worked tirelessly, barely leaving her seat except for meals and restroom
breaks, often working overtime until midnight.
The other girl, however, left punctually
at the end of each workday, sometimes slipping out during office hours under
the pretext of getting water. During lunch breaks, she wouldn't return until it
was time to work. Surprisingly, after the internship, the supervisors decided
to keep the other girl.
When my friend later chatted with her,
she understood: every time the girl slipped out, she sensed her concentration
declining. To maintain efficiency, she took short breaks to relax and refresh
her mind. This balanced work rhythm made her more efficient, composed, and
allowed her to carve out more leisure time for self-improvement.
Often, working hard is not a display of ability; knowing how
to rest is.
Frederick Taylor, the father of
scientific management in the 20th century, took over an ironworks factory and,
to improve efficiency, made three requests to the workers:
1. Mandatory 5-minute breaks every hour,
even if they didn't feel tired;
2. Reduce the daily working hours from
10 or 12 to 8.5 hours;
3. Ensure everyone is focused and
efficient at work.
These seemingly simple requirements
miraculously improved worker efficiency. Previously, workers could handle about
12 tons of iron per day on average, but under his management, they could handle
about 48 tons per day without feeling fatigued.
"Resting" is as essential to
"working efficiently" as a charger is to a phone—indispensable.
To work efficiently, one must first learn
to rest efficiently. The most admirable quality of truly capable individuals is
not their diligence at work but their "laziness" when resting.
Progress is a capability, but pausing is wisdom. Every break charges the body.
You need to prepare for Monday. To do
this, use the weekend to rejuvenate yourself rather than ending up exhausted.
In the past year, perhaps you've had experiences like this: to finish remaining
work from weekdays, you canceled all plans over the weekend.
When Monday came, although you completed
the work, the quality was poor, and you felt exceptionally tired. Because you
didn't rest well over the weekend, your work efficiency for the new week was
low. By Friday, if the work wasn't finished, you'd enter a cycle of exhaustion.
True high-quality rest is never a waste
of time but a period of recharging for the body and mind. When a writer faces
writer's block, the more they force themselves to write well, the more
difficult it becomes. Yet, they refuse to set it aside. So, they write with increasing
frustration and decreasing quality.
Whenever they realize their state isn't
good, they immediately leave their work and take a walk in the countryside to
relax. Returning to their writing desk, they feel rejuvenated, and tasks they
once thought impossible become effortless.
This experience taught them that, not
only in writing but in anything one wants to excel in, ensuring one is mentally
fresh at the beginning is crucial. To them, the smarter a person is, the more
they understand the need to rest.
The body is the capital for survival,
and resting is the prelude to sprinting. In fact, scientists have found that
the brain is as active during rest as it is during work. When resting, some
areas of the brain may even be more active, and the level of connectivity
between some areas is higher, indicating stronger cognitive abilities.
Conversely, the more one struggles to
think when lacking ideas, the more counterproductive it becomes. Our bodies, minds,
and brains are like rubber bands—the tighter you stretch them, the more likely
they are to break. When work becomes directionless, it's better to set it
aside, giving the brain a buffer period, which may lead to new discoveries.
Rest is not a singular activity but a
synonym for achieving a better state.
Learning to rest is not only giving the
tired brain a period of recharge but also giving a busy life a buffering
period. Learning to recharge enables efficient release of energy; learning to
buffer maintains a positive mindset at all times. Treating oneself well starts
with learning to rest.
Rest is not doing nothing; it's actually
compensating for certain losses in the body.
Sometimes, life seems short, and time
seems scarce, so we rush headlong, but this only leads to loss. Only when one
learns high-quality rest can they take care of their body and gain
irreplaceable wealth and capital. So, how does one become someone who knows how
to rest?
Start with the following:
1. Stick to an early bedtime to rejuvenate
your spirit. Late nights have become a habit for modern people. But early
bedtime is a common trait of those who know how to rest. Going to bed at a
reasonable time is the first step in ensuring sleep quality and the first step
in learning to rest. Early sleep and rest allow life and body to gradually
enter a proper state, not only beneficial for physical and mental health but
also for better immersion in life and work.
2. Cultivate a hobby to awaken your
passion for life. Hobbies are like seasoning in life. When you feel tired, they
can quickly replenish your energy; when you encounter difficulties, they can
help you temporarily escape. In the face of a fast-paced life, some people
enjoy gardening, some enjoy reading, some enjoy sports... Find something that
allows you to completely relax and immerse yourself.
3. Alternate work to give the brain a
break. After observing the working habits of many celebrities, I found that
they always work for a period of time before doing something else. Although it
may seem less focused, it's actually a form of rest.
Psychologists have found that the brain
can only maintain a high level of concentration for about 53 minutes. So, to
ensure work efficiency, give your brain a relaxation buffer time.
For example: work for an hour, then take
a break; or after completing a segment of work, switch to another task to give
your brain a change of pace and relax. Learning to "distract"
appropriately is the key to true efficiency.
The longer you walk without resting, the
slower you walk. Many accomplished individuals spend what seems like effortful
but inefficient time resting. Mindlessly rushing forward is less effective than
slowing down to admire the scenery along the way; ineffective work is less
beneficial than high-quality rest, giving your body and mind a "cleansing"
treatment.
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