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It’s vital to make time for rest …

• Fill the well. Nurture yourself. Consciously replenish your resources. As the Zen saying goes, “The bow kept forever tight will break. Learn to stimulate the “muse within.” Fun and diversity are great stimulators.
• The most relaxing recreation forces are a healthy religion, sleep, music, and laughter. Have faith in God—Learn to sleep well—Love good Music—see the funny side of life—And health and happiness will be yours. Dale Carnegie
• Sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow. Douglas Pagels
• Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. Joseph Addison
• Balance,  Sleep,  Tiredness and fatigue,  Relaxation,  Energy management,  Vitality

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…especially when you don’t have time for it

• When your schedule is out of hand, it’s a signal that it’s time to slow down and re- evaluate what’s important rather than power through everything on the list. When you’re feeling out of control, rather than roll up your sleeves and “get to it,” a better strategy is to relax, take a few deep breaths and go for a short walk. Richard Carlson
• The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it. Jim Goodwin
• Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is to take a complete rest. Ashleigh Brilliant

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Rest unleashes creativity and inspiration

• When I take a break, even just a brief one, the creative energy flows in. Only then do I have anything of value to share with others. Once I recognized this, I stopped feeling guilty about taking time for myself. Holly Mosier
• I learned that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness. Brenda Ueland
• It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top. Virginia Woolf
• Creativity,  Inspiration

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Rest restores balance

• Without time for recovery, our lives become a blur of doing, unbalanced by much opportunity for being. Jim Loehr
• Balance

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Rest prevents stress and fatigue

• So, to prevent fatigue and worry, the first rule is: Rest often. Rest before you get tired. Dale Carnegie
• If you find yourself getting increasingly frustrated or tense in some situation, disengage and take a break before your head explodes. Staying out of “red zone” stress is a serious priority for your long- term health and well-being. Rick Hanson
• Tiredness and fatigue,  Stress

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Rest boosts productivity

• At the most practical level, our capacity to be fully engaged depends on our ability to periodically disengage. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• Take a rest. A field that has rested yields a beautiful crop. Roman poet Ovid
• Don’t neglect your health, your social life, or any other important area just because you’re busy. Taking time away from work will often allow you to actually get more done at work. Sean Phillips
• To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious. Samuel Butler
• A good rest is half the work. Proverb
• Research shows that naps improve productivity—a growing body of evidence shows that taking regular breaks from mental tasks improves productivity and creativity — and that skipping breaks can lead to stress and exhaustion. David Rock
• Productivity

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Rest the mind and it come back more strongly

• When you allow your mind to take a break, it comes back stronger, sharper, more focused and creative. Richard Carlson
• The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return to better thinking. Phaedrus
• Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen. Leonardo da Vinci
• Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax  When you relax, your brain shifts into alpha state–the time when million-dollar ideas present themselves.  Marc and Angel Chernoff
• The vacation we often need is freedom from our own mind. Jack Adam Weber
• It is sweet to let the mind unbend on occasion. Horace
• The mind of man is like a clock that is always running down and requires constantly to be wound up. William Hazlitt
• The mind

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Rest stops the fuel tank from becoming empty

• If we ignore our emotional and physical fuel gauge and just keep driving and driving and driving, sooner or later we’re going to run out of gas. Brian Johnson
• Don’t drive yourself to the point of being totally spent. Try to stop while you have a few drops left in your tank and use that fuel to build a bridge to the next day. Twyla Tharp

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Rest is a vital part of managing energy

• Full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Because energy diminishes both with overuse and with underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• To maintain a powerful pulse in our lives, we must learn how to rhythmically spend and renew energy. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• We, too, must learn to live our own lives as a series of sprints—fully engaging for periods of time, and then fully disengaging and seeking renewal before jumping back into the fray to face whatever challenges confront us. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• Energy is simply the capacity to do work. Our most fundamental need as human beings is to spend and recover energy. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• From an energy perspective, negative emotions are costly and inefficient. Much like a gas- guzzling car, they draw down our energy stores at a rapid rate. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
• The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up. Albert Schweitzer
• Energy management

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Rest, and the ability to take time out, is true wealth

• Psychologist Tim Kasser shows in his research that time affluence is a consistent predictor of well- being, whereas material affluence is not. Time affluence is the feeling that one has sufficient time to pursue activities that are personally meaningful, to reflect, to engage in leisure. Time poverty is the feeling that one is constantly stressed, rushed, overworked, behind. All we need to do is look around us—and often within ourselves—to realize the pervasiveness of time poverty in our culture. Tal Ben- Shahar
• True wealth

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Schedule time for rest

• Schedule some downtime every day. Write in a journal or take a quiet bath before bed.  Recognise that not doing it all is okay – even important.  Stephen Covey
• Schedule short, frequent vacations; studies show that the anticipation leading up to the time off is one of the best parts about taking a vacation. Marelisa Fabrega

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Make time for breaks throughout the day

• No matter how much pressure you feel at work, if you could find ways to relax for at least five minutes every hour, you’d be more productive. Dr Joyce Brothers
• Take lots of microbreaks. Many times a day, step out of the stream of doingness for at least a few seconds: close your eyes for a moment; take a couple of deep breaths; shift your visual focus to the farthest point you can see; repeat a saying or prayer; stand up and move about.  Rick Hanson

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Make time for fun

• You should work hard to achieve your dreams, but you must never forget to stop and have fun along the way. Deb Ivarsson
• There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. John W. Raper
• Fun

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Make time for recovery

• The problem in today’s corporate world, as well as in many other realms, is not hard work; the problem is insufficient recovery. Tal Ben- Shahar
• Periods of recovery are likewise intrinsic to creativity and to intimate connection. Sounds become music in the spaces between notes, just as words are created by the spaces between letters. It is in the spaces between work that love, friendship, depth and dimension are nurtured. Without time for recovery, our lives become a blur of doing unbalanced by much opportunity for being. Jim Loehr

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Make time time for pleasure and play

• The more time we spend on work to attain more, more, more, the less time we have to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy…. Schedule time for pleasure, then use your will to keep this important schedule. No cancelling allowed. Susan Jeffers
• Get your priorities straight. No one on their deathbed ever said, “If only I’d spent more time at the office.” Life’s Little Instruction Book
• Replace “I don’t have time to play” with “I must take time to play.” Neil Fiore
• A firm commitment to guilt-free play will recharge your batteries, creating renewed motivation, creativity, and energy for all the other areas of your life. Neil Fiore
• You can be more productive if you play more! Neil Fiore
• Play keeps us fit physically and mentally. Stuart Brown
• Creative individuals place a high value on fun because it enables them to soar in their other pursuits. Jordan Ayan
• The vitality of his play carried over into his work and he thoroughly enjoyed challenges in both spheres of his life. Neil Fiore
• You’re like a great, big hairy moth bashing yourself to pieces over a silly flame while all the while out there in the cool night there’s food and love… Maggie, Thornbirds
• Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it. Eileen Caddy
• Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good. Lucia Capacchione
• If you’re too busy to enjoy life, you’re too busy. Jeff Davidson
• Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor. Paul Hawken
• It is essential to our well-being, and to our lives, that we play and enjoy life. Marcia Wieder
• Pleasure,  Play

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Make time for naps

• I found I could add nearly two hours to my working day by going to bed for an hour after luncheon. Winston Churchill

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Get a good night’s sleep

• If people got just one more hour of sleep each night, our Western “sleep-sick” society would be much healthier and happier. Sonja Lyubomirsky

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Take a day off once in a while

• Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Maya Angelou
• Occasionally indulging in a do-nothing day is more than worth the price. Malcolm Forbes
• To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment. Jane Austen
• To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace. Milan Kundera

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Regularly spoil yourself

• Spoiling yourself once in a while is actually good for you. It triggers endorphins.  Its satisfying.  You don’t have to throw down the self-discipline gauntlet, just relax a little.  Indulging can help you control cravings so they don’t turn into binge- fests.  Balance is about enjoying bliss, not just cutting out the junk.  Stephen Covey

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Take time to just be …

• Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass unter the trees on a spring day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. John Lubbock
• If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live. Lin Yutang
• The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Bertrand Russell
• Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering. Pooh’s Little Instruction Book
• To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace. Milan Kundera
• How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward. Spanish Proverb
• Loafing needs no explanation and is its own excuse. Christopher Morley
• There is precious little hope to be got out of whatever keeps us industrious, but there is a chance for us whenever we cease work and become stargazers. M. Tomlinson
• You have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by. James M. Barrie
• He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing. Cicero
• Untroubling and untroubled where I lie, the grass below, above, the vaulted sky. John Clare
• Being

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… surrendering yourself to sacred idleness

• There is one piece of advice, in a life of study, which I think no one will object to: and that is, every now and then to be completely idle, to do nothing at all. Sydney Smith
• Certainly, work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness-the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected. George MacDonald
• Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. J. Lubbock
• There is also an honest and necessary idleness whereby good men are made more apt and ready to do their labors and vocations whereunto they are called. John Northbrooke
• A bit of idleness can give birth to inspiration
• Idleness

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Take a moment to stop and stare so life can catch up with you

• Learn to pause or nothing worthwhile will catch up with you. Doug King
• The earth belongs to anyone who stops for a moment, gazes, and goes on his way. Colette
• What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stop and stare. William Henry Davies

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Sharpen the saw

• Sharpen the saw is about balanced renewal in all four dimensions of human need: physical, spiritual, mental and social / emotional. Stephen Covey
• Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree. “What are you doing?” you ask. “Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree.” “You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?” “Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.” ‘Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire. “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.” “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too busy sawing!” Stephen Covey
• Habit 7 is taking the time to sharpen the saw. By renewing the four dimensions of your nature – physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional, you can work more quickly and effortlessly. To do this, we must be proactive. This is a Quadrant II (important, not urgent) activity that must be acted on. It’s at the center of our Circle of Influence, so we must do it for ourselves.  Stephen Covey
• We must never be too busy to take time to sharpen the saw. Stephen Covey
• Sharpen your saw. How? Exercise, meditate, journal, spend time with loved ones, go on vacation, play, dance, enjoy your hobbies. Brian Johnson
• You need to allocate time to figuratively “sharpen the saw”. That requires spending time maintaining good physical health, social well being, our mental capacities and our spiritual foundation. Stephen Covey
• If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.  Abraham Lincoln

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Stephen Covey’s checklist for sharpening the saw

• Physical: Do you exercise at least three times per week? Do you take vitamins?  Do you include cardiovascular, strength and flexibility activities in your exercise?  Do you get the proper amount of sleep?  Do you rest or relax when your body needs it? Do you have a healthy diet?  Do you have an effective, positive way of dealing with stress?
• Spiritual: Have you defined your values? Do you live your life accordingly?  Do you have a mission statement that gives you purpose in life?  Do you find daily renewal through meditation, prayer, study or reflection?  Do you frequently spend time in a place where you find spiritual renewal (e.g. in nature, a chapel, a temple)?  Do you live with integrity?  Do you keep your heart open to the truth?  Do you frequently serve others without expecting returned favor?  Do you let go of things in life you cannot change?
• Mental: Do you read regularly? Do you keep a journal or engage in a regular writing process? Do you allow music, silence or some sort of relaxation exercise to clear your mind on a daily basis?  Do you have a hobby?  Do you challenge your mind through puzzles or games?  Do you have a hobby?  Do you learn new things, either formally or informally?  Do you engage in meaningful dialogue at least once a week?  Do you use a system to plan and organise your time and efforts?
• Social / Emotional: Do you have a hopeful outlook on life? Are you trusting and supportive of the people in your life?  Do you listen to others and hear what they have to say?  Do you reach out to others?  Are you empathetic?  Do you nurture your most important relationships?  Do you sincerely apologise when you need to?  Do you love and nurture yourself?

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• It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. Jerome K. Jerome
• If you look like your passport photo, in all probability, you need the journey. Earl Winston
• The amount of sleep required by the average person is about five minutes more. Max Kauffmann
• A holiday is something that turns someone who’s tired into someone who’s exhausted.
• Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. Jules Renard
• I can get a year’s worth of work done in 9 months; but I can’t get it done in 12 months. JP Morgan

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