Have you gone back to your room post an argument or a heated debate and stumbled upon the right comeback, 2 hours late?
Or you went out, forgot about a problem that had been eating at you, took a stroll in the fresh air amongst the green trees and clear blue sky, and you get your ‘Aha’ moment, your ‘Eureka’!
Turns out, you are not the only one.
When we think we have switched off our brains, our brains are in fact processing and consolidating all the data it had been fed. So it is coming up with the right argument so you can learn and improve how you’d react the next time when that SOB comes in front of you!
The hustle culture and an unshaken belief in meritocracy has conditioned us to work all the time, learn all the time. Throw a ball and you will hit a school kid going to his/her 3rd extra class of the day.
Same is true for many adults - we are in constant motion and we continue to deplete our fuel. Just stop, take a left, and fill up your fuel tank.
When we rest, take a break, stop actively pursuing cognitive functions, our brain goes into clerk mode, it starts storing and filing.
It uses that time to do two upkeep tasks:
Process information we may have just consumed
Consolidate information and make stronger neural pathways
(Find out more about it here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-downtime/)
That is why we perform the best in a test, if we get a good night’s sleep.
Next time you have an important meeting, make sure you sleep and wake up and not go into frenzy, just give you brain a break and you will ace it.
A goodnight sleep and proper rest aids long term memory. And it aids learning.
So how do you plan your rest?
Let’s look at it daily and periodically.
Daily
Use a pomodoro timer and plan 25 minutes of focussed blocks with 5 minutes rest or 50 minutes of focussed blocks with 10 minutes rest.
Plan productivity pockets for example : 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.
Get 7-8 hour of sleep.
Periodically
In a week or 15 days, plan a lazy day. Do nothing, lie around, go for a walk, read and sleep.
Plan one day hiatus from social media. Or 1 month - I have been on social media hiatus for more than 2 months, and it’s amazzziiinngg. 🤩
In a span of quarter or half annually, plan a road trip, retreat or small vacation. Not possible? Switch off for 3 days at a stretch.
These are mere suggestions. You do you!
(Sidebar: Did you know even rest could be of 7 types? These are physical rest, mental rest, sensory rest, emotional rest, creative rest, social rest and spiritual rest.)
So while we have talked about designing our own learning journeys and taking control, it also means planning deliberate rest stops.
In the next newsletter, we will look at the relationship between Learning and Play.
If you liked this newsletter, share it with others who might like it.
Keep Learning!
Adios,
Avni
Great piece Ani. Loved reading it.
It's crisp and helpful.