Set a goal to rest
Goal oriented? Then try this.
Set a goal to rest
We are so conditioned to believe that busy equals good that many of us don’t actually know how to rest. Not really. Not without guilt. Not without feeling like we “should” be doing something more useful.
Yet the world's most productive people know that taking time for our brains and bodies to rest is where the magic happens:
Einstein would go on a daily walk to synthesise his ideas
Melanie Perkins - Canva co-founder - carves out full days of 'maker time' for thinking and creating
Dr Fiona Wood- inventor of spray on skin for burns treatments - schedules time for exercise in order to creatively problem solve
Warren Buffettfamously schedules time each week to do nothing. To read, think, wander mentally. That unstructured, restorative space is what he credits as his most productive time
And yet... how often do we actually create time for ourselves?
We are conditioned to believe that busy = productive, and long hours must mean dedication.
I remember when I had taken a big new role, moved the family to Singapore, and was trying to do everything for the family, for my teams, and I genuinely didn’t feel like I could take time for myself. Not because anyone said I couldn’t… but because somewhere along the way, I had absorbed the idea that pausing made me less productive, less responsible, not the high-achiever I had always seen myself as.
It wasn’t until I was close to burnout that I realised I couldn't be there properly for everyone else if I didn't take time for me first.
So I did something that felt incredibly hard at the time: I asked my kids and my husband if I could take two hours on the weekend to go to a museum, or read, or go for a long walk by myself.
I braced myself...and they literally shrugged and said: “Yeah, sure.”
It was never them. It was always me. The guilt is real... but also, it only exists inside my own head!
Stop waiting to feel like you have enough time
Around the same time, I realised I had stopped reading - something that has always taken me to my happy place.
So I set a goal: 52 books in a year. I didn’t hit 52, but that wasn’t the point.
By making it a goal, I gave myself permission to sit down and read without guilt.
“I’m not slacking off; I’m working on a goal.”
That one goal didn’t just help me rest that year. It retrained my brain and removed the guilt around stopping. It made me realise thatme timeis isn’t something you earn only when everything else is done.
It taught me that rest can be something I plan for, protect, and prioritise.
So here’s the idea for you:
Don’t wait to earn time to rest.
Set a goal to rest.
Make it measurable. Make it normal. Give your brain something to point at and say, “I’m meant to be doing this.”
Because sometimes the only way we give ourselves permission to stop is by turning rest into a commitment - one that matters as much as any other goal on the list.
Productivity Tip of the Day
Set a goal for rest time: How much time? When will you take it? What will you do during this time?
Top tip - keep a notebook with you. You'll be surprised how active your brain becomes when you give it space!
And don't forget the golden question "is this the best use of my time right now" - and if it is not, then stop!
