Chapter 40

To Be More Productive, Relax and Have More Fun

Spending all your time working will not make you more productive. In my experience, and I've been at this for over 10 years, few people get their best ideas at work. I invite you to take a moment to think about that. Checking your email messages on your BlackBerry every 60 seconds will not make you more effective. Burning the candle at both ends doesn't tap into your natural pool of creativity. Refusing to take vacations will not make you a star performer. Here's a big lesson I've learned: I get my best ideas the thoughts that have really elevated my business and revolutionized my life when I'm relaxed and having fun.

There's great value in making the time to chill out and do the things that fill your heart with joy. Newton didn't come up with his breakthrough observations on the laws of physics while rushing to catch a subway. Einstein spent a ton of time sailing and connecting with his childlike self. The creator of the sewing machine came up with the idea while dreaming about an island native holding a spear with a hole in the end of it. I came up with the whole concept behind Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: The 8 Rituals of Visionary Leaders while taking a long solo drive out in the country. When the idea hit me, I pulled over onto a dirt road and downloaded the ideas into my journal for more than two hours. An unforgettable experience for me.

I get my best ideas the thoughts that have really elevated my business and revolutionized my life when I'm relaxed and having fun.

I often joke with my audiences that I make most of my income on a ski hill. People smile. But they get my point. You need to make space for your genius to flow. We get our creative bursts, those idea torrents that take our business and personal lives to the next level, while we are skiing or drinking coffee in a Starbucks or walking in the woods or meditating with a sunrise. Those pursuits are not a waste of time. No way. Those pursuits are a superb use of your time. Creativity comes when you are relaxed, happy and enjoying the moment. And when it comes, it can bring ideas that rock your world. All it takes is one good idea to get you to previously unimagined results.

Relaxing, taking vacations and making time for fun actually makes you more successful.

And these pursuits make you money. Mireille Guiliano, the CEO of Clicquot, said it well: We have to take beach time, a space for ourselves every day, because we live in a world of burnout. Even if you take 20 or 30 minutes for yourself, you'll be a better worker, a better colleague, a better person. It benefits the people around you as much as it benefits you. 

Get this: Hewlett-Packard recently noted that constant interruptions of technology actually took 10 points off the IQ of an average employee in a work environment. And the U.S. software firm Veritas saw something amazing happen after it introduced email-free Fridays: Friday became the most productive and creative day of the week.

So have some fun. Laugh with your co-workers. Go for a walk at lunch. Go fishing or swimming or golfing this weekend. Maybe sit on a beach for a week down in the Caribbean or visit the great museums in France and Italy. Or just take a nap and relax. And if anyone tells you that you're wasting time, you have my permission to say: But Robin told me I'm being productive. And then go back to sleep.