“To create, we need both technique and the freedom from technique”
One of the great Silicon Valley tropes is that inexperience is a positive. The extreme expression of it-- I'm simplifying here, but not that much-- is that young people who
“it was usual in Cambridge to do our main work at night, 9:30 to 2:00 or later:” John Littlewood on morning work
The great English mathematician John Littlewood wrote an essay called “The mathematician’s art of work,” published in The Mathematical Intelligencer in 1978. (Here's a link, though it's behind a firewall.) It's full
This looks interesting: The Soul at Work
Capital has managed to overcome the dualism of body and soul by establishing a workforce in which everything we mean by the Soul—language, creativity, affects—is mobilized for its
“vacation is serving their business, and their productivity, and their success at their work”
“If a vacation is done well, it gives your ego all this extra time to refuel, by not trying to manage your brain, not trying to be on
Matthew Weiner: “I now cut myself slack on all of the thinking and procrastination time I use”
Matthew Weiner, Mad Men showrunner and writer (and someone I write about in REST), talks about the challenge of doing creative work early in your professional life The
“we have chosen instead to have overwork for some and starvation for others”
Bertrand Russell's "In Praise of Idleness" will never become obsolete (though it would be great if we could put more of its lessons into practice): In a world
“Why do we need to be always busy?”
Padraig O'Morain, asking "Why do we need to be always busy?" in the Irish Times: Our lives have become like a maths problem in one of those old
“What you do in the gym… makes you a better, higher-performing person outside of it”
For a long time, I didn't appreciate the relationship between physical stamina and cognitive performance, nor did I realize jus how much learning to take on physical challenges
Boris Johnson and the dangers of overwork
I confess that this is not a quote that made it into REST (there's already lots of Churchill, anyway): He boasted to me in the humble-brag way peculiar
“let yourself be ‘lazy’ enough to only focus on what’s critical”
Good advice from Bill Gates (whose "think week" tradition earns him a place in REST): “Bill Gates once said he liked hiring smart, lazy people because they know