“If Charles Darwin had been a professor in a university today,” says Alex Pang in his book Rest, “he would have been denied tenure.” He adds, “If he’d been working in a company, he would have been fired within a week.”

Darwin gave the foundation of the principle “survival of the fittest” in his theory of natural selection. He published 19 books in his career with his seminal Origin of Species being the single most influential book in the history of science.

So why does Alex Pang think Darwin would be denied tenure? Why wouldn’t any company want such a brilliant scientist on their team?

The reason lies in Darwin’s schedule.

By today’s standards, Darwin would be considered a lazy, and unproductive slacker. Even in universities, where professors have to perform cognitive martial arts every day, this schedule would be scoffed at. Because in today’s hustle-prone culture, if you’re only working 40 hours a week or less, you’re “mediocre.”

But Darwin is not alone. Charles Dickens, for example, developed a methodical approach to his work. He sat from 9 am to 2 pm, after which he would go on a three-hour walk. He would then put the observations from his walk into his writing the next day.

A New Perspective on Productivity

What most of these luminaries follow is what Cal Newport would call “Fixed-Schedule Productivity.” It simply means setting a start and end time to your daily work efforts and then working backward to figure out how you can finish all your work in a given amount of time.

Doing this, if only as an intellectual exercise, will make you realize how much time is wasted in distractions, catching up with people, unnecessary chit-chat, and mind wandering.

People who follow such a style of productivity are not lazy. They’re hardworking, ambitious, and skilled. But they don’t believe that working all the time is going to get them anywhere.

The trouble in our age is most people can’t concentrate for 10 minutes, let alone several hours. Therefore, we need 14 hours to complete things that can be done in 4 hours.

Deliberately limiting our working hours helps us to focus on what’s truly important. It forces us to concentrate even harder.

On such a schedule however, you need to pay equal attention to your after-work hours. If you really spend your time concentrating fully on everything you do, your brain needs time to recover.

The ability to do deep work necessitates deep play as well.

Deep Play

People who have long, sustainable careers have something outside of work to help them recharge. Without some sort of support or deliberate rest, it isn’t possible to continue the level of hard work it takes to become a master in any field.

Lisa Randall, a theoretical physicist and a part of Harvard University, loves rock climbing so much that she has climbs named after her in Colorado. Winston Churchill loved painting so much that he wrote a book on it — Painting as a Pastime.

Rest is not lying on your couch, eating potato chips, and watching Netflix. It’s going to see a new monument in the city, surfing, hiking, playing chess, exercising, and many other activities that are active rather than passive.

Your rest periods are for recharging your batteries not for mindless stimulation and entertainment

So here’s what you should do now — find your deep play. I gave many examples above. Mine include playing an instrument (mostly guitar or Indian drums), exercising, reading, going for a walk, having deep conversations with friends, etc. (Of course, regular readers know that 2 hours of daily meditation is a non-negotiable in my life).

The Bottom Line

In his recent blog, Cal Newport writes about a professor who implemented this strategy after being given an ultimatum by his wife: “I want you to promise not to work nights or weekends: you need to be sharing the parenting, and your child needs a father. If you don’t agree, I will divorce you.”

Initially, he feared that working less than his peers would hold him back professionally. However, he continued to thrive. Focusing his efforts amplified his productivity. He commented:

“When I was at work, I worked. And when I was with my family, I concentrated on them. The change in focus cleared and refreshed my mind so that when I went to work, I was efficient…

Five to eight hours per day of clear thinking and concentrated work five days per week produces more impressive results than the coffee, chit-chat, and various displacement activities that often fill the time of many of those who think they are working seventy or eighty hours a week.”

Productivity is not about doing a lot of things. It’s about removing things that don’t matter so we can effortlessly focus on the things that do.

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