The Idle Life

Are you one of those people that forces yourself to go into work when you’re miserable, either out of fear of getting in trouble with your boss or so you don’t have to use vacation time when you’re sick?

You might want to rethink that.

A new study shows that not staying home when you’re sick could backfire, making you more likely to have to take additional time off for illness later. Sometimes life just isn’t fair!

If you’re one of those people who stays home because you don’t want to waste your time off while sick, I understand. It’s certainly tempting to struggle through the day at work, being completely unproductive and exposing your coworkers to illness, instead of using the precious little time off we get here in America. I ask you, though, to remember the joy of taking sick days from school when you were young.

Unless you’re at death’s door, in which case you’d be taking the day off anyway, you can turn a sick day into an extremely pleasant day of idling. Chances are good that any significant others or kids will be off at work or school, leaving you with blissful solitude and independence. It’s the perfect time to catch up on all those idle activities you wish you had more time for, like sleeping in late, reading for a couple of hours uninterrupted (which rarely happens these days), or revisiting a favorite movie you haven’t watched in years. All in all, a day very well spent. The only real danger is that you’ll enjoy yourself so much you’ll decide to take another sick day, in which case I say go for it.

Update: Practicing What I Preach

By some strange coincidence, the morning after I came up with this topic idea and started writing, I got a bad cold and felt horrible. True to my word, I stayed home sick from work. In this instance, at least, I can’t be accused of hypocrisy! And yes, I followed my own advice and watched two movies I’d been meaning to watch for a long time, in addition to catching up on some reading. As I said earlier, a day well spent.

One of the chief complaints of modern life is, “I don’t have enough time for myself.” To that, I say, “Ha!” Entirely untrue.

There are literally thousands of moments every day that you’re currently devoting to things you don’t really want to do that you can take back for yourself, especially in the workplace. The key is to make your breaks meaningful and fulfilling, rather than just time-wasting distractions.

Why It’s OK to Take More Breaks at Work

If you’re an indoctrinated worker bee, you may initially be scandalized by the idea of taking more time at work, or at least feel mildly uncomfortable about putting this into practice. After all, isn’t the company paying you for your time spent at work? Aren’t you short-changing your employer if you take a few minutes here and there for yourself?

Despite what time clocks and micromanagers would have you believe, no.

Does your company pay you for the time spent commuting to and from work? Do they pay you for the time you spend stressing out on the weekend about an upcoming project, or agonizing for the last few hours of Sunday night about the upcoming week? Nope. Unless you’re a world-class idler, your company steals a lot more of your time than vice versa.

The first mental shift you need to make is to stop thinking of breaks as time wasted, and instead think of them as time well spent.

Why It’s Good For You (and Others)

People always talk about stopping to smell the roses, though we almost never do. Forcing ourselves to take breaks during the day— whether by just staring off into space and daydreaming, stopping to read something thought-provoking, chatting with a friend or coworker about something not related to work, whatever— expands our horizons and enriches our lives. It also makes us more interesting and worthwhile to be around, which is good for everyone.

A break well-used can have far more long-term impact on our lives than 10 more minutes spent slaving away at the same old task, or mindless time-wasting to distract ourselves from our daily drudgery. Every break, no matter how long or short, is an opportunity to explore life’s possibilities and discover the many amazing things it has to offer. In addition to improving your life, a break can be a chance to improve the lives of others, too.

For example, a great way to spend 5 minutes of your time, practice some worthwhile self-improvement, and help seriously needy people, is the website freerice.com. In just a few minutes you can both improve your vocabulary and get free rice donated to hungry people who really need it. Pretty amazing, really, and takes so little effort on your part. It’s an idler’s dream!

Start Today

If you feel like you just don’t have any time for yourself these days, start paying attention to how you’re spending your time during the day, and insert more little breaks for yourself here and there. The more personally meaningful you can make them, the better.

Instead of checking news headlines for the 20th time that day, play for a few minutes on Free Rice, talk to a coworker about how they’re doing and offer your thoughts and advice, or do a little something that’s a step toward achieving one of your goals, like thinking about ways you could make money outside of your job, or reading a foreign-language website to get some practice if you’re trying to learn a new language.

When your breaks actually have meaning for you, instead of just “killing time,” you’ll quickly feel like you have a lot more time for yourself each day. There’s no time like the present to start- time for a break!