Don't skip the downtime

It is easy to fill your day with stuff and feel guilty when you take a step back just to pause and think.

This article highlights the impact that the upcoming AI wave will potentially have on productivity and how it is likely to squeeze out our downtime.

Workdays without busywork are closer to reality than ever, thanks to artificial intelligence. AI tools that can sort and summarize emails, take meeting notes and file expense reports promise to free us to concentrate on the important stuff.

Just to be clear, the definition of “busywork” is

Busywork is an activity that is undertaken to pass time and stay busy but in and of itself has little or no actual value.

From this definition it sounds like it provides little value but it can provide a break between high intensity tasks and give someone a chance to recharge, which can lead to better results both in terms of work and also mental health.

In an interview with Roger Kirkness, CEO of Convictional, it says:

Kirkness became attuned to the value of slack time, his preferred term, around the middle of last year. That’s when he noted meaningful productivity gains from AI, about 20% overall. But he observed that team members often seemed mentally exhausted and unproductive by Friday. He thinks this is partly because AI took so much scut work off people’s plates that their days became consumed by high-level thinking - and they were burning out.

In the past I have done pair programming and it has been incredibly productive however I also find it incredibly draining when done for a long period of time. The high intensity focused thought takes work and you need to make sure you take regular breaks. However the temptation is to just keep going.

When working with others it is tempting to schedule meetings in slots in someone’s calendar where they don’t already have something scheduled. Suddenly they find themselves with back to back meetings and no time to either do work or to take a step back.

Lots of people advocate for adding items to your own calendar just to block out time and this can work. However you need to ensure that others respect this and don’t assume that because it is time you have scheduled it is less important than any other scheduled block in the calendar.

It is worth making time to “do nothing”.

A lot of my best ideas have come just after I wake up or when I am on a walk or having a shower. They come when my brain has a chance to wander and not be completely focused on one thing.

Sometimes it is good to do nothing or work on the more mundane tasks. The benefits may not be immediately obvious to others but the benefits to yourself can be substantial and actually improve your performance.