Downtime

What is downtime? In a working environment this is the time when a machine is not working. If I carefully listen to what my IT manager tells me, this is the moment you want the less to happen as all your co-workers need an electric or internet access. Productivity is reduced if they're not connected even for a short period of time.

What if that was the opposite in your private life? What if that unconnected downtime made your mind more productive? 

I read that article yesterday on "The death of downtime", and I figured that May 1rst would be a good day to write about downtime. For the north-american readers, I will just precise that May 1rst is supposed to be the International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, well, it is in 'the rest of the world' basically. So yes, I think Labour day is the day to think about downtime as it is an official holiday for a large part of the world. Although Labour Day has originally been created to celebrate workers and protest for their rights, most of us use it as a day off, without caring about the socialist/communists/anarchists/proletarian (...) riots and demonstrations. They just use it to take time for themselves, even-though I'm not sure we can consider it downtime. Most of the time May 1rst would be part of a long-awaited and planned long week-end, where you drive to the other side of your country and discover this large and gorgeous national park you've always dreamt of visiting. Or in France you would sell Lily of the Valley on the side walk. I have to admit (for having done that once) that this actually gives you a lot of downtime. Anyway, let's use the opportunity of May 1rst to think about downtime.

The guy in the article, wrote that we "likely suffer from some form of acute downtime deficiency". Apparently we don't have enough time down. But what is it? Does that mean lying on the coach with popcorn? Is that like dreaming? Is that watching a stupid chick-flick movie? Is that spending a good hour outside, just hanging out with friends? Is that running twice a week with radio in your earphones?

We tempt to deprive ourselves from opportunity of total disconnection. Is that because time is money, is that because we are afraid of loosing an opportunity to do something while just taking the time of thinking about nothing? We need interaction with others, interaction with something, anything. We need to know what other people are doing at one moment, we need to know what other people think of what we are doing at that same moment, how well our tweet has been received and re-tweeted, if our work has been appreciated, if one of our colleagues is thinking of work while you seem to be enjoying a fresh air breathe on a sunny Saturday, we need to know what people think of the pictures we've been posting lately, or who will respond to my post. We play sudoku for 2 minutes while waiting for the metro, we eat in front of our computer or while watching TV... Besides the fact that we probably take less time to talk with each other, I think we also take less time to listen to our thoughts and think about them (think about thoughts... what a crazy idea). It's like it's not acceptable or socially immoral to actually not do anything for a few minutes.
We like to be busy, or look busy, but we also like to be distracted (I know I do, simply in writing that post, I think I checked my e-mails a dozen times, and the worst part is, I don't even wait for e-mail to come, it's just the pleasure of switching to one demanding thing to an other, much less). But in my opinion procrastination has nothing to do with downtime.

But then, is that like dreaming? is that what meditation is about? Is that like we need downtime to be creative, as kids need to dream to develop their brain? Do we need our downtime to be productive? Does allowing our brain to rest would make it think better? or is that the opposite? It's while not thinking of a certain problem that its solution presents itself. I think that we have less and less  downtime, and that makes us have some weird and clever revelations while in the shower or while brushing our teeth. That moment when you do mundane repetitive actions that allows you to do nothing else but let your brain wander in creativity.
As well as I found articles recommending unplugging (computer, phone, music...), or taking a daily dose of deep thinking to protect that state of no-intent, I also found articles advocating for turning up our downtime. Isn't it contradictory to speak about exploiting our downtime?

Why don't we try sipping a cup of our favorite drink on a sunny patio on a morning, just watching pedestrians on the streets, walking their dogs, and that amazing tree blossoming? I would say sit down and focus on anything, while I should probably say blur on nothing.
Sure, this sounds boring but it won't be long until your mind comes up with something unexpected, totally unrelated to that moment. Just let your mind go. If you've ever tried to meditate (just a savasana at the end of a yoga class and you'll know what I mean) you know how hard it is to be an empty mind (I can predict a few who would tell me they've already meet empty minds...), instead you feel like there is a flood of thoughts that parade one by one (sometimes even one shortcutting the others, mixing themselves) and you wish you could get rid of them, until one of them seems worth memorizing, you just can't keep it. I think it's because we don't take the time to listen to our thoughts, nurture them from the moment they arise, watch them growing and finally decide on what to do with them. So they remain idea runts, they tried to rise up at an inopportune moment and we shut them down, and they run limp away.
Downtime is good, but don't mis-use it and don't overuse it, don't even try to purposely use it, just allow it to happen.

I know, you are gonna say that that's easy for me to find downtime because I'm not working right now, and you would probably be true. I appreciate the time right now because I can let my mind be creative and let it freely open. And that allows me to do a lot of things I would have probably not done if I wasn't free from work.
I think that's what I needed right now. A "creative pause" just take the time to do nothing, or do something, unrelated to work, science, go back to enjoying doing things not in a rush because it's sunday evening and you know that you would probably not be able to work on that project again until the next week-end, when you will already have forgotten this idea that briefly flourished in your head.