I believe that through focused effort I can keep improving and ensure my best years are still in front of me.

I also believe that proper rest is critical to long term success.

Back in the two-thousand aughts I borrowed a silly idea from a three thousand year old book. It was that I should periodically take time off of my primary work to recharge, refocus and rest.

Many things have changed in the last three thousand years, but a surprising number haven’t changed much. Perhaps in abandoning the old ways, we lost something that was still beneficial. Maybe even necessary.

So in 2017, after six years of working in a fast paced startup, I took a year of rest.

That was a learning experience that challenged me in ways I didn’t expect.

After a six month break from working I decided to go back to work, but with an intentionally lighter load. I found that to be a better situation for me (and probably for everyone around me). It allowed me to balance things better. To have work but also to have time to rest. To have both the money to hire a sitter and the time to go on a date with my wife. To sleep and exercise instead of one or the other. I liked that. It established some patterns that carried me through the next six years. It was a good six years.

Last year I saw that I was coming up on a seventh year again.

Could I responsibly take a rest year right now? What would it look like?

I’ve decided that it should look a lot more like the second half of that last sabbath. I should have work because at this point, I don’t do well without work to do. But I should be less rushed and more intentionally resting.

The word I’m using this year is pause.

I plan to pause as much as is reasonably possible and use that extra space to lean into rest.

To not start new things and not do too much. To not set big goals and reach for new heights.

Some things can’t be easily or fairly paused and I think that is ok. It turns out that was also the case three thousand years ago. I’ve found that most effort goes into the things that are new and challenging. Critical things that are established can often be maintained with minimal effort.

I classify all of my personal projects and goals as P0 (top priority) to p5 (bottom). I find most of my time goes into P2 and P3 items. There just actually aren’t that many P0s and if you’re doing them well, there isn’t much to do. If you spend more than an hour a quarter managing your retirement funds, you’re probably overthinking it and more than likely underperforming.

Rather than P0s, our days end up filled with things that are next-most-important, or that seem urgent. Both are ultimately optional. Even things we want to think are critical reveal themselves as optional in an emergency or crisis situation confronts them.

My goal this year is to identify and pause those P2s and P3s without needed to get into a crisis that requires it. To use that space to look around and look ahead.

You might think that means more time on P0s, but in fact I hope it means more time on P5s. Things that are not at all important or urgent but that are novel to me or beautiful.

Will a little rest be enough to matter?

I’ve found that often the antidote to the feeling of being rushed and overcommitted isn’t seven days (or 365) of nothing, but simply an hour or two. It makes some sense mathematically. Sixty minutes of calm is infinitely more than zero. It is also amazing how much time slows down when it is empty. I’ve never experienced a longer day than sitting on a rock in Joshua Tree watching the sun traverse from horizon to horizon.

So here is to a slower year and hopefully a longer year.