Less is More: Why Resting Well Is Essential

In my early twenties, I started treating "productivity" like something of an intellectual hobby. I suppose part of the drive for me was an idea that "play" felt childlike, and that producing more perhaps felt more grown-up, more mature.

The end result of an obsession with productivity, however, is often that we end up looking like human robots - that is - we end up lacking many of the joys that we were designed to experience in this thing we call 'life.'

Recently, I was inspired by this idea from Kirsten Powers, a writer that I follow. She says this:

“We know that if you overwork farmland, it will become less fertile. It may even stop producing for you altogether.”

This is why farmers will leave land fallow for a year or more. Seeds thrown on overworked land will not yield crops. But toss those same seeds on rested, fertile soil, and life will come forth. We are no different. Rest is a natural cycle that is meant to be honored, not hacked. In Italy, the centrality of rest is captured in the phrase dolce far niente—the sweetness of doing nothing. Dolce far niente is not just part of life. For Italians, it is the point of life.

Far above my own sense of individual productivity, I might argue that in America, we are a culture that greatly values productivity itself. Laziness is often seen as a cardinal sin, whereas in other cultures, a pausing of work may be seen as not as sign of weakness but actually a sign of health. 

In the book of Exodus, Christians find inspiration from a similar idea embedded within Israelite tradition, Israelite agricultural practice. “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat" (Exodus 23:10-11a). 

So we can start to see that working - and overworking - is not the highest or even the most noble calling for us. I began to wonder if the Italians, and the Israelites, were on to something profound. 

What are we to do in light of this realization? I might suggest a different question worded thus:

What are we not to do?

In his landmark book "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry", author John Mark Comer writes:

“The solution to an overbusy life is not more time. It’s to slow down and simplify our lives around what really matters.” 

It is January 2024. In January, often we run to doing more - adding the right things and minimizing the things that hold us back from achieving our goals. 

But what if the very thing we need more of is less?

I need space, I need margin in my life to lie fallow for awhile. Where might you find joy in doing less this month, creating space for new renewal and growth?

You may find that you end up more productive when you rest after all. And yet, in the in between, in the resting, you may find that the goal of production pales in comparison to the joy of the process - the dance of being human, of ebbing and flowing like waves.