How To Structure Leisure Time To Get The Most From It, From A Psychologist

People who see leisure as a waste of time are more likely to experience anxiousness, depressive feelings, and stress, according to one study. Yes, finding leisure time wasteful actually hurts our mental well-being.

The study goes on to state that even without alternative plans, these individuals still didn't enjoy non-productive leisure activities and generally didn't find much fun in their lives.

Though we need between two to five hours of free time daily for optimal functioning, the problem with leisure, to those of us who are achievement-oriented, is that we don't know what to do during that free time. We think that we have to be productive 100% of the time. 

Of course, asking an achievement-oriented person to just snap their fingers and force themselves to adopt the relaxing activities others seem to enjoy would essentially be asking them to get a personality transplant.

Even if technically you are supposed to be doing leisure for the sake of leisure, let's start with baby steps and hijack it with an aim or goal. What will this leisurely activity help you with? Maybe it's intertwined with your goal of getting healthier, or you're exploring places so you improve your photography skills.

You could get curious about how your friends, neighbors, or colleagues enjoy their leisure time. Or if that makes you feel uncomfortable, how about looking at other cultures? In the study mentioned above, researchers found that people from India saw leisure as wasteful, locating this within a diligent work ethic and economic imperative. At the other end of the spectrum were the French.

Many Type-A people see sleep as unnecessary. But the science of sleep says otherwise: Besides helping your cells to repair and renew, sleep clears junk information from your brain, integrates information and consolidates memories, and also provides a safe space to process traumas. And that's just the beginning of a very comprehensive slew of functions sleep fulfills. It is definitely not redundant or a waste of time. 

We are just learning to respect sleep as a cornerstone of our lives. What if we could respect leisure as an equally important cornerstone?

Taking breaks is about spending time to buy back exponentially more time and peace of mind. That pause helps us to strategize and respond wisely, instead of reacting from a place of fear.

How about acknowledging leisure's role in nurturing your most important relationships, taking care of your body, and indulging your curiosity in other parts of life? Because the more areas of life we expose ourselves to, the more raw material we have to be creative. Not to mention, resting or leisure time (meaning, not working) activates the Default Mode Network in our brain1, which is absolutely essential for creative breakthroughs, whether to create solutions or innovations. 

While "unproductive" leisure activities without aims are often associated with hanging out with one's friends, sitting on a beach and doing nothing, or watching TV, maybe we have to examine these beyond their abstract categories.

For instance, are you actually watching shows you love (and even learn from), or just numbing your brain? If you're watching a show you enjoy with others and then talking about it over a meal later, that means multiple benefits. And maybe you don't like sitting on a beach, so a walk or picnic may suffice.

If you really struggle to kick the productivity bug, maybe your leisure time needs to involve perfecting your challah-baking skills. You still feel that sense of flow while doing it and feel the excitement as you slice into that loaf that's just emerged from the oven.

Even if I am good at leaving my phone alone, there's always that little voice that whispers I could just reach for it. The only time I cannot touch my phone is when I'm having a massage or a facial. So I book that, to give myself those breaks where I literally can't touch it.

Another way I encourage some of my clients to go about their leisure is to tell their Tiger Mother Friends—who often boss them into doing things—something along the lines of "OK, I have a slot every Thursday between 6 and 10 p.m. You book an activity, and I'll show up."

Leisure can work for everyone, if we pair it with our lifestyles, personality, and goals. It'll be strange for some to start it, so do it with baby steps. Even if you take that first run gingerly and realize the world did not end or cautiously show up to a gathering you were invited to and realize you love the company, what matters is that you start.