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The number one productivity lesson from Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, and other wildly successful people…

Why “work less, rest more,” should be the battle cry of the productivity elite

Chris Ashby
5 min readDec 22, 2021

In the post-industrial, capitalist western society we live in — we live by the credo of productivity. The mantra of ‘getting stuff done’, and of making sure we don’t spend any time unfruitfully. This mantra fuels our habits and drives our behaviour, even during our time off. But do all of these hacks and tips (and self-shaming) actually lead to a more productive life?

And even more importantly, does living to work actually harm our health and wellbeing, instead of improving it?

The data would suggest that perhaps yes, this is indeed the case. And in fact, the lives of some very productive, wildly successful people throughout history go to prove that actually, plenty of rest and leisure might really be the true key to a productive life…

No productivity hacks

No waking up at 4am

No psychology hacks or morning routines

Just a decent amount of time spent on rest, leisure, and less time spent trying to focus, when your brain isn’t at its peak.

Part 1 — Work Less

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Chris Ashby
Chris Ashby

Written by Chris Ashby

Founder of Telescope.design writing about how startups can use design to grow. Get weekly startup design insight and more @ thestartupdesignsystem.com

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