Vol. 12: Strategic Rest Every Business Professional Should Know
"My schedule is packed every day, and before I knew it, the weekend was over."
Have you ever had that experience?
You feel a sense of accomplishment and responsibility, yet you cannot feel true joy—this is a common struggle for today's working generation.
It is a common concern for the working generation of today.
For those of you busy with work and family, here is what I would like to introduce today!
"How People Who Find Joy in Their Busy Lives Spend Their Leisure Time" (HBR Article / Parlow, Mentzer, Affinito)
Let's take a look right away!
Let's dive in!
1. Three elements that support life satisfaction
According to research, the following three are essential for increasing life satisfaction.
Achievement (a sense of accomplishment and recognition)
Significance (a connection to something greater than oneself)
Joy (happiness and positive emotions)
Many people find "achievement" and "significance" in their work and family life, but the problem is the third one: "joy."
It seems this is overwhelmingly lacking.
2. The "lack of joy" problem revealed by the survey
The research team surveyed the time usage of 1,958 people in total, including 1,500 HBS graduates and 458 professionals.
The results were:
Average weekly free time is 26 hours (a little over 3 hours per day)
Only 10 hours were spent "having fun"
In other words, it was found that the busier people are, the more their "leisure time" becomes "time just to recover from fatigue," making it difficult to feel true joy.
3. Five strategies for finding joy
So, how can we make the most of our limited leisure time?
The following five strategies were revealed by the research.
Engage with others
Sharing time with family and friends amplifies joy.
Avoid passive ways of spending time
Active activities like exercise and hobbies lead to higher levels of happiness than watching TV or using social media.
Follow your passion
Choose things that excite you rather than activities that are evaluated by others.
Diversify your activities
Satisfaction is higher when you combine multiple activities rather than focusing on just one.
It is also good to incorporate other types of exercise as a warm-up before your main sport (like yoga).
Protect your free time
Securing "pure leisure" that is not encroached upon by work is the source of health and happiness.
Those who practiced these things felt more value and a sense of purpose in their work, and their overall life satisfaction increased.
4. Autonomic nerve care and how to spend leisure time
From here on, I will also talk about it from a physical perspective.
The impact of "leisure quality" on the mind and body also appears in the autonomic nervous system.
・Passive ways of spending time (social media, mindlessly watching TV)
→ The brain becomes overstimulated, and the sympathetic nervous system remains dominant, preventing rest.
At first glance, it feels like you are resting because you are not moving your body, but since there is a burden on the brain, you may actually feel more mental fatigue.
・Active and enjoyable activities (exercise, hobbies, interacting with friends)
→ The parasympathetic nervous system kicks in, switching to recovery mode.
Regarding exercise, since it is a physical activity, the sympathetic nervous system becomes dominant temporarily, but afterward, the parasympathetic nervous system works harder to return the body to a relaxed state.
In other words, how you choose to spend your leisure time significantly changes your concentration and stress tolerance the next day.
I personally experience better work performance when I "go to bed early and take a walk with my children in the morning" rather than "staying up late mindlessly on YouTube," as it allows me to start my day in a much better mood.
Leisure accompanied by joy is not just a break, but a mechanism for regenerating energy.
5. Summary: Leisure is a "mental recovery device"
・Life satisfaction requires three things: sense of achievement, meaning, and joy
・The busier you are, the more likely you are to lack "joy"
・The five strategies to regain joy are "connection with others, active activities, passion, diversity, and free time"
・From the perspective of the autonomic nervous system, how you spend your leisure time also affects your performance the next day
The key is not to "increase leisure time," but how you use the limited time you have.
I want to turn leisure from "just a break" into a "mental recovery device."
See you next time.