One simple mental model to view relaxing as “not wasting time” 👇

The mental model is the following:

"Imagine yourself as a battery"

Normally, it is easy to look at the calendar, see all the timeslots and feel guilty for not filling up all of them with highly important work. After all, a highly productive day should have the entire day completely blocked, right?

However, once you view yourself as a battery, everything changes.

Now you have to factor in your internal battery percentage and how it depletes whenever you do something. The more intense the activity, the more energy it consumes.

Everyone with a phone, car, or other electronic device, knows it has to recharge/refuel at some point. You have to dedicate time just to fill up the battery again. Although you cannot travel while charging (in the case of the car), you would not call it wasted time. It was absolutely necessary to travel at all.

For you, relaxing is equivalent to recharging your battery. Breaks, meditation, naps, and ultimately sleep represent the different ways of recharging and their effectiveness. They are non-negotiable if you want to function, both short-term and long-term.

Once you are aware of your internal battery indicator combined with the hours in your day, energy management suddenly becomes essential and not a "nice-to-have."