The Importance of Boundaries for Enhanced Productivity

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s book Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less is a book that I regularly recommend to PhD students.

Alex is a visiting scholar in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Stanford University.  He is also the founder of Strategy and Rest, a consultancy advising companies on how to implement 4-day weeks.  In this interview he shares his own journey negotiating the academic job market and his experience of undertaking scholarly work outside of the academy.

We then get into discussion of Alex’s research into the importance of rest.  We discuss the relationship between rest and creative thinking - particularly the way in which napping can serve memory consolidation!

Alex addresses the culture of busy-ness in academia and how this is more likely to lead to stress and burnout than productivity.

We finish with Alex’s top tips around developing clear boundaries that protect your down-time.