Aristotle, Seth Godin, LeBron James, Hermann Hesse… …

32 creative masters in life and work
The secret to success and peak performance together

Amazon Self-Improvement Bestseller
Highly recommended by Moon Yohan (psychiatrist, author of "Otium")!

- Why did Henry Ford introduce the first 40-hour workweek in the United States in 1926, even though he doubled wages?
- Why Einstein sometimes went out to sea in a boat
- The secret of Henri Poincaré, who made great achievements in mathematics and science by working only 4 hours a day.
- Why did Beethoven take long walks every afternoon and stop by a tavern to read the newspaper?

How to boost productivity and creativity while still enjoying life's leisure.
In an era where artificial intelligence is spreading across all industries, how to secure creative spaces that AI cannot grasp.
- How to get flashes of insight from the unconscious
Leadership skills for organizations that grow without burnout
Insights on how to take time off at work and in everyday life

Timeoff is “a time consciously set aside to fill your inner self with positive energy,” and it is an insight moment that opens a breakthrough in a blocked life.
Discover the time-off principles that work for you, as told by 32 creative minds who have maintained happy, productive lives without burnout or pressure.
You will find yourself with a wealth of new ideas and a constant stream of applicationable ideas for your daily life.

We usually think of 'rest' as the opposite of 'work'.
It's either rest or be productive.
When I hear the word 'time-off', I automatically think of weekends or work vacations.
I picture myself curled up on the couch playing video games or sitting on the beach sipping a cocktail.
But this book is not about vacations.
At least not the main topic.
It is not a guide to encouraging laziness or teaching you how to waste time.
Rather, this book tells us that a happy and fulfilling life is possible without overwork and pressure.
Guides you to your most productive and creative state.
Isn't this a time when such a 'change in perception' is more urgent than ever?

---From the "Introductory Note"

People have long known that to be fully engaged at work, you need to switch off from work mode and strike a balance between quality rest and work.
But these days, there are many people wandering in the middle.
They have no way of fully immersing themselves in or concentrating on their work.
They are unable to completely distance themselves from work even while resting.
It's neither completely on nor completely off.


The problem with this state is that the effort doesn't accumulate.
There is no comparison between working two hours at 50 percent efficiency and working one hour at almost 100 percent efficiency.
This is especially true for jobs that require creativity (more and more jobs require creativity).
The era of simple, repetitive factory work is almost over.
Fortunately, there are a select few who have kept the knowledge of time-off alive.
They are people who run venture businesses while exerting influence on society just like the great men of old.
And more and more people
We are rediscovering the value of practicing time off.

---「Chapter 1.
From "The Only Way to Increase the Density of Life"

Kairos looks at the quality of time, not the quantity.
Have you ever had days where you worked for hours and still couldn't produce anything worthwhile? And then there were days where you worked much less and still produced something satisfying? Kairos aligns with this type of "flow state."
Kairos time occurs when we suddenly have a breakthrough while showering or taking a walk, when a light bulb goes on in our head.
There is no way to know when Kairos will appear.
But if you are too strict about the clock time, you may miss Kairos even though it is right in front of you, like a blind person with open eyes.
During our time off, we are more likely to encounter Kairos opportunities.
---「Work-life balance price 2.
From “Working Less and Producing Quality Results”

The creative four-stage model—prepare, hatch, manifest, and verify—has stood the test of time.
It is as relevant today as it was when it was first introduced in 1926.
This shows that less than half of truly creative work is what we commonly consider "work."
The other half, equally important, happens when we take time off and are not consciously involved in the problem.
Just because hatching and manifestation are unconscious processes doesn't mean we can't control them.
That process too must be treated as a technique.
…creativity is a constant collaboration between time-on (preparation, verification) and time-off (incubation, manifestation).
The key is to find the right balance between the two states, letting go of the force and moving naturally between time-on and time-off.
Many people think that hatching needs time to occur, but in reality, they don't give it enough time.
We need to take time for hatching.
…

If we choose the path of diversification rather than specialization, we must integrate a variety of diverse experiences.
To do that, you need time for rest and quiet.
Aldous Huxley, a classical music lover, explained in his essay titled “Rest is Silence” that the silence of sound is the essence of classical music.
“Silence is the essence of all great music.
Compared to the music of Beethoven or Mozart, Wagner's music, with its endless stream of notes, is far inferior in terms of silence.
Perhaps this is one reason why Wagner's music seems so much less meaningful than Beethoven's or Mozart's.
Wagner's music speaks without pause, so it speaks less.” We must expose ourselves to the vast beauty the world has to offer, and then step back and absorb it all.
If we sprinkle quality silence called time off between our activities, the creativity and meaning of those activities will increase significantly.

---「Chapter 2.
From “Creativity”

Charles Darwin worked three 90-minute sessions a day, and spent the rest of the time taking long walks, napping, or lost in thought.
Henri Poincaré, a prolific writer and thinker, worked on his first draft from 10 a.m. to noon, and then on his second draft from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (a perfect time to wrap your head around a problem and then hand the baton over to your unconscious mind).
Likewise, mathematician G.
H. Hardy believed that conscious work could be done for a maximum of 'four hours a day', and that filling the remaining time with too much 'busy work' would be highly unproductive.
Come to think of it, Darwin, Poincaré, and Hardy are all telling the same story.
If you focus properly and exercise true concentration, and back this up with quality rest, you can achieve great things in just four hours a day.
This idea flies in the face of our busy culture.

The '10,000-hour rule' that creates greatness has been cited countless times since its creation through joint research by Anders Ericsson and his colleagues, and gained significant public attention through Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers'.
This law states that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to reach expert level in any field.
A world that regards busyness, stress, and overwork as virtues rather than vices welcomed this law with open arms, and many people still believe in it as if it were a dogma.
However, Ericsson's actual research also suggests that daily deliberate practice should be limited to an effective level.
And he suggested 4 hours as the ideal amount of time to invest per day.

---「Chapter 3.
From "Rest"

During World War II, Dwight D.
Eisenhower spent his time holed up in a secret cabin, playing golf, bridge, taking long walks, and reading cowboy novels.
There, any talk about 'work', that is, war, was strictly forbidden.
If, at the height of World War II, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers decided that the benefits of disconnecting and enjoying solitude outweighed the potential risks, shouldn't most senior executives, let alone ordinary knowledge workers, rediscover the benefits of solitude?
---「Chapter 6.
From "Solitude"

Anyone with a PhD can tell you how much they dreaded writing a thesis, how arduous the process was, how stressed they were by deadlines, and how they struggled for months, only being able to write a few lines a day.
But that wasn't the case for me, Max.
The process was quite enjoyable for him, and it took less than six weeks from the time he wrote the first word to the completion of the paper.
That process was the most productive, relaxing, and stress-free time of my life.
In fact, the whole time I was writing the thesis, I felt like I was on vacation, and in a way, I was.
…

After a few days exploring the island, Max quickly settled into a routine of short but intense writing sessions, solitary reflection, and intentional rest.
He would wake up around 9 or 10 a.m., which is quite early by his usual standards, meditate and stretch, then go for a short run in the mountains, swim at a beautiful beach, or ride a rented scooter.
And I enjoyed a leisurely, hearty breakfast, and usually read for an hour or two.
Then, in the early afternoon, I had my first writing session of the day (60-90 minutes) at a small cafe in town.
Although my writing time was short, thanks to my morning routine, I was able to focus calmly, and the words flowed out smoothly for the most part.


There was never a time when the writing was blocked during that time.
After finishing my writing, I would have a light lunch at the cafe and then usually go home to take a nap.
Napping was the time when my brain digested what I had written.
Afterwards, we went out and explored the island a bit, bought groceries, played in the water, walked on the beach, read a book, etc.
While doing all these activities, I had no conscious thoughts about 'work'.
Max, inspired by Henry David Thoreau's Walden, which he had just started reading again, spent several days baking bread.
Baking bread was a hobby he enjoyed (and still enjoys) not only because it produced delicious results but also because it was effective for meditation and reflection.

---「Chapter 9.
From "Travel"

Until the early 21st century, we thought only drugs caused true addiction.
However, over the past 10 to 20 years, we have begun to realize that behavioral addictions are the same thing.
A key driver of technology's addictive nature is the rewards it provides—"intermittent positive reinforcement"—on a variable and unpredictable schedule.
Research shows that random rewards trigger a much greater dopamine release than predictable rewards (as any casino operator or compulsive gambler will attest to).
Every time we post something online, we're playing the lottery, not knowing how many people will like it, comment on it, or gain followers.
The impatience to immediately check one's phone when one feels even slightly bored can be explained by this randomness.

---「Chapter 10.
Among the “technology”

Younger generations may think they multitask better (and actually multitask more often), but the negative cognitive impact of multitasking remains.
The negative effects may be even more severe given that they are at a stage in life when they should be focusing on learning and growth.
When you're learning a new skill or trying to wrap your head around a complex concept, long, uninterrupted bursts of concentration are essential.
Only deliberate, focused practice leads to strengthening of neural circuits, but when attention is divided, too many circuits fire simultaneously, so none of them are properly strengthened.
Even if becoming a multitasker seems like a superior skill, it's a path to long-term inferiority (unless you practice Tim Harford's slow, deliberate "slow-motion multitasking" or Søren Kierkegaard's crop rotation).
Constantly switching attention takes a lasting toll on the brain.
You become unable to do truly deep work or deep thinking.

---「Chapter 10.
Among the “technology”