Do you build down time into your days, into your rhythms?

If you do, does it take a particular form? Or do you apply the concept as you wish in the moment?

In our house, the most consistent form of down time comes after lunch, which is our biggest meal of the day (an idea that we’ve adopted from Ayurveda).

Shortly after eating, we lay on our left sides for 15 minutes to aid digestion (another Ayurvedic-inspired idea). This almost always turns into a short nap.

And I tell you, it is life-giving!

The full protocol includes a 15-minute walk after that, but we’ve not yet figured out how to make that work.

I can’t remember now when we started doing this. Regardless, it has made my workday afternoons much more productive.

There’s none of that post-lunch hangover stuff. No eyes-heavy, heart-heavy plodding through the afternoon that I (now, vaguely) remember from the last time I had a job job. Like, in an office, with people, on someone else’s clock.

It may be both the symbolic and actual win I most relish in my life as a business owner, in charge of my own time and actions.

If I ever run an office, long lunches and down time will be de rigueur.

Resting lunch face,
James

P.S. Mildly related (it’s about walking): a chap I follow called Craig Mod is running a pop-up newsletter (that’s what he calls it) this week, documenting a week of day-long walks around Tokyo, leaving from the same starting point. If you’re interested, you can sign up here.