How to be idle

I had lunch with these French people who said, “Travailler moins, produire plus.” In other words, the less you work, the more you produce. And certainly in my own experience—even in the really good jobs—a lot of the day is just spent sitting there, staring at your screen, pretending to work, checking your emails, on the phone to your girlfriend. I realized I’d rather work hard for two or three hours in a day—which was the only real work I was doing—and then bobble about the rest of the time, in the park or whatever. I’ve found that there isn’t any correlation whatsoever between the hours put in and the quality of what comes out. Most of the Beatles’ songs probably originated in about five minutes. Often, the things that a lot of work has gone into have been incredibly bad because they’re over-worked.

Interview with Tom Hodgkinson in Mother Jones.

I can fully concur. I've had a wonderful weekend starting with a surprise 70th birthday party for a family friend with people coverging from the north, south, west and east to make it. I've caught up with people and sat outside sipping tea and getting sunburn. This was followed up by the arrival of two kittens when I got home. I will try not to be a kitten bore but idling on the sofa while watching two kittens playing has got to be the best way to start your day.