Hey friends,
Back in 2019, in my 1st year of working as a doctor, I discovered ‘The Reitoff Principle’ – the idea that rather than feeling guilty for not being productive, I should give myself full permission to ‘write off’ the day.
Even though I’m way past that time of my life, the Reitoff Principle is still one of my favourite productivity techniques. It’s one of the experiments featured in my Feel-Good Productivity visual guide created in collaboration with Andrew Nalband who makes cool visual guides and recently made this free productivity planner.
If you fancy, you can download the visual guide completely for FREE here. It has pretty illustrations of 24 productivity experiments for you to try. This week, I’ve started each morning by scrolling onto a random page and doing that experiment (yesterday’s was The Shoshin Approach, page 8).
Anyway, back to the Reitoff Principle. We’re told to value discipline, self-control, grit and especially if we’re high-achievers, it’s easy to see rest as laziness. Embracing the Reitoff Principle means recognising that sometimes it’s okay to do nothing at all 🙂
Here’s an excerpt from my book Feel-Good Productivity that describes 25-year old me discovering this principle for the first time:
Even scheduling time for mind-wandering involves doing something.
You’re still in productivity mode; it’s just that your productivity is going to be activated by doing as little as possible.
Sometimes, even this is too much. Back when I was balancing my full- time job as a junior doctor with growing my business, I’d sometimes return home buzzing with energy, eager to dive into filming and editing videos. But other evenings, I was utterly exhausted from a gruelling day at the hospital, with every fibre of my being craving the comfort of the sofa and the mindless escape of Netflix.
On these days, I’d flop onto the sofa. ‘I really need to fi lm this video,’ I’d think. ‘I’ll get up in thirty minutes.’ But as the half- hour wore on, actually filming the video would seem less and less appealing.
Sometimes, my flatmate Molly (also a doctor) would stage an intervention. ‘Ali, if you’re tired, why don’t you just write off the evening and rest?’ she would ask.
Her words planted a seed in my mind. What if she was right? Why couldn’t I just write off the evening and truly relax? As I wrestled with this internal conflict, I stumbled upon a term that perfectly encapsulated my newfound perspective: the ‘Reitoff principle’.
The Reitoff principle is the idea that we should grant ourselves permission to write off a day and intentionally step away from achieving anything. For many of us, the challenge of rest lies in the act of stepping back from the things we think we should be doing. We’re conditioned to value self- control, grit and persistence. We equate rest with laziness, weakness or failure.
Embracing the Reitoff principle means recognising that – sometimes – it’s worth doing nothing at all. Not having deep shower thoughts. Not having a gentle walk. Nada.
These days, I use the Reitoff principle to help me feel less guilty about taking time off. When I feel worn down, tired and struggle to fi nd the energy to keep going, I tell myself that it’s ok to give up on the day so that I can do other things guilt- free, like playing video games and ordering takeaway. I tell myself that this short- term ‘unproductiveness’ gives me time to reset and recharge.It also helps me realise that in reality I probably don’t actually want a Reitoff day every day. By allowing yourself to occasionally hit the pause button and step away
from the constant pressure, you create space for growth and creativity.
By doing less today, you can do more of what matters tomorrow.
Ali xx
