Finding Balance: How to Mix Productivity, Rest, and Play in Your Daily Life

BySarah Nolan

Somewhere along the way, we decided that rest is laziness and play is for children; essentially that finding balance productivity rest play isn’t important. That the correct adult response to any free time is to make it productive: learn a language, optimize your morning, side-hustle your evenings. And if you’re not doing that, you should at least feel guilty about it.

I bought into this for years. My “rest” was scrolling my phone while mentally composing a to-do list. My “play” was watching a show while answering emails. Neither was actually restful or playful, because I was never fully in one mode. I was always half in work mode.

Breaking this pattern is the single most important thing I’ve done for my mental health. More important than meditation, honestly. Here’s the framework I use.

The Three Buckets

Every waking hour falls into one of three categories. Not five, not seven. Three.

Productivity

Anything with a goal or output. Work, chores, errands, planning, creating. The time where you’re making things happen.

Rest

Actual recovery. Sleep, meditation, sitting quietly, doing nothing. The key distinction: rest is not low-effort productivity. Listening to a business podcast while walking is productivity. Walking in silence is rest.

Play

Activities done purely for enjoyment, with no goal and no output. Games, hobbies, socializing, exploring, messing around. Play has no agenda. The moment you start trying to be good at it or turn it into content or make it efficient, it stops being play.

Why You Probably Have Too Much Productivity and Not Enough of the Other Two

Modern culture rewards productivity and tolerates rest (barely). It has almost no space for play.

Think about the last time you did something purely for fun. Not “fun but also good for networking.” Not “fun but also counts as exercise.” Not “fun but I should probably document it.” Something with zero return except that you enjoyed it.

If that’s hard to answer, you’re not alone. And it matters, because play isn’t optional for mental health — it’s load-bearing. The National Institute for Play (yes, that’s a real organization) argues that play is as essential to human wellbeing as sleep. Without it, stress accumulates, creativity dies, and relationships thin out.

Person enjoying a creative hobby in a relaxed, happy state as a way of finding balance productivity rest play

How to Rebalance

Step 1: Audit Your Week

For one week, roughly track how you spend your waking hours. Don’t use an app (that’s another screen). Just jot it down at the end of each day: how many hours were productivity, how many were rest, how many were play?

Most people find something like: 60-70% productivity, 20-30% semi-rest (phone scrolling, TV while thinking about work), and maybe 5% actual play.

A healthier target looks more like: 50% productivity, 25% rest, 25% play. You won’t hit this every week. It’s a direction, not a mandate.

Step 2: Schedule Play Like You Schedule Meetings

If play only happens when everything else is done, it never happens. Everything else is never done. Put play on your calendar. Thursday evening board game night. Saturday afternoon doing something outside. Sunday morning cooking something complicated for no reason.

Step 3: Protect Rest from Becoming Productivity

Rest is not “resting while listening to a self-improvement audiobook.” It’s not “taking a bath while planning tomorrow.” Rest requires the absence of goals.

Good rest: napping, sitting in a park, meditation, staring out a window, lying on the floor (underrated)

Not rest (even though it feels low-effort): browsing social media, watching the news, online shopping, anything that involves a screen and keeps your brain in reactive mode

Step 4: Separate Your Entertainment

This one’s important for the screen discussion. Not all entertainment is equal.

Active entertainment (play): board games, puzzles, creative hobbies, group activities, interactive experiences, certain types of gaming Passive entertainment (can be rest or just default mode): streaming TV, scrolling, watching videos

Neither is bad. But knowing which one you’re in helps you make intentional choices. If you’ve had a draining day, passive entertainment might be exactly what you need. If you’ve had a numbing day, passive entertainment makes it worse — you need play instead.

Step 5: Embrace Boredom

Boredom is not a problem to solve. It’s a signal that your brain is looking for play. If you immediately fill it with a screen, you short-circuit the process. If you sit with it for five minutes, your brain starts generating ideas: call a friend, go for a walk, make something, try something new.

The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley has published extensively on how boredom drives creativity and self-reflection. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s productive in the truest sense.

Person sitting peacefully outdoors in nature, practicing mindful relaxation

Play Ideas for Adults Who Forgot How

If you’re staring at the word “play” and drawing a blank:

  • Cook something you’ve never made before, with no recipe
  • Go to a park with no plan
  • Build something with your hands (anything — Lego counts)
  • Play a card game or board game with someone
  • Explore a part of your city you’ve never been to
  • Draw, paint, or color without trying to make it good
  • Dance in your kitchen
  • Try an online game or platform you’ve never used
  • Join a recreational sports league or a casual group activity

The specific activity matters far less than the attitude: no goals, no optimization, no documentation. Just doing something because it’s enjoyable.

For more on intentional approaches to entertainment and leisure — including online options — my post on the role of entertainment in a balanced, mindful life goes deeper. And if your mornings need work first, building a wellness routine that sticks is the starting point.

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