We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve planned to work on a task but found it just couldn’t get finished in the expected time.
Pushing right through, working into the late hours of the night or through the weekend is often our default. An alternative option is the “Reitoff Principle”, giving us the time and space to be unproductive without the guilt.
Coined by productivity-focused creator Ali Abdaal, “The Reitoff Principle”, a tongue and cheek play on “write-off”, is the practice of intentionally abandoning any attempts to be productive for a period of time.
It’s about giving yourself permission to set aside work (or other responsibilities) and, in the process, give yourself mental space to enjoy your downtime.
Understanding the Reitoff Principle
Ali Abdaal came up with the “Reitoff Principle” so he, as a self-proclaimed productivity guru, could be more self-compassionate and accepting about taking time off when he needed to.
The concept involves deliberately “writing off” potentially productive time, providing the mental freedom to rest instead. Abdaal explains: “If there’s a day where I get home from work a little late and I’m feeling pretty tired, I’ll just write-off the evening and lounge on the sofa reading a book.”
It harnesses the power of cognitive reframing. This means subtly changing how you view a situation to help break away from unhelpful thinking. Rather than simply “doing nothing” or “being unproductive”, you’re actively putting a line under that time and changing how you think about it.
It’s about being intentionally unproductive. It turns what you might have considered a shameful failure of willpower into a deliberate decision of acceptance. Hey, it’s all about framing, right?
How to be Productively “Unproductive”
To understand what happens when you don’t write off time, let’s look at an all too familiar scenario for many of us.
Imagine you decide to spend the evening catching up on emails. But when you get home, you’re so tired that you decide to spend 5 minutes on the couch. That 5 minutes turns into 2 hours. But all the while you’re sitting there, you’re acutely aware that you’re meant to be churning through those emails.
Alternatively, say you do manage to open your inbox. You spend an hour or two on the task but in the morning, you wake up even more depleted than you were before.
Neither of these situations is good for your productivity. Either you rest but undermine it with guilt (and the accompanying stress) or you don’t rest and compromise your performance the next day. The Reitoff way is to acknowledge your fatigue when you get home and write off the time. That way, you enjoy a guilt-free, restorative evening.
Writing time off might even cut down on the urge to procrastinate at other times. “When following a diet,” says Abdaal , “often people will schedule a cheat day where they can eat whatever they want. This makes it easier to follow the diet on every other day – you’ve got the cheat day to defer your trashy food to.” If you’re able to write off the occasional time when you’re just not feeling productive, it should be easier to buckle down and focus at other times.
Of course, you probably can’t do this in the middle of a workday. The concept is easiest to apply to time that’s meant to be “free”.
The Benefits of Knowing When to Write Things Off
The Reitoff Principle, though it might appear simple on the surface, is very closely related to many common productivity methods. It touches on reinforcement theory and the psychology of productivity. It comes down to knowing how to take breaks and understanding the value of daydreaming and doing nothing. There are certainly sound reasons why the concept will benefit your well-being.
Addressing Toxic Productivity
The initial idea was a response to negative feelings when taking time for rest and leisure activities. As Abdaal explains: “Often (…) I find myself in a place where I can’t fully enjoy myself because I have a certain guilt hanging over me that I should be doing something ‘productive’ instead.”
That feeling is a symptom of the toxic productivity created by our obsession with busyness. As health coach Jess Cording, writing for Forbes, puts it: “Toxic productivity can be described as the uncontrollable need to feel productive at all times, at all costs.”
Toxic productivity can have a knock-on effect on your health, well-being, and relationships, directly leading to conditions like burnout. By changing the narrative with this exercise in cognitive reframing, you can start to break the habit of pushing yourself too far and even turning downtime into a source of stress.
Energy Management
The Reitoff Principle also focuses on energy management, a vital but often overlooked part of productivity.
Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy describe energy management for HBR: “Energy comes from four main wellsprings in human beings: the body, emotions, mind, and spirit.” So, even if you’re getting enough sleep and eating well, if you’re not looking after your emotional, mental, or spiritual needs (defined here as your connection to your purpose), you’re likely operating at an energy deficit.
That was certainly the case for entrepreneur Sahil Bloom. He describes his experience using the Reitoff Principle in his newsletter: “I had planned on getting a bunch of book writing done during the day on Friday, but as I looked out the window (….) I couldn’t get my mind to focus on my work. I started the negative self-talk cycle, telling myself I wasn’t disciplined and would never get the project done if I had this type of focus. Then I saw my wife and son walking on the street in the sunlight…”
Bloom wrote off his plans for the day and went to join his family. He was shocked at how energized he felt when he returned to his project the following day. The Reitoff enabled him to renew his productive energy and boost his motivation.
When to Take a Write-Off
A study from Stanford University shows that productivity declines significantly if you work more than 50 hours in a week. So, if you reach that point, it’s definitely time to do some writing off.
But it isn’t just a case of totaling up your hours worked. It’s about paying attention to your needs. Sometimes those needs might be obvious. Your lack of motivation may be undeniable. The same is true of fatigue: if you’ve had a challenging week so far or are just feeling really wiped out, then writing off the rest of the day makes sense.
Other times, you may need to look more closely for the warning signs that stepping away is the best choice. The team at Calm advises looking out for signs of mental fog, constant tiredness, apathy, lack of focus, and irritability.
To help you make the decision, examine your reasons for wanting to be productive. Ask yourself whether a task absolutely has to be done now. Will there be any real consequences for you or others if you delay it by 24 hours?
If you find it’s only your guilt about not being productive or the drive to get things ticked off your list, rather than a solid, external deadline that can’t easily be moved, then… give yourself a Reitoff.
When Not to Write Things Off
Grit and perseverance are still absolutely crucial for getting things done. Sometimes, you might have to decide whether you need a break from being productive or whether you’re just struggling to get started.
Procrastination and lack of motivation often come about because of your negative feelings about a task. If you don’t resolve those and instead rely on the Reitoff too often, you won’t be able to address them.
Try getting to the root of your emotions and tackling procrastination. That should help you work out whether you need to write off productivity for the day or whether you can tackle your problem more directly.
Take It Easier
The Reitoff Principle might have a jokey name, but it is designed to tackle a serious problem with our approach to productivity: our inability to take time out for rest and leisure without feeling guilty.
By providing you with a neutral and seemingly sophisticated term to use, the principle makes it far easier to spontaneously take it easy when your body and mind need you to. By cognitively reframing the situation, you can help lessen those negative feelings about rest and properly benefit from the chance to recharge.
Now all we need is mathematical proof or clinical studies, and it’ll be showing up in an upcoming edition of Psychology Today.
