Leisure as a Core Component of Creative Career Development

An invitation to be more intentional about integrating leisure and down time into your work as an artist or creative.

A few months ago, I came across a definition of career development that deeply resonates with me personally and as a life, career and professional development coach for artists and creatives. It reflects how my perspective has evolved to consider what’s involved in developing a sustainable and fulfilling creative practice or business and career. You may have seen me share it on social media. This definition also reflects the bigger picture that I encourage my clients to consider and embrace.

“Career development is a lifelong journey of managing learning, work, leisure, and transitions to shape a personally determined and evolving preferred future.” — Canadian Career Development Foundation (CCDF)

I especially love that this definition acknowledges that leisure or rest is an essential part of our creative work and career development. 

Many artists and thinkers have explored this vital connection and how intentional periods of stillness or leisure can fuel the creative process. Julia Cameron, in The Artist's Way, speaks to this directly. She highlights the importance of what she calls “downtime” or time to do nothing, and frames it as a critical part of creative replenishment and protection from burnout.

“This ‘doing nothing’ is not idleness but a necessary withdrawal for the artist’s inner self to recharge and prevent creative depletion.”

Tim Kreider, an essayist and cartoonist, writes about the importance of stillness and idleness for creative productivity:

 “Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.” 

Music producer Rick Rubin has a similar insight:

“When we reach an impasse at any point in the creative process, it can be helpful to step away from the project to create space and allow a solution to appear.”

I've also shared thoughts and observations in a previous post about how Taking Breaks from Our Creative Work Helps Us Be Creative.

It’s well documented that many of the world’s most innovative thinkers, from Einstein to modern creators, deliberately build rest, leisure and mental idleness into their daily rhythms. Author Mason Currey shares numerous examples of the day-to-day working rhythms of more than 160 iconic creatives in his book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.

There is also actual brain science to back this up! Neuroscience confirms that these moments of rest activate the brain’s default mode network, vital for creativity, insight, and sustained productivity. You can read more about this in this article Ten Habits of Highly Creative People, By Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire, Greater Good Science Center, Berkeley University, California.

And yet, I often find myself coaching artists and creatives  who are afraid that taking breaks will cause them to lose momentum, miss opportunities, or fall behind. This fear can be so overwhelming that some struggle to take even small pauses. Even when they know deep down that their constant focus on creative output isn’t sustainable. I coach these clients to recognize that intentional downtime isn’t a luxury; it’s essential. Rest creates the mental and emotional space where new ideas, connections and creative solutions can surface. When we build a rhythm of work and rest, we don’t lose productivity, we actually enhance it. We fuel our creativity and unlock our potential.

Of course, understanding the value of rest and actually practicing it are two very different things. Many creatives find themselves caught in a relentless cycle of hustle. It’s hard to shift long-standing habits. Finding a rhythm of work and rest that works for you is a process. And it can be a creative one.

Here are some things to consider and experiment with to become more intentional about integrating leisure and down time into your work as an artist or creative:

Weave Leisure into Your Daily and Weekly Routines as a Creative Professional 

Earlier in my career, I wore nonstop productivity like a badge of honour. Lunch at my desk, back-to-back tasks, no pause. I’ve seen that same pattern in many creatives I’ve worked with. Now, I take breaks on purpose. A proper lunch, a quick walk between clients, even a few quiet minutes in the garden to reset. These small pauses clear my head, help me stay present and often spark my best ideas. I encourage my clients to do the same. It’s not slacking, it’s strategy. 

Prompts & Tips for Building Leisure Into Your Creative Work Day and Week

1. Start small:

What’s one 10-minute pocket of time today you could reserve for rest

instead of more doing?

Build on this gradually by going back to this question to find other opportunities where you could naturally take a pause. Perhaps there are moments that make sense as part of your creative process like when you find yourself waiting for something or someone.

2. Schedule your “off” time like a meeting. Put a 15-minute break in your calendar. Name it something meaningful to you that reminds you why it’s important. Protect it like client time or an appointment that can’t be rescheduled. 

3. Create a ‘Pause Menu.' Make a short list of mini-break activities that restore you like walking, doodling, stretching, music or staring out the window.

4. Experiment with different rhythms of effort and idleness within your day and week  to find what works for you.  As noted in Psychology Today (Canada), creative icons like Darwin, Einstein, and Hardy followed a rhythm of focused 90–120-minute sessions balanced with intentional rest. Their creative genius and output emerged from honouring a rhythm between work and leisure. An artist friend of mine is enjoying a new rhythm of fueling her creativity and kick-starting her week by reading on Monday mornings rather than jumping into her to-do list. 

What might your ideal rhythm of focused work and intentional rest look like this week? How could you experiment with just one small shift to begin exploring it?

5. Build a transition ritual. Use the end of one creative block or work task to pause, breathe, move or simply be idle for a few minutes before jumping into the next. This strategy has been a game changer for a number of my clients and for me as well.

Be Strategic and Creative About Making Time for Leisure During Intense Work Periods

We all have crunch times when we’re doing the final push on a big project or heading into a demanding stretch of rehearsals, performances or promotion. Sometimes, deadlines stack up and there’s no easy way around the pressure. In these moments, the instinct is to postpone rest entirely, telling ourselves we’ll recover once it’s all over.

But even during high-intensity periods, micro-moments of rest can make a big difference. Something that I’ve put into practice when I notice that I have a heavily booked week coming up is that I make a note or reminder to “pace myself” and put it in a place that’s visible. Seeing this reminder gives me permission to not add anything extra and to be intentional about taking time  for a short walk, a few minutes of quiet or a mini creative detour to reset my mind and restore my energy. The key is being intentional and realistic about finding simple ways to weave in rest without disrupting your momentum. These small pauses can actually sustain our focus and help us show up more fully during intense stretches of creative work. 

"What small, restorative breaks could you realistically build into your next intense work period to help you stay energized and focused?" 

Plan Longer Stretches of Downtime

Short breaks are powerful, but sometimes our creative well needs deeper replenishment. That’s when longer periods of rest (full days, weekends, weeks off, even sabbaticals) become essential. These longer pauses aren’t about escapism. They’re about returning to our work with renewed clarity, energy, and perspective.

Think of it as strategic restoration. Even a few days of true rest can unlock new insights, allow ideas to incubate, and return us to our work with more depth and devotion. You don’t have to earn rest. You just have to allow it, intentionally plan for it and trust that your creativity will not only wait for you, it will be stronger.

What would it look like to plan your next break like you would plan a project? What would make it meaningful and restorative?

An Invitation: 

As artists and creative professionals, we often measure our worth by what we produce. But true creative career sustainability comes not from constant output, but from honoring the rhythms that empower our potential over the long haul.

Leisure is not a reward we earn once we’ve exhausted ourselves. Leisure is not a distraction from our work. It’s where ideas breathe, where intuition deepens and where our creative selves are nurtured. It’s core to our process and career development as artists and creatives .

So consider this an invitation: to treat rest as a practice within your practice, to build it into your days with intention, and to trust that stepping back can be the most powerful way to move forward.

What might shift in your creative life if you began to see rest not as time lost,

but as time invested in your well-being and career development?

Some of my favourite creative people at leisure!

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