Productivity | Professor explains business benefit of 'not working'

Josh Cohen is both a psychoanalyst and Professor of Modern Literary Theory. Despite holding two jobs, he has also found the time to publish a book entitled ‘Not Working.’

And, for a man with more than one job, perhaps curiously, Cohen is also a passionate advocate for people attempting to find periods of inactivity within what most would describe as their increasingly busy lives.

It is this ethos which forms the foundation of his new book. Speaking to HR Grapevine, he explained that a “perpetually active mode is neither conducive to calm nor creativity” adding that “it’ induces a kind of anxious hurry that is bound to betray itself, one way or another, in the work we do.”

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Cohen’s words tally with research around the subject. Last year, researchers from City University found that consistently working too hard not only has a negative impact on wellbeing but on your career too.