From Further Secrets of Adulthood.

I feel this way often.

I need to schedule time to be unscheduled, I need to force myself to wander, I have to reassure myself that staring into space is as useful as staring into my laptop.

I guess the idea isn’t so much “laziness” as “leisureliness.” @gretchenrubin
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I love the quotation from Gertrude Stein, from Everybody’s Autobiography: “It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.”

It’s easy to assume that goofing off, play, and relaxation should be spontaneous. But I’ve learned that if something is important to me, I should find a way to put it on my calendar. That way it happens!

That’s why I have some odd habits — such as to kiss my husband every morning and every night. I use the Strategy of Scheduling to make sure I make a habit of the things I want to do.

On the weekends, I schedule time to read for fun. There’s never enough time to read!

Gretchen Rubin is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Happiness Project—an account of the year she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier—and the recently released Happier at Home and Better Than Before. On her popular blog, The Happiness Project, she reports on her daily adventures in the pursuit of happiness. For more doses of happiness and other happenings, follow Gretchen on Facebook and Twitter.

Image courtesy of Kiran Valipa.