The Paradox of Stillness and Productivity
The Paradox That Slows You to Speed You Up
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Stillness is not inactivity. It is clarity.
And clarity, I have learned, is the truest accelerator.
As I move deeper into my forties, I often catch myself running on the same fuel I used in my twenties. Fast, relentless, reactive. The problem is, what used to work for survival no longer works for significance.
The paradox of leadership is this: rest is not the opposite of progress; it is the precondition for it. The world tells you to move faster. Wisdom tells you to see clearer. Most people chase efficiency. But without direction, efficiency only multiplies error.
Effectiveness-driven efficiency reverses the equation. It means doing the right things first, then doing them right. Efficiency without effectiveness is motion without meaning. Effectiveness-driven efficiency is motion with mastery.
That is where rest comes in. Stillness is the discipline that re-aligns motion to meaning.
The Story That Forced a Slowdown
It began when my wife became pregnant with our fourth child.
Joy arrived first, fear right after. Joy because family has always been the reason behind everything I build. Fear because I knew my current pace would break the people I loved most.
During that season, I carried guilt whenever I rested. If I stayed home during a break, a small voice whispered, You should be at work. If I went to work, another voice whispered, You are leaving them behind.
It took a breakdown of rhythm to realise that both voices were wrong.
One night, after an argument born from exhaustion, I saw the truth behind her tears. She was not overwhelmed by the pregnancy; she was overwhelmed by my absence while I was still physically there. That night I realised my presence at work had become an excuse for my absence at home.
So I chose to slow down, not to escape, but to empower.
I restructured leadership at Stellar and created what is now the CEO Office. I raised and released new leaders, beginning with a COO who would eventually carry decisions I once held tightly. It was terrifying at first, watching someone else make calls I used to control. But empowerment required trust, and trust required stillness.
The same lesson echoed in a story I once heard. Two men were chopping trees. One chopped five days a week without rest. The other worked only two, but spent the other days sharpening his axe. At week’s end, the second man doubled the output of the first.
I was that first man for too long. I mistook activity for achievement. Now I know you can work hard and still fall behind the one who sharpens more than he swings.
That season also taught me to see through the eyes of my team. Many educators at Stellar give their best: blood, sweat, weekends and yet feel unseen. Their frustration is real, even when their perception is not the whole truth.
As leaders, our first duty is not to fix but to listen. Feelings may not always tell the truth, but they are always real. Leadership begins by unclogging what is bothering people, not by defending what is right. That is coaching in its purest form: slowing the moment so another person can see.
The Meaning Behind the Motion
Rest changed the way I defined productivity.
For years, I measured work by effort, not by outcome. I rewarded busyness, not breakthrough. But I have learned that leadership is not about how much you hold; it is about how much you can multiply.
That shift from control to empowerment is where rest truly lives.
Rest is not running away. It is sharpening clarity. It is reading deeply instead of skimming widely, reflecting instead of reacting, empowering instead of controlling. Reading one book deeply to understand, apply, and share is more sharpening than finishing ten in haste. Completion is not transformation. Transformation begins when knowledge becomes wisdom.
From John Maxwell’s Law of Priorities, I am reminded that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. And from his Law of the Big Mo, momentum is a leader’s best friend, but without rhythm, momentum becomes motion sickness.
In the Asian work culture, rest often feels like guilt. We grew up with survival stories that glorified toil. Yet even nature teaches the opposite. Bamboo spends years growing underground before rising within weeks. Its strength lies in its unseen stillness. Growth hides before it appears.
Empowerment is not escape. Rest without accountability is indulgence. True rest multiplies others. False rest abandons them.
When I learned to delegate, I discovered a new rhythm of rest.
The Shift Toward Purposeful Productivity
The key lies in what I call double delegation: delegate downwards and delegate upwards.
Delegate downwards to empower others, and delegate upwards to elevate yourself into higher-altitude work, what the Chinese call 高格局. Delegating upwards means releasing tasks others can do so that you can focus on what only you can see: vision, culture, legacy.
Delegation is not escape; it is expansion. It widens the circle of ownership.
When we acquired a preschool in Klang, I drove my leadership team there from Johor Bahru. As soon as we arrived, my SEYG leadership said, “Daniel, this is our show. Please go have coffee nearby.”
For the first time, I was proud to be useless, and that was good. That moment was rest in action. My leadership paused so theirs could rise.
Empowerment requires structure, so I created rhythms that mirror the tree-chopping story: Monday chop, Tuesday sharpen, Wednesday chop, Thursday sharpen, Friday chop. Two days of sharpening, three of execution. That rhythm keeps the blade alive.
Sharpening can mean different things: reading, reflection, coaching, strategic thinking, or simply quiet time with God. The goal is not to slow down life, but to sustain it.
Rest, then, becomes stewardship. It keeps the soul clean, the mind clear, and the team capable. It transforms productivity from mechanical to meaningful: missional, relational, generational.
Every Friday evening, I review my week and ask two questions:
- Which hours created noise?
- Which hours created clarity?
The difference tells me whether I am truly leading or just moving.
And in that reflection, I remember this truth: one day, our season will end. The question is not how much we have done, but how much continues to grow after we rest.
To be still and know is not to pause for comfort but to pause for clarity. Stillness is obedience that leads to alignment.
The Reverse That Redefines It All
The opposite of productivity is not rest.
It is noise without direction.
The leader who delegates both downwards and upwards learns to work at higher altitude. The still leader moves faster because he sees further. The wise leader slows down not to stop, but to rise.
So sharpen your axe. Empower your people. Coach with patience. Read with depth. Lead with rhythm.
Rest is your fastest move.
