 Slack is the absence of binding constraints on behavior. Slack is not jumping into the wagon when everyone else is jumping. Slack is the spare change you have and decide to give it to a homeless person who might really be in need. Slack means you can relax and you can take care of the problem tomorrow. Slack is when you allow yourself to make mistakes. You can chill. The world is not going to end, you will still have your life tomorrow and simply remembering that you are fortunate enough to go back home. Crush on your bed at night as and will be your eternal reward. You can train, you can sprint, you can rest, you can reassess. Slack means you can still explore without being hasty, without desperation, need and greed. You are okay with losing some as deep down you know that you are going to gain some. Slack is when you are chilling with your friends without necessarily having to discuss something that you and only you consider productive. Slack is trading that marginal error for something you enjoy. Slack is the hoodie you put on when you are at home or when quickly going out on a cozy cellar to buy a pack of cigarettes and you end up with a random friend puffing one on the sidewalk. Slack is refusing to be bound by constraints, views and lifestyles. Slack is allowing yourself to embrace extremes without being vulgar and refining your seamlessness. You can still be decent, you can steal deadlines, you can still be professional. Slack is enjoying two opposite genres of music. You are a slacker if you choose not to deploy your maximum effort. But you still have that room only you know about, that space to push the pedal if you want to. But you do not push the pedal, you slack off, you go out and drink your coffee, you have a nice talk. Society asks you to do things more than ever before. You are primed to opening doors, you need to see what is behind every single door every morning, every day, every night. You need to keep yourself up to date, you need to prove you are not like them while still being on the same boat. Slack is ditching all of that and going into the woods or simply staying outside and watching the sun while everyone else is working. Slack is not knowing what others are doing but also dissecting their every move on a macro scale. The academia does not allow room for Slack. School teaches us that we need to stay on a career path, we need to work, we need to fear failure, we need to be serious. You need to have that piece of paper that credential. A typo is yet one more brick I can use to discombobulate you when analyzing your well-crafted resume and interviewing you like the open book you pretend to be. And if you are not going to protect your Slack, you're going to lose it. Remember, if you have free time, someone will find something for you to do. So protect your Slack. Stop trying to show people the person that you want to be. Otherwise, you're bound, you are in chains. You're on a train you will never escape from, you need to post everything you need to update everyone. Your cash is already planned, you already know what you want to do, where you want to go. And in life, we are primed to trade. But we can control what we are trading. I can control how I feel, I can choose to lose some time on my subway ride back home being connected to the outside world and simply listening out of my cocoon-like car where I'm usually in traffic and waiting for the light to turn green while also catching up with my social media feed. My Slack is productive. So if you feel like you're unproductive right now, it's okay. If you are studying or trying to finish up a project and you have that feeling of restlessness going, it's alright. Do not get angry or hasty. But instead, pack your bag, go home, take a shower, drink your tea and play your game. Slack allows you to do it. Be willing to let it go. The day will still be yours tomorrow.