What will happen if I don't do this?

In the week 33 (2022) edition of the 3-2-1 Thursday newsletter, James ends the letter by asking:

Here's a simple question to ask before jumping into "all the work" you have to do: What will happen if I don't do this?

Being currently on vacation, I don't have any external pressure to adhere to in terms of work, instead I do work that I find rewarding right now as well as work that will reward me in the future. For instance, reading for pleasure & writing these blog posts.

Now, one-by-one:

1. What will happen if I don't blog? Well, I will miss out on one platform through which I can reap the benefits that I listed in About Me & Why I Blog. TL;DR: missing out on an opportunity to showcase an up-and-coming, exciting application of data science and not being able to showcase my thoughts as well as my work. On a deeper level, missing out on blogging might even take a toll on my mental health. In a Greater Good Magazine article the Author Kira references a questionnaire-style 2006 study by K.M. Chan et al. concluding that journaling for 15 minutes (more specifically, to write about a current or previous stressful event for 15 min) on two Thursdays following each other correlated with a greater decrease in symptoms such as anxiety, that what the control group experienced (which were asked to write about their plans for the day)
2. What will happen if I don't read? Well, I will miss out on knowledge and learning. Intutively, there should be an abundance of benefits with reading for pleasure, e.g. the ability to communicate more efficiently. To back that up with research, Christina Clark and Kate Rumbold of the National Literacy trust published the Reading for pleasure: A research overview report, referencing studies that link the pleasure-reading to text comprehension & writing ability.

One final thought:

• Can such a simple idea as this be used as a tool for prioritising work? Instead of having a scale-like system, like priority A,B,C and assigning that to your work, can the question of What will happen if I don't do this? be used as a more efficient tool?