How burnout makes us less creative

Our obsession with productivity -- to-do lists, life hacks, morning routines -- is making us less productive, says digital anthropologist Rahaf Harfoush. She explains why we need to redesign our workday around creativity -- not just efficiency.

A few years ago, my obsession
with productivity

got so bad that I suffered
an episode of burnout

that scared the hell out of me.

I'm talking insomnia,
weight gain, hair loss -- the works.

I was so overworked that my brain

literally couldn't come up
with another idea.

That indicated to me that my identity
was linked with this idea of productivity.

[The Way We Work]

Do you feel guilty if you haven't
been productive enough during the day?

Do you spend hours
reading productivity hacks,

trying new frameworks
and testing new apps

to get even more done?

I've tried them all --
task apps, calendar apps,

time-management apps,

things that are meant to manage your day.

We've been so obsessed with doing more

that we've missed
the most important thing.

Many of these tools aren't helping.

They're making things worse.

OK, let's talk about
productivity for a second.

Historically, productivity
as we know it today

was used during the industrial revolution.

It was a system that measured performance
based on consistent output.

You clocked into your shift

and were responsible
for creating X number of widgets

on the assembly line.

At the end of the day,
it was pretty easy to see

who worked hard and who hadn't.

When we shifted to a knowledge economy,

people suddenly had tasks
that were much more abstract,

things like writing,
problem-solving or strategizing,

tasks that weren't easy to measure.

Companies struggled to figure out

how to tell who was working
and who wasn't,

so they just adopted
the old systems as best as they could,

leading to things
like the dreaded time sheet

where everyone is under pressure

to justify how they spend
every second of their day.

There's just one problem.

These systems don't make a lot of sense
for creative work.

We still think of productivity
as an endurance sport.

You try to churn out as many blog posts

or we cram our day full of meetings.

But this model of constant output
isn't conducive to creative thought.

Today, knowledge workers
are facing a big challenge.

We're expected to be constantly
productive and creative

in equal measure.

But it's actually almost impossible

for our brains to continuously
generate new ideas

with no rest.

In fact, downtime
is a necessity for our brain

to recover and to operate properly.

Consider that according
to a team of researchers

from the University
of Southern California,

letting our minds wander
is an essential mental state

that helps us develop our identity,

process social interactions,

and it even influences
our internal moral compass.

Our need for a break flies in the face
of our cultural narrative about hustling,

in other words, the stories
that we as a society

tell each other
about what success looks like

and what it takes to get there.

Stories like the American Dream,

which is one of our most
deeply rooted beliefs.

This tells us that if we work hard,
we'll be successful.

But there's a flip side.

If you aren't successful,

it must mean that you're not
working hard enough.

And if you don't think
you're doing enough,

of course you're going to stay
late, pull all-nighters

and push yourself hard
even when you know better.

Productivity has wrapped
itself up in our self-worth,

so that it's almost impossible
for us to allow ourselves

to stop working.

The average US employee only takes half
of their allocated paid vacation leave,

further proving
that even if we have the option

to take a break, we don't.

To be clear, I don't
think that productivity

or trying to improve
our performance is bad.

I'm just saying that the current models
we're using to measure our creative work

don't make sense.

We need systems
that work with our creativity

and not against it.

[SO HOW DO WE FIX IT?]

There is no quick fix for this problem.

And I know, I know, that sucks.

No one loves a good framework
or a good acronym

better than me.

But the truth is everyone
has their own narratives

that they have to uncover.

It wasn't until I started digging
around my own beliefs around work

that I began to unravel
the root of my own work story,

finally being able to let go
of destructive behaviors

and make positive, long-lasting changes.

And the only way to do that

is by asking yourself some hard questions.

Does being busy make you feel valuable?

Who do you hold up
as an example of success?

Where did your ideas
of work ethic come from?

How much of who you are
is linked to what you do?

Your creativity, it has its own rhythms.

Our energy fluctuates daily,
weekly, even seasonally.

I know that I'm always more energetic
at the beginning of the week

than at the end,

so I front-load my workweek
to account for that fact.

As a proud night owl, I free up
my afternoons and evenings

for creative work.

And I know I'll get more writing done

in the cozy winter months
than during the summer.

And that's the secret.

Dismantling myths,
challenging your old views,

identifying your narratives --

this is the real work
that we need to be doing.

We aren't machines,

and I think it's time
that we stopped working like one.