How burnout makes us less creative

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.

(upbeat music)
(bubbles popping)

(machine clacking)

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.

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

(machine whooshing and clacking)

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.
(metal clanking)

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

who worked hard
(buzzer buzzing)

and who hadn't.

When we shifted to a knowledge economy,

people suddenly had tasks that were

much more abstract,
(typewriter clacking)

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
(people chattering)

where everyone is under
pressure to justify

how they spend

every second of their day.
(clock ticking)

There's just one problem.

These systems don't make a lot of sense

for creative work.

(lively music)

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,
(bird chirping)

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,
(bird cawing)

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

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

of course you're gonna 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 worth

don't make sense.

We need systems that
work with our creativity

and not against it.

(machine thudding)
(upbeat music)

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 work week

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.