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A few years ago, my obsession
with productivity

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got so bad that I suffered
an episode of burnout

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that scared the hell out of me.

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

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I was so overworked that my brain

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literally couldn't come up
with another idea.

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

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[The Way We Work]

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

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Do you spend hours
reading productivity hacks,

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trying new frameworks
and testing new apps

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to get even more done?

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

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time-management apps,

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things that are meant to manage your day.

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We've been so obsessed with doing more

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that we've missed
the most important thing.

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Many of these tools aren't helping.

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They're making things worse.

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

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Historically, productivity
as we know it today

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was used during the industrial revolution.

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

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You clocked into your shift

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and were responsible
for creating X number of widgets

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on the assembly line.

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

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who worked hard and who hadn't.

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When we shifted to a knowledge economy,

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people suddenly had tasks
that were much more abstract,

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things like writing,
problem-solving or strategizing,

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tasks that weren't easy to measure.

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Companies struggled to figure out

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

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

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leading to things
like the dreaded time sheet

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where everyone is under pressure

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to justify how they spend
every second of their day.

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There's just one problem.

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

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We still think of productivity
as an endurance sport.

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You try to churn out as many blog posts

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or we cram our day full of meetings.

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

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Today, knowledge workers
are facing a big challenge.

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We're expected to be constantly
productive and creative

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in equal measure.

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But it's actually almost impossible

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for our brains to continuously
generate new ideas

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with no rest.

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In fact, downtime
is a necessity for our brain

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to recover and to operate properly.

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Consider that according
to a team of researchers

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from the University
of Southern California,

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letting our minds wander
is an essential mental state

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that helps us develop our identity,

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process social interactions,

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and it even influences
our internal moral compass.

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

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in other words, the stories
that we as a society

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tell each other
about what success looks like

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and what it takes to get there.

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Stories like the American Dream,

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which is one of our most
deeply rooted beliefs.

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

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But there's a flip side.

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If you aren't successful,

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

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

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

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and push yourself hard
even when you know better.

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Productivity has wrapped
itself up in our self-worth,

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

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to stop working.

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

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further proving
that even if we have the option

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to take a break, we don't.

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To be clear, I don't
think that productivity

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or trying to improve
our performance is bad.

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

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don't make sense.

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We need systems
that work with our creativity

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and not against it.

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[SO HOW DO WE FIX IT?]

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There is no quick fix for this problem.

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And I know, I know, that sucks.

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No one loves a good framework
or a good acronym

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better than me.

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But the truth is everyone
has their own narratives

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that they have to uncover.

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

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

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finally being able to let go
of destructive behaviors

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and make positive, long-lasting changes.

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And the only way to do that

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is by asking yourself some hard questions.

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Does being busy make you feel valuable?

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Who do you hold up
as an example of success?

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Where did your ideas
of work ethic come from?

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

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Your creativity, it has its own rhythms.

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Our energy fluctuates daily,
weekly, even seasonally.

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

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than at the end,

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

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

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for creative work.

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And I know I'll get more writing done

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in the cozy winter months
than during the summer.

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And that's the secret.

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Dismantling myths,
challenging your old views,

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identifying your narratives --

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

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We aren't machines,

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