Organisational psychologist @adammgrant is best known for helping us find meaning in our work.
This month he delivered a TED talk on languishing: a sense of stagnation.
The cure for languishing is finding our flow.
These 4 ideas from Grant allow us to get out of our rut: 🧵👇
This month he delivered a TED talk on languishing: a sense of stagnation.
The cure for languishing is finding our flow.
These 4 ideas from Grant allow us to get out of our rut: 🧵👇
Languishing isn't depression. It's not burnout.
It's:
• muddling through your days with no real purpose
• the sense of 'Meh'
• the void between depression + flourishing
• the absence of the dreaded 'wellbeing'
Is that what so many of us have felt over the last 18 months?
It's:
• muddling through your days with no real purpose
• the sense of 'Meh'
• the void between depression + flourishing
• the absence of the dreaded 'wellbeing'
Is that what so many of us have felt over the last 18 months?
At the start of the pandemic we all felt fear. But after a while that changed to apathy.
Our days felt repetitive. A sense that we were stagnating.
We didn't feel excited at the prospect of socialising again.
We spent hours doom scrolling and 'revenge bedtime procrastinating'
Our days felt repetitive. A sense that we were stagnating.
We didn't feel excited at the prospect of socialising again.
We spent hours doom scrolling and 'revenge bedtime procrastinating'
Psychologist Csikszentmihalyi found we are happiest in a state of flow, when we are fully absorbed in an activity (like running or cooking).
Grant says peak flow isn't passive but ACTIVE participation in the real world.
We achieve this through mastery, mindfulness, + mattering.
Grant says peak flow isn't passive but ACTIVE participation in the real world.
We achieve this through mastery, mindfulness, + mattering.
Idea #1: Mastery
The strongest factor in finding joy at work is a sense of progress.
If anguishing is stagnation, flow is momentum
Most people focus on big wins + forget about the small ones
A small win can be finishing that jigsaw, or baking your first loaf of bread
The strongest factor in finding joy at work is a sense of progress.
If anguishing is stagnation, flow is momentum
Most people focus on big wins + forget about the small ones
A small win can be finishing that jigsaw, or baking your first loaf of bread
Idea #2: Mindfulness
Our lives are full of distraction. We can't focus our full attention on one task
This leads to 'time confetti' - potentially meaningful moments being shredded into tiny, useless pieces
To find flow, we need boundaries.
We need uninterrupted blocks of time
Our lives are full of distraction. We can't focus our full attention on one task
This leads to 'time confetti' - potentially meaningful moments being shredded into tiny, useless pieces
To find flow, we need boundaries.
We need uninterrupted blocks of time
Idea #3: Mattering
For peak flow we need more than mastery + mindfulness. We need to matter to other people.
Think of the people who'd be worse off if our jobs didn't exist.
We can find flow in projects that benefit THEM
The cure for languishing isn't productivity, it's joy
For peak flow we need more than mastery + mindfulness. We need to matter to other people.
Think of the people who'd be worse off if our jobs didn't exist.
We can find flow in projects that benefit THEM
The cure for languishing isn't productivity, it's joy
Idea #4: Love is in the depth of connection.
The most underrated advice of all is to have fun with the people we love
Find mastery + mindfulness with the people who matter to you
We can find the flow that gets us out of that void of languishing.
It's there when we are ready.
The most underrated advice of all is to have fun with the people we love
Find mastery + mindfulness with the people who matter to you
We can find the flow that gets us out of that void of languishing.
It's there when we are ready.
TL;DR - 4 ideas from @adammgrant that will change the way we handle our feelings of stagnation + languishing
• Idea 1: Achieve mastery
• Idea 2: Create boundaries for mindfulness
• Idea 3: Realise that we matter to other people
• Idea 4: Have fun with the people we love
• Idea 1: Achieve mastery
• Idea 2: Create boundaries for mindfulness
• Idea 3: Realise that we matter to other people
• Idea 4: Have fun with the people we love
If you found this thread valuable:
1. Follow me for more threads on surviving in medicine → @tessardavis
2. Here’s another similar thread you might enjoy:
3. Here's @adammgrant's TED talk:
1. Follow me for more threads on surviving in medicine → @tessardavis
2. Here’s another similar thread you might enjoy:
https://twitter.com/TessaRDavis/status/1435712434560450566?s=20
3. Here's @adammgrant's TED talk:
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