full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Rahaf Harfoush: How burnout makes us less creative

Unscramble the Blue Letters


A few years ago, my obsession with puodriivtcty got so bad that I srffeeud an episode of burnout that scaerd the hell out of me. I'm talking insomnia, weight gain, hair loss — the works. I was so oworvekerd that my brain literally couldn't come up with another idea. That indicated to me that my identity was leknid with this idea of productivity.

[The Way We Work]

Do you feel gituly 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 irpotmant thing. Many of these tools aren't helping. They're making things worse.

Open Cloze


A few years ago, my obsession with ____________ got so bad that I ________ an episode of burnout that ______ the hell out of me. I'm talking insomnia, weight gain, hair loss — the works. I was so __________ that my brain literally couldn't come up with another idea. That indicated to me that my identity was ______ with this idea of productivity.

[The Way We Work]

Do you feel ______ 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 _________ thing. Many of these tools aren't helping. They're making things worse.

Solution


  1. linked
  2. productivity
  3. important
  4. guilty
  5. overworked
  6. suffered
  7. scared

Original Text


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.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
creative work 3


Important Words


  1. apps
  2. bad
  3. brain
  4. burnout
  5. calendar
  6. day
  7. episode
  8. feel
  9. frameworks
  10. gain
  11. guilty
  12. hacks
  13. hair
  14. hell
  15. helping
  16. hours
  17. idea
  18. identity
  19. important
  20. insomnia
  21. linked
  22. literally
  23. loss
  24. making
  25. manage
  26. meant
  27. missed
  28. obsessed
  29. obsession
  30. overworked
  31. productive
  32. productivity
  33. reading
  34. scared
  35. spend
  36. suffered
  37. talking
  38. task
  39. testing
  40. tools
  41. weight
  42. work
  43. works
  44. worse
  45. years