full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Adam Grant: How to stop languishing and start finding flow

Unscramble the Blue Letters


I know you all have long to-do lists, but I hate wasting time so much that I have a to-don't list. Don't scroll on social mdeia, don't check my phone in bed and don't turn on the TV unless I already know what I want to watch. But last year I found myself breaking all of those ruels. I was staying up way past midnight, dosroiolclnmg, playing endless games of online Scrabble and bingeing etrnie seasons of TV shows that weren't even good. The next morning I'd wake up in a daze and swear, "Tonight in bed by 10:00." But it kept happening night after night for weeks. What was I thinking?

As an organizational psychologist, I have spent my whole career studying motivation, so it really bothers me when I can't exapiln my own behavior. I wasn't depressed. I still had hope. Wasn't burned out, had erengy. Wasn't lnoley, I was with my family. I just felt a little bit aimless and a little bit jseylos. elnveutaly, I remembered there's a name for that feeling: languishing. Languishing as a sense of eiespmtns, stagnation and eunni. It was coined by a sociologist Corey Keyes and immortalized by a philosopher, miaarh Carey.

Open Cloze


I know you all have long to-do lists, but I hate wasting time so much that I have a to-don't list. Don't scroll on social _____, don't check my phone in bed and don't turn on the TV unless I already know what I want to watch. But last year I found myself breaking all of those _____. I was staying up way past midnight, _____________, playing endless games of online Scrabble and bingeing ______ seasons of TV shows that weren't even good. The next morning I'd wake up in a daze and swear, "Tonight in bed by 10:00." But it kept happening night after night for weeks. What was I thinking?

As an organizational psychologist, I have spent my whole career studying motivation, so it really bothers me when I can't _______ my own behavior. I wasn't depressed. I still had hope. Wasn't burned out, had ______. Wasn't ______, I was with my family. I just felt a little bit aimless and a little bit _______. __________, I remembered there's a name for that feeling: languishing. Languishing as a sense of _________, stagnation and _____. It was coined by a sociologist Corey Keyes and immortalized by a philosopher, ______ Carey.

Solution


  1. doomscrolling
  2. joyless
  3. emptiness
  4. lonely
  5. eventually
  6. entire
  7. ennui
  8. rules
  9. mariah
  10. energy
  11. media
  12. explain

Original Text


I know you all have long to-do lists, but I hate wasting time so much that I have a to-don't list. Don't scroll on social media, don't check my phone in bed and don't turn on the TV unless I already know what I want to watch. But last year I found myself breaking all of those rules. I was staying up way past midnight, doomscrolling, playing endless games of online Scrabble and bingeing entire seasons of TV shows that weren't even good. The next morning I'd wake up in a daze and swear, "Tonight in bed by 10:00." But it kept happening night after night for weeks. What was I thinking?

As an organizational psychologist, I have spent my whole career studying motivation, so it really bothers me when I can't explain my own behavior. I wasn't depressed. I still had hope. Wasn't burned out, had energy. Wasn't lonely, I was with my family. I just felt a little bit aimless and a little bit joyless. Eventually, I remembered there's a name for that feeling: languishing. Languishing as a sense of emptiness, stagnation and ennui. It was coined by a sociologist Corey Keyes and immortalized by a philosopher, Mariah Carey.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
mario kart 6
small wins 4
online scrabble 2
playing mario 2
early days 2
peak flow 2
wins explain 2
quiet time 2
felt helpless 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
playing mario kart 2
small wins explain 2

Important Words


  1. aimless
  2. bed
  3. behavior
  4. bingeing
  5. bit
  6. bothers
  7. breaking
  8. burned
  9. career
  10. carey
  11. check
  12. coined
  13. corey
  14. daze
  15. depressed
  16. doomscrolling
  17. emptiness
  18. endless
  19. energy
  20. ennui
  21. entire
  22. eventually
  23. explain
  24. family
  25. felt
  26. games
  27. good
  28. happening
  29. hate
  30. hope
  31. immortalized
  32. joyless
  33. keyes
  34. languishing
  35. list
  36. lists
  37. lonely
  38. long
  39. mariah
  40. media
  41. midnight
  42. morning
  43. motivation
  44. night
  45. online
  46. organizational
  47. philosopher
  48. phone
  49. playing
  50. psychologist
  51. remembered
  52. rules
  53. scrabble
  54. scroll
  55. seasons
  56. sense
  57. shows
  58. social
  59. sociologist
  60. spent
  61. stagnation
  62. staying
  63. studying
  64. swear
  65. thinking
  66. time
  67. turn
  68. tv
  69. wake
  70. wasting
  71. watch
  72. weeks
  73. year