Exhausting, right? As a clinical psychology researcher and co-founder of a mental well-being company, I regularly see the impact of our productivity-obsessed, achievement-driven culture on mental health. And, while it sounds counterintuitive, this type of overwhelming exhaustion isn’t necessarily fixed by sleeping or lounging around. From a scientific point of view, rejuvenation—not rest—is the foundation of fighting burnout. For the most part, we’re taught to cope with burnout by doing the former: stopping everything to focus on rest. While I’m a huge proponent of making room to zone out and daydream more often2, I can tell you that taking a full-on break won’t necessarily leave you feeling refreshed. Try this: Think about the last time you felt fully alive. Were you relaxing on your couch (while, let’s be honest, simultaneously scrolling on your phone) or doing something that allowed you to feel connected to the beauty, wonder, and awe of being human? If your answer lands closer to the latter, you’ve felt the power of something called “autotelic experiences3.” Autotelic experiences, according to scientific literature, are moments or behaviors when we do something for its own sake rather than achieving an external goal down the line. It happens when we’re intrinsically motivated and driven by our innate curiosity. Most importantly, they are rooted in enjoyment and lead to a sense of rejuvenation. That’s because autotelic experiences don’t happen while churning through another item on our To Do list, or even using our free time to start a creative side hustle. And, even more importantly, they aren’t something we can only do while on vacation or climbing to the top of a mountain. In fact, they happen most often when we are in creative flow (more on what that means here). Enjoyable, autotelic experiences not only help us feel energized by what’s possible but cultivate the drive to turn it into reality. Now, I know that taking time to do something you enjoy can feel frivolous (and even impossible) these days. We are constantly forced to optimize all hours—and, when we’re not striving for continuous achievement, our brain feels too drained to do much of anything other than watch a deluge of videos. But what if I told you that making time for “effortful enjoyment” can not only help us feel better but may also be one of the most productive ways to spend our time? That’s because it allows us to reframe the way we look at our hectic schedules. One study published in 20125 found that university students who helped edit at-risk high school students’ essays for 15 minutes reported having more free time than those who were given permission to leave 15 minutes early. For these students, spending more time on a fulfilling activity helped them feel like their time was more abundant. At Daydreamers—where we’re on a mission to get our creative spark back—our members build creative habits into something they practice for about 15 minutes a day, at least four times a week. It doesn’t seem like much, but we know that it only takes about 15 minutes to get into a flow state, and its impact can last over 24 hours on your mood. Talk about impactful! Think about how it feels when you lace up your sneakers before a workout; our mental health practices need a similar amount of preparation. I call it “sweating for your brain,” but Harvard social scientist Arthur Brooks, Ph.D., describes the difference as such in the Atlantic: “Pleasure happens to you; enjoyment is something that you create through your own effort. Pleasure is addictive and animal; enjoyment is elective and human.” We see the most impact of flow-based well-being practices when our members incorporate them into transition times of their day, to help them shift them into a new perspective. For example, you could prioritize rejuvenating activities when winding down from intense, linear thinking at work, into a more relaxed evening routine. At its core, creative rejuvenation is a powerful way to change your mood.
