"Boredom to the mind is what sleep is to the body" I really liked that quote.

Tolkien invested half a century in crafting not just a story, but an entire world replete with languages, characters, meticulously detailed maps, and more. Consequently, it's the substance, legacy, and profound impact of this narrative that truly hold significance.

Pressure from society is everywhere. The speed and consumption of information is absurd nowadays. It's good to see that there are videos that encourage us to reflect on slowing down and taking our time.

I feel like all I have done my whole life is work. No vacations. No fun day trips. Nothing. Just work. Come home. Drink wine. Eat and sleep. Then repeat. This lifestyle has completely sucked the creativity, which once flowed so freely and easily through my bones, into oblivion. I am so burnt out even though I am currently unemployed. And being unemployed, I feel like I’m being lazy. A part of me says “ So FN what!!!” I don’t paint anymore either. Exhausted. I also have osteoarthritis in my hands from working and often have trouble holding a pen. F$ck man.

Something that bothers me is always having the possibility to receive texts and the expectation to reply at my earliest convenience, even if it's not something urgent. This makes me feel like I can never have that alone time where you really feel like no one is there and no one is watching you, you know? It always feels like there are other people there, and I noticed social media prevents me from feeling alone, which, as an introvert, really tires me almost as much as going to a party. We think that because we're physically alone, these stimuli don't count as mentally energy-expending social engagement.

As a wannabe artist and writer, I’ve realized that I’ve indentured myself in a material world. I tried to re-career away from a field where I was always working or mentally preparing (bracing myself) for work. Unfortunately, no matter where I go, there I am, and two certifications later, I am burnt out again, just in a new field. Part of it is external factors. People’s demands have gotten out of control, especially since the pandemic, and companies, no matter how good they try to be to their employees, ultimately need to squeeze as much out of you as possible. If I was single, I would simplify and move, dedicating my humanity to literature and art. But I’m not. I feel my soul desiccating. Every. Fucking. Day. I’m like that author, except I have a terminal blockage. I am trying to write and paint more, but doing those things while exhausted is like eating an amazing meal with a major head cold.

Honestly, as a person who is autistic, the constant hustle of modern society is extremely overwhelming for me. I’m trying to write a novel and learn how to play guitar as well, but all the things I have to do to get by along with everything else I have going on makes it impossible for me to have leisure time. I’m so over it.

"Here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that."

Big Boy Stuff. Love it.

I recently read "The burnout Society" and it was an eye-opener for me, especially the bit about going back to an "animal" state where we cannot afford to get bored and contemplate. I realize I cannot stand being bored anymore, how I feel the constant pressure to do something and I end up not enjoying anything because I am never fully doing anything, but only half-doing everything. I used to spend hours writing and doing nothing else, I used to be able to dedicate myself fully to a project for days and weeks and months. I used to fall asleep thinking of the same story that I was writing in my head and now I cannot fall asleep if I don't have some noise in the background that stops me from thinking. It is sad to see what this society (and we) are doing to ourselves

Byung-Chul Han has got to be my favorite contemporary philosopher. He's fantastic at explaining in depth ideas people often find themselves suspecting without being able to fully articulate.

A great point about "consistency". "Consistency" should mean being constant quality, not in frequency of output.

I think it's weird that in todays society there's almost a pressure for everyone to be at the top but somehow a lot of people don't realize that that's not possible. Why does everyone need to be the most productive person? Truth is, as long as you are managing the things you want/need to do there's really no need to put pressure on yourself to be even more productive. I was always a good and motivated student. I always did my homework and I only got A's and B's in school. The big secret to my motivation and productivity? I just liked what I was doing and so I did it regularly until I didn't need motivation to do it anymore. If I have an exam I don't need to motivate myself to study because it's so ingrained in my being that I just start studying. I can study for hours, regardless of my mood and sometimes until early morning hours. Not because I'm short on time and I am stressed but because I probably conditioned my brain into seeing studying as a relaxing and calming activity. I didn't grow up with academical pressure, or at least I didn't notice it. Where there times when I would've rather done something else? Sure, but did I ever feel burnt out? I honestly don't think so. I wanted to go to med school and needed very good grades to do so but that was it. What good would it do to pressure other people to become like I am even though we have different goals, skills and identities? I also fell in love with classics during my teen years and I try to read them regularly. Sometimes I have to give myself a little push to pick up a new one but I don't mind. All the pressure I'm feeling is self made. I sometimes feel like it's a blessing and a curse but I also think that for my age (19) I have a pretty healthy approach to all of it. My self worth is not based on my grades or the books I read or how "productive" I am. What is important to me is to keep my love for classic literature and studying. And I'll always go for quality over quantity for those two hobbies. What I want to say with this is, ask yourself why you want to be productive. Is it because you actually like the "productive" activities? Is it because society tells you you have to live your life a certain way? Is it because you have goals you want to achieve? Because at the end of the day, your life is for you to live. I'm still quite young so we'll see how I feel about this in a few years when I've experienced more of the world.

Tolkien spent his entire life creating his major artwork. Peter Jackson spent nearly a decade adapting Tolkien's work into his major artwork. And both are considered the peak of their respective mediums and genres. Anything of worth takes time, but since covid, there has been this DEMAND from powers on high to squeeze out as much worth and value out pf people as possible.

Once covid killed my PhD dreams and I got a full-time day job after my master's degree, I realized I was going to have to do literature and writing as hobbies. I started my booktube channel, started posting literary stuff on instagram, and tried to write.... but all those things still feel so much like work! sometimes, I wish I could give myself permission to just work my 40 hour day job, take care of myself by exercising and eating well, taking care of my dogs, reading books without trying to take pictures or talk about them for KZfaq, and not have any pressure to do anything else.... but that feels like giving up on my literary/writerly dreams.

Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries. Blaise Pascal

I love how you explained the productivity dilemma we all are facing nowadays , I look around and see so many people experiencing burnout because they don't know when to stop and enjoy the balanced dose of boredom . Your videos always motivates me to see things from a different angle . 😊

Being in my early 20's, starting my final year in University has made me question they way I live my life and if the path than I'm following is the one that I truly want. In the back of my mind there was always this sleepless desire to do more, to achieve something great and to be the "best version" of myself. Being distracted by these desires I didn't even notice that I burned out and blamed myself for being too incompetent while people around me where worrying about my health. In the very second I let myself to connect to people and listen to their advice, I realised I've been running, exhausting myself to reach the unreachable: to be productive and useful all the time. I'm not quite sure when this desire formed in me, but I know that when I finally decided to let go this huge burden of expectations, I had to let go a big part of my identity as well. It's frightening to do things a bit differently. Hustle culture being normalised makes people feel useless and isolated if they try to do things in their own pace. Now I'm consciously trying to unlearn the self destructive lifestyle that I've been living and following a different path where I'm believing that each and every one of us is right where they should be: having their own timing, path and ability to be who they want to be.

Okay, so the timing of this video is quite funny because I've recently read Han's burnout society to write a paper on the issue of burnout and hustle culture.. but after thinking about the given concepts and reflecting on my own life, I gave up on it after four pages and told my professor that I couldn't write this paper anymore. You may be wondering why but long things short: I literally burned myself out this semester. Despite having a full schedule I STILL thought there was enough time left to start working in two additional jobs. And slowly it started to show in my essays and papers too. Like you described there were many typo mistakes and overall I felt at some point that I wasn't able to focus on anything. But after reading the essay, I finally understood that I was doing something inherently wrong and I wanted to change it. I'm glad that I've read it and I definitely want to pay more attention to my own resources in order to not burn myself out again. Thank you so much for this video!

Han's concept of profound idleness is also great and is echoed in other works too. In this context it makes me think of other artists who often point out that constraints can sometimes enhance creativity, and I think boredom is a constraint that can activate our imagination (which can go sometimes go dormant, or at lease take on more of a consumer/repeater role, when our minds are full of over-stimulation). I suspect Echo's novel was rolling around in his subconscious for a while before he suddenly got to that ah ha/eureka moment and had to rush to get it all out. But he was only able to imagine it in a full form subconsciously because there was space in his mind to do so.

What should we do? Should we start a community and make other people join us to slow down a bit? We should maybe spread the word to stop people from being this overly productive being. We can teach people to engage in boredom. And savour your activities. And basically, just slow down a bit. Do each task by taking time so that it's effective not efficient.

This video coincides perfectly with a month long effort I've started of minimizing time in front of a monitor even if it means less deals closed at work. Minimizing cheap dopamine hits like mindless IG/Tiktok scrolling or gaming. Need to start meditating again, stopped because it was "boring" but just now realizing that boring=resting.

i love sitting & contemplating with a pad of paper & some calm music. when my physical energy feels spent i allow myself to get bored & one version of expressing that boredom is to sit, stare, & write. by allowing my body to do this for as long as it needs (right now im on week 2). when the energy comes back up, the 'unproductive thinking' that ive built up actually sparks my productive nature. With great vigor might i add great video by the way

been wanting to watch a video about hustle culture and the general panic of everyone to perform well all the time, to get everything done and well. this video is so great and the fact it took you so long to articulate your thoughts as u said makes it that much more special. good work and have a good day

I have never heard of "healthy procrastination" before. Great vid lol

Recently, I have been working on a casual analysis paper on the topic of social issues, and I chose to write about the rise of hustle culture. I myself fell into the toxic traps of hustle culture, it has taken a large toll on me. I believe it is important to highlight the affect that hustle culture has created -- both the good and the bads, but especially the consequences. This video came out at such a great time for me because it helped me better understand the damage that this culture has brought into our society. I love how I am able to also learn how to this video is able to provide some help on how to combat hustle culture. Another thing too is that I had just recently, literally a few days ago, heard about the Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han and thought that he's someone work looking into. Now that I've watched this video, I feel like buying his book "The Burnout Society". Anyways, wonderful video!!

As an aspiring author with

Wow. I’ve used many of these phrases especially “exploiting myself” when describing how I feel about the overwork that led to my burnout. I worked 60- 80 hr weeks for almost two years. So many people were telling me that was normal. Just how it needed to be. My job wanted quality and quantity constantly. This was also creative work that on the outside everyone thought was cool but is taxing to use your creative brain for that many hours. I felt crazy by how impossible it was to innovate under that structure. And in general how everything feels over saturated with newness but nothing feels new. Now I’m burned out like Ive never been before. I also think 40 hours is too many for modern work and two income houses that have to also do work in the home. A lot of modern work can also be performance or just unnecessary repetition. We’re all wasting our lives.

This hits so close to home... I did an apprenticeship to become a librarian, so it's not the same "intellectual engagement" as uni courses or thesis of course, but the way I handled it was exactly as you told. I've had quite a rocky education path, so finally finding what I want to do felt like a gift, and I gave absolutely everything to complete it... But I burnt out at the end of the first year. I always wanted to do better, go further, perfection was the goal, and I scolded myself so much for not having the best grades, tying my self worth to them. I worked and studied way more than I could handle and broke down,so I was kind of forced into learning to slow down and into accepting that my productivity didn't reflect my self worth. I don't regret it, I do regret having to learn it that way though. Thank you for this video! It's the first time I see your content and it was very enjoyable 😊

You transmitted Han”s ideas in such a simple way. Congratulations !!

As a Highschool graduate , I am very stressed with my finals but this video really helped me prioritise my spare time and don’t rush trough my works , really simple idea but at the same time really hard to put in practice and fully understand

Oh my god, consistency, my nemesis. I’ve never thought of that as part of the productivity problem but it so is, that makes sense!!

I needed so much to hear this! Thank you ❤

I think that feeling pleasure in this life is not about how many things you've done, but how deeply you dive into each. It takes time to understand this concept of life. But socially it's not common to be slow, cause "slowly" almost synonymous to "loser". Even modern meditation is looking perfect, if it's short in time! but sometimes a little break better than nothing. I hope the "American Dream" will change to long slow story to success, and we as youtubers can effort to this!🙌

Brilliant! I've been a subscriber since you had around 3k only and I'm amazed at how much your videos have matured. Possibly one of my favorites so far. Also, you did something that, to me, is quite a miracle: made me pay attention and actually be interested in an ad. The way you managed to put it into context was faily amazing. Very, very well done.

Today's society applauds & rewards rapid mediocrity. Time for contemplation & quite introspection would probably result in a less anxious & fractured world. The time you took on this video was well spent & appreciated. Well done sir.

I had the same experience after graduation. I knew, deep down, that there were likely issues with my writing. It wasn’t until I needed to submit a writing sample for a job application that I really went back and saw just how I had one only a decent job, not a good one. I’ve also been thinking about how in school my writing was for a grade and so my mind was never fully on the task, but mostly thinking about how to impress the professor so I could get an A. Now I have to undo all of that so I can actually start writing the way I did before I studied it. Great video. I’ve been enjoying your stuff. So glad I found it. :)

POWERFUL! You did well taking a year to work on this~ Wise words.

I'm currently doing a workout while listening to this video, this is after a 10-hour work day... interesting.

You are so well spoken on such an important issue. FAN. Would ❤ to see you make it big! And you are MODEST!!! It took you a year to complete this! I’m not an auditory learner but your voice is very comforting! I would bet 💰 that you would resonate well will a large number of people. You are an educator’s dream.

It's been a while since I last saw your videos, and this (the latest) is really interesting. I used to be so into productivity and motivation/discipline videos... then I got burnt out (2 years and counting). Thanks for shedding light on how too much of something can be bad and how boredom is necessary.

A years work into this video is very evident. Thank you for sharing it with us.

I really appreciate when a video like this takes 2-3 or more months to make, I feel like the end quality makes all the difference in the end. Quality is always better than quantity.

GREAT analysis of a widely overlooked yet ominously felt force of modern life. 🙏🏻🌱

Thank you for this video. You have reminded of why I loved philosophy , history, and political science. Thank you for reminding me of the joys of slowing down, thunking deeply, and stretching the mind.

Excellent video. I appreciate your work a lot. Please do not stop making videos. I adore them.

Thank you, Robin, for this insightful video. I totally approve your message. It is very important to give one’s mind a rest every day. Best, Norman

Fantastic piece! Thank you for taking the time to procrastinate in between productive writing sessions

Just as I was trying to overcome procrastination, Robin drops this! Definitely agree with boredom; too much context switching in our lives.

Robin, you make concise and great points to get to the marrow of this philosophical problem. And even in the title, unlike other youtuber's less concise and vaguer titles and subject matter, your videos leave more room for thinking critically. Thank you so much, love your videos man. You are truly an inspiration to me.

I really needed to hear this and will be listening to it many times over

One of the best actual play series. Love the cast, love matthews ideas and love the format. Alicia's creativity is a source of mayhem and super difficult to dm, buy in totally here for it!

Loved this video and how it highlighted our addiction to productivity, the parallel with wild animals and the quotes you used :) It was a pleasure to listen to you, you’re very articulate 😊

"What is this world , if full of care we have no time to stop and stare " W.H.Davies.

I love how you plough through the book in this video without much of a pause, efficient, effective, very productive. And end the clip with a mention of your sponsors that will help me improve my math skills. This will help me also to be more productive at work ;)

Not every day you find such quality of content. I will do practice healthy procrastination watching you content. Your message appear in my KZfaq feed just in time. Thanks 🙏

How you get ideas and the process of actually writing a book are two very different things, so two very different questions. Most writers love to talk about their process, their routines. The "ideas" questions is harder for a lot of writers, though many know exactly what prompted the idea. Being a longtime listener of many author interview programs (like KCRW's Bookworm), a reader of interviews (like The Paris Review), and running my own author interview Substack for a couple of years, this is my impression. Beyond my disagreement with the opening segue from process/ideas-generation into burnout culture, this was a great video as always.

It just insane how everything coincides I ve read this small but extremely interesting book a half a month ago And then philosophise this had an episode about that And now u make a video essay Seems authors popularity is rising in many philosophical circles

Thank you for this very necessary discussion!

Lunch time and your videos are a great combination ✨️🖤🫶🏻

I love your channel, robin. keep going

Halfway through the video as you were talking about stimuli all around us, i realised that the tv was on and that i'd been looking at it every few seconds, despite the fact that it was muted and nothing of interest to me was even on. It hit me that I wasn't listening to you closely and shut the tv. Then i opened the comments section while the video was still going, and it hit me that i still wasn't focused on what you were saying and i can just do that in 5 minutes when the video's over. Then it hit me that my body was super tense because i was thinking about the workout i was planning to have later today, and how i could just go gear up now so that i'm motivated, and remembered that this is recipe for disaster, i should just relax and finish the video. All this to say that, on top of being incapable of being bored, we've come to be incapable of being focused on whatever is going on in front of us, no matter how valuable it is. We're so obsessed with productivity that we've just become inefficient and constantly stressed and burnt out - and for what?

i love how deliberate the content of this video essay! thank u.

Excellent video about hustle culture and related topics like profund idleness. In fact, a certain degree procrastination can be also used to recharge and deal better with daily responsibilities.

Great work Robin, thanks for the video!

Thanks for the video.

It took me 10 years to write my debut novel that I released Sep. of 2023. The thought of being bale to finish the next one this year is so daunting. It feels like other authors are pumping out books like fast food-- especially authors that received a lot of reads and reviews of their books, like there's a pressure to ride the coattails of success or viral moments.

Your channel challenges my beliefs and opens my mind. 🌟

I just sit down and write almost every single day. There is nothing special about it. It has taken me two years to write my book and while I was hoping it wouldn’t have taken me that long, the fact that it took a few years has given my book a quality that it wouldn’t have had if I tried to force it to be done in a shorter timeframe. To show up almost every day to write a book across a few years time has shown me the power of artistry and patience and that creativity takes time to cultivate. It’s not an immediate gratification thing. The process while at times painfully slow is also incredibly rewarding especially in this quick turn around society.

this was AMAZING- thank you.

you have perfectly articulated the cons of the hustle culture (also imma add this book burn out society on my tbr )

Healthy Procrastination resonates with me!

Funny, the moment I saw the thumbnail I instantly thought on Byung-Chul Han's book which I've just read. What a fruitful conicidence. EDIT: after watching the video I can't help but notice the irony of avoiding compulsive productivity for the sake of doing higher quality work, even our disengagement from productivity is mediated by productivity

I loved this video. The irony of it is I have been watching it in places to avoid boredom

the moment consumerism convinced us that happiness can only be attained by having more money, we are destined for a life of sadness.

I love this channel!

Great video! Another thing that can be toxic is success culture where people give up values/integrity because they feel the ends justify the means. In some of these quests to appear as a success the result is instead scandal(failure).

Great content man thank you❤

Well done!!

I read Byung-Chul Han in Chinese. haha really thrilled to watch a video introducing his theories.

I relate so much bc my novel is growing with me, I started writing it years ago, had to put it last of all for long periods but that was okay cause as I live and think of it the story itself changes and I know I couldn't write the end as it was meant to be if I had worked on it non stop and its surely not the short novel that nowadays everyone seem to write, with simple words and no real stylistic choices, all action and dialogues, short sentences and no study behind it. At the moment im writing my dissertation and I needed years to come up with the idea and grow it, during a particular path which at first lead me away from academia. And its such a bigger and more meaningful project than what would be necessary, but I enjoy it and learned that really Victor Hugo and the others were right to take 10 years or more to write a very good opera. Even JK Rowling planned the HP series for years before starting the first book. But sadly since theres so need to be working and grinding + distractions in this world, its so hard to survive and meet even basic needs with a 9-18 job, so how do you find the time and strength to write and most of all to think? Great things take lots of time and we are not used to that idea anymore, we run out of focus and motivation so easily. We move a lot and often don't go anywhere. Also theres so much content now that its very hard to find the good stuff among the garbage.

Spending time on one project over time is way more rewarding .... yes, this is my experience as well ... the projects I learned the most from was the ones I spent several years on.....

Fantastic video. I love how you connected substack to Byun Chung Hal’s work.

Thank you.

Very good video. Great reading suggestions. I profoundly enjoyed your eloquence. Thank you for making quality content.

Yesterday I just finished How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. So this video is timely. Odells book pulls in a lot of philosophy, so this felt like a proper pairing.

thank you for this

Gotta keep going 💪

theres a student literary magazine called The Antigone. One of its issues mentioned burnout and ur video reminds me of it ~

Besides the amazing content, magnificent background!

The background music of the tickytocky videos functions like a bell in a Pavlov type experiment. It's the soundtrack of over stimulation and emotional irregularity. Your concentration is broken at short intervals upon the video changing but since the soundtrack is the same it isn't jarring enough to make you think maybe I don't want to watch anymore. Then when you hear that bell later it triggers the same emotional response of the videos content. The soundtrack of other's being emotionally triggered in a video is now your trigger.

Love this video

"in a weird attempt to live, we get lived". this world is a dance of its own, and when we try to own the dance, when we believe we are the dancers, when we have any such feeling or thought, that we are doing, then this great energy called Mother Earth shows us, she is dancing us, we are not the dancers, but the ones being danced. we have not learnt where we came from, who we are, and where we're going to, to fully understand how to live here, in this role, in this body, in this family, in this society, and in our minds. so without this wisdom, we live unreal, painful, stressful hard lives, with complete knowledge that we can take nothing with us, that these roles we are playing are temporary, that those we call ours are not really ours. how sad, after knowing all this, we still live unreal lives, live, suffer, and die all in vain, without achieving our true goal given this human existence, in this play of energy manifesting as earth. oh when shall we awaken, dear child ..

Really great video with even greater ideas 💡

Spread the word.

rc waldun the legend

Such perspective that is lent to the audience of this video, is that of which I was truly in need of consuming and digesting. Thanking you profusely, Mr Waldun, for this insightful and critical analysis of the excess of the "grindset" mindset that we've become so familiar with as products of our capitalistic environment, and no, I'm not denouncing capitalism, for anyone who may have interpreted my comment as such.

I hope the points in this video stick with me constantly so that I remember to be bored and give my mind a break because I burn out a lot

It took you over a year to come up with bangers like “to contemplate deeply or think about it deeply” bruh

Дякую, дуже цікаве та змістовне відео!