In 1926, a guy called Arnold Bennett wrote a pamphlet to help people make the most out of their careers and lives.
He called it,
“How to Live on 24 Hours a Day.”
The gist:
Most people come home from work, collapse on the sofa, watch a little television, eat a meal… and then say, “By George! Is that time for bed already?” So they go to bed, wake up tired, and arrive unenthusiastically at work the next day.
For these people, evenings and weekends fly by, and their entire life seems to revolve around just one thing:
Work.
Bennet’s solution?
Make the most out of your time outside of work.
Because ironically, the more productive your leisure time, the more you’ll arrive at work with a spring in your step, refreshed, with new ideas and raring to go.
Sounds weird, but I’m with him 100%.
When I waste time watching Netflix or scrolling through socials, I always feel more “meh” about work the next day.
So, in today’s edition of Coached…
Let me tell you why we're all feeling a bit... dead inside.
🧬 science lesson: you NEED creativity to be happy
Creativity - the act of making new things, trying new approaches - literally makes us happy. It triggers dopamine, that feel-good chemical in our brains.
There's even a theory that creativity is what made us human - it's what separates us from chimps.
Is that baloney? I'm not a biologist, so can't say either way.
But look at human history. We've always been creators: fires, huts, shelters, weapons, tools, clothes, jokes, stories, cave drawings, paintings, recipes, words, ideas and businesses.
Whether it's 10,000 BC or 2024, it doesn't matter - humans create.
But here's our modern problem:
Instead of creating, we spend most of our time CONSUMING. Netflix. Instagram. Twitter/X. YouTube.
And at work? We're stuck in routines. Same meetings, same tasks, same problems, day after day.
Zero creativity.
No wonder we feel... blah.
So…
How do we inject this "creativity" back into our lives?
🧠 CREATE.
(duh)
But let me clarify — the goal is to do something that you do NOT already do. It’s about forcing your brain to think outside the box.
Stuff like this works that creativity muscle - and literally makes you feel better.
A lot of people also confuse creativity with being artsy — but creativity is just about thinking differently. Trying NEW approaches. Breaking routines. At work, but also outside of work.
🤹 Here's what's working for me
For a while now, I've been doing what I’m calling now as "creativity workouts" - basically, COMMITTING to doing something creative almost every week. Some examples…
For work:
- Writing career advice from a fresh, playful angle (like the essay I wrote on "how to win at work while being LAZY" - read it here if you missed it, a lot of people liked it!)
- Writing the occasional ‘humorous’ content on LinkedIn, instead of only serious career advice
- Creating a fun new mascot for Coached (btw, what do you think about these - which is your fav and fits the brand?)
What do you notice?
None of these were "urgent" or even "important". It doesn't make much 'sense' to work on them if efficiency was my only goal, but that's not the point. The point is working that creativity muscle and giving our brain what it craves!
And stuff like this seems to work. It might be placebo, it might be the dopamine, who knows — but I feel recharged every time I work on one of these kinds of tasks.
You can do this outside of work. I’d also experiment with things like these:
- Trying a totally new workout or new machines/exercises at the gym I’ve never done before
- Writing and editing jokes for an hour each week (not to become a comedian - just because it's fun and I love comedy)
- Listening to podcast categories I usually skip
💭 Some ideas for you
Feel free to steal any of mine above. And here are some more low-frills ones:
- Spend a few hours revamping that presentation deck template you always use
- Write an essay to your future self
- Write out your elevator pitch
- Come up with a new recipe
- Rearrange a room or desk
Start small! The important thing is to make creativity a habit.
And remember, they don’t need to be important. Your goal is to work that creativity muscle that goes so unused in almost all corporate jobs today.
🧭 This stuff works (and makes you BETTER at work)
A cool example of someone who practiced creativity is Oren Klaff.
Klaff’s one of the most successful dealmakers of all time, making more than $2 billion dollars (that’s billion, with a “B”) worth of deals single-handedly, competing on his own against the biggest investment banks on the planet.
On a podcast, he mentioned one of his “secret” weapons that transformed his deal-making skills.
You know what it was?
It wasn’t hard work…
Or “networking”...
It was classes in improv comedy!
📌 To wrap up…
Here's what I've learned:
The happiest people aren't the ones with the perfect jobs.
They're the ones who never stopped creating.
Even if it's just for fun.
Especially if it's just for fun.
So tonight, when you're about to collapse on that sofa (like our friend from 1926)...
Try creating something instead.
Anything. Just make it new.
Your brain will thank you.
What’s your creativity workout going to be?