If you're someone who devours productivity articles like this one or chases the latest productivity tools, the last thing you need is yet another one to squeeze more output from your day (but thank you for reading this one...). While hacks may offer the illusion of control, true self-improvement and high performance come when you let go and enjoy the journey.
Immersed in an obsession with productivity hacks and optimization myself, I stumbled upon the most counterintuitive performance booster: rollerblading. Yes, you read that right. Rollerblading -- the '90s pastime that's about as cool as a flip phone -- became my secret weapon for unlocking creativity and sustaining high performance.
A clear sign of an anxious system is the absence of play (an idea I base loosely on Edwin Friedman's similar idea on societies). This hit home last Christmas when my son asked for rollerblades. After watching him struggle, I bought a pair for myself, partly to encourage him, but secretly, to reconnect with my childhood roller hockey days.
Ironically, what began as a nostalgic distraction from my productivity slump turned out to be the very thing that reignited my drive.
By the fifth outing, once the initial muscle soreness subsided, something magical happened: I was having fun -- the kind of fun that makes you lose track of time and forget about deadlines, emails, and to-do lists.
That's when it hit me: for over two years, if you'd asked me what I did for fun, I'd have drawn a blank. My life had become a relentless grind of work, family responsibilities, and more work. I had bought into the toxic belief that productivity came solely from grinding it out, which excluded play by definition.
The old adage that productivity plummets as hours accumulate is well known. But you may not be aware that the research that drove the idea was done on workers....during World War I. But let's be honest -- even if the research was based on workers with your job at your age in your city, the guidance is still easily dismissed when you're in the trenches. When more work needs to be done, the natural response is to spend more hours making it happen.
At 9 PM, with a client proposal due EOD, you're not thinking about the implications that working late has on your long term productivity -- you're thinking about deliverables and deadlines. The problem isn't that we can't push harder, because we all know how to buckle down when needed. The real issue is that we've normalized a state of constant urgency, mistaking busyness for productivity.
Now, when I hit a wall in my work, instead of staring blankly at a screen, I've begun strapping on my rollerblades and gliding through the neighborhood. Miraculously, solutions that elude me behind a desk become crystal clear while cruising down the street avoiding eye contact with snickering neighbors....
Unlike jogging, which had become just another discipline to maintain, rollerblading has rekindled a sense of childlike wonder. In fact, I'm audio dictating the first draft of this article while rollerblading right now. (Wait... I thought multitasking was a myth? It depends on the tasks.)
Here's what I've learned: if you're not making time for activities that have zero correlation to financial output, optimization, or efficiency, you're missing the key to sustainable high performance.
Play that reconnects us with our carefree, childlike sensibilities is essential. It forces a perspective reset: we're here for such a short time, and no one will remember us 500 years from now, so we might as well enjoy ourselves, our families, and the good things we've been given.
Recreation and diversion frees the mind to connect unrelated ideas, to imagine the unconceived, and to see solutions where none seemed possible before. When work becomes monotonous and life feels robotic, it's not just burnout you're fighting -- it's the loss of the creative spark that makes work meaningful in the first place.
So, what is it about play that unlocks productivity? It's simple: it creates a mental space free from pressure, where the mind is no longer locked in a constant state of achievement or fear of failure.
Exercise can help, but often, even that turns into just another task to check off. Play, however, has no agenda. It's not about results, accolades, or progress. It's about pure enjoyment in the moment.
If your life is filled with tasks you merely endure to reach outcomes you won't even have time to enjoy, you're stuck in a formula for misery. Too often, we chase milestones that feel hollow when achieved because we're never in a mindset to truly celebrate them.
Play interrupts this cycle. It resets our capacity to find joy, to celebrate wins, and to work out of creativity rather than obligation.
So, if you find yourself stuck, overwhelmed, or numbed by the grind, maybe it's time to invest in something purely for the joy of it. For me, it was rollerblading. For you, it might be painting, dancing, or learning to juggle.
The point isn't what you choose, but that you choose something that breaks you out of the productivity trance. Something that reminds you that life isn't just about output and optimization -- it's about experiencing the full spectrum of human emotion and creativity.
While everyone around you glorifies the hustle, choosing to play isn't just rebellious -- it's revolutionary. And it might just be the key to unlocking your best work yet.