Hustle and Float: Reclaim Your Creativity and Thrive in a World Obsessed with Work

by Rahaf Harfoush

This is particularly disturbing for knowledge-work professionals who must shoehorn their creativity into these mechanical, often rigid methodologies that add a constant pressure to produce, produce, produce. Write faster. Draw more. Ideate constantly. But where did this imperative to do more come from? What has shaped our collective obsession with productivity?

We have evolved into an unsustainable hybrid state, trying to be both productive and creative, when that might not be effective—or possible.

Productivity alone isn’t the issue. Things really get interesting when you add creativity into the mix.

The importance of creativity in the modern workforce has resulted in a culture that idolizes creativity but worships productivity.

For one thing, productivity is based on a model of continuous output, a need to account for every minute of the day, to prove that we are indeed contributing. Creativity, on the other hand, is a messy and disjointed process that often requires large chunks of unstructured time. One cannot corral our creativity through sheer willpower and endurance, but that hasn’t stopped us from trying. We continue to favor models of work that reward sustained performance and falsely believe that doubling (or tripling) our efforts will result in a proportional increase in creative output.

In white water rafting, riders battle waves, heavy rapids, and unpredictable drops. They have to hustle hard to avoid obstacles, respond quickly to changing river conditions, and paddle with all of their strength to safely reach their destination. These heart-pounding bursts of strenuous activity are punctuated by periods of rest, when the water becomes calm enough that riders can float and enjoy the scenery. As any experienced river guide will tell you, the ideal trip is comprised of both hustle and floating—a balance between focused exertion and intentional recovery. Too much hustle leads to exhaustion that can jeopardize the split-second decision-making that’s needed to avoid injury. Too much float will result in a boring and aimless ride, devoid of challenge or purpose.

This obsession with measuring and optimizing productivity is not new. In the thirteenth century, Venetian merchants carefully calculated the difference between the costs of the sailing voyages they underwrote and the revenues they ultimately earned from the goods sold, one of the first iterations of the Return on Investment calculation (ROI). This practice gave birth to the double bill accounting system and the “Equity - Assets = Liability” equation that’s still used today to determine the profitability of a business.