The End of Productivity

“When we gear our society around efficiency, we produce more and more of the measurable, while the immeasurable, the qualitative, and the things we don’t think to measure drain away. Bedazzled by quantitative abundance, we might not be able to see what is lost, but we can definitely feel its absence.”

something more profound is happening here. Instead of being a passive consumer of the web, I begin to feel as though the internet is molding itself around my intentions, transforming from a distraction machine into a precision instrument for creativity.

transitioning to a creativity-first mindset requires much more than just designing better tools. It requires us to shift to a new paradigm that celebrates and nurtures the chaotic, unpredictable, often unquantifiable nature of creativity.

There are two modes of information discovery: foraging and hunting. Foraging is passive. You don’t have a clear goal; you just wander and scroll until something catches your interest. Hunting is active and purposeful. You know what you’re looking for and are consciously searching for it. A good information diet needs both: Foraging helps us decide

Imagine trying to shoehorn the elevator mirror solution into a Linear project. The software would prompt you to move through a neatly organized set of issues: “Research elevator speeds,” “Calculate upgrade costs,” “Implement faster motors.” There’s no task for “Stare at the wall and ponder human psychology,” but sometimes that’s exactly what we hav

for creative information, what you need is tools that encourage connections, facilitate serendipity, and support non-linear thinking.

In his book Keep Going , author and artist Austin Kleon juxtaposes this messy, networked approach with organization and neatness. “Creativity is about connections, and connections are not made by siloing everything off into its own space. New ideas are formed by interesting juxtapositions, and interesting juxtapositions happen when things are out

now that AI has given us the gift of semantic search—which surfaces information based on meaning and vibes rather than keywords—we no longer need to rely on rote categorization.