Why being Productive is Killing Artists?

Snailing Down Pills

Recently, I caught the Revenge Working Flu.

The symptoms of this flu are a sudden surge in the desire to achieve a ridiculous number of goals. The cause? Holidays or any time away from my desk.

After a holiday—or even just a lunch date—whenever I’m away from my desk, I have this feeling that I’m falling behind. I’ve worked continuously for 10 days after my 5-day holiday, without a single day off in between.

“I have to compensate for the work time I’ve lost.” (The fact that I used the word lost here sounds ridiculous to me now.)

This is what I call Revenge Working Flu.

Sleep, eat, work, and repeat.

Work doesn’t necessarily mean I’m productive or in a flow state. It just means I’m physically sitting in front of my desk. And of course, I set unrealistic goals to compensate for the “lost” time—finishing six fully coloured illustrations in two weeks while working on two different manuscripts on the side.

That was madness.

I ended up with a long list of unfinished tasks and a pile of not-so-good illustrations that still needed fixing.

I knew it.

I know creativity cannot be rushed or forced. Creativity needs space. I need to take care of my inner artist. But sometimes, rest feels forbidden to me. I feel like I need to work for an extended period to make up for my crime—rest.

I came across this quote from Hartmut Rosa, a German sociologist and political scientist, while listening to a podcast yesterday. It hit hard.

“We run, run always faster, not to reach an objective, but to maintain the status quo, to simply remain in the same place.”

He explains in his book, “We live in a high-speed society driven by increased time pressures in a reality that accelerates so rapidly that we can never keep up.”

If we can never keep up with the speed, how about slowing down and doing things at our own pace?

I know that’s easier said than done, but as I always say, realising the problem is already a huge step towards a happier life.

Maybe slowing down—snailing down—is the cure for Revenge Working Flu.

P.S. My debut picture book The Blue Tomato is out now! You can order it online here .

I’m still(yes, I’ve been procrastinating) working on the posts about the making of The Blue Tomato as many of you are interested in the it.

Stay tuned!