Maybe We All Need to Get a Little Lost

Dear Reader,

Back in July, I wrote about my struggles with “pathological productivity” — the almost obsessive need to optimize every minute and the drive to always be doing more — and some strategies that have renew my relationship with productivity.

My friend Jonathan Goodman read that post and offered an additional reframe on this problem from his new book called Unhinged Habits. I found it compelling and asked Jon to share the concept with all of you.

Enjoy this guest blog from Jon!
Maya

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Hi there!

Jon here. Too much comfort actually dulls our senses—the same senses that come alive when we’re lost in a foreign city or putting ourselves out there to meet someone new. When everything is predictable, we shut off.

Obsessive productivity isn’t chaotic. It’s the opposite. When we engineer our lives to be predictable, to optimize every task, to remove any surprise it doesn’t make us more calm. Instead, it makes us feel scattered and restless. Like your brain is constantly seeking something—even when you should be at ease.

There’s a concept in psychology called the Wundt Curve. It shows that human satisfaction follows an inverted U-shape: too little stimulation leads to boredom, too much leads to anxiety, but there’s a middle zone where we feel engaged and alive.

Here’s what it looks like:

We don’t actually want everything to be easy and predictable. We want digestible challenges, problems we can solve, and gaps we can fill. When we strip all uncertainty from our lives through relentless optimization, our brains go hunting for stimulation elsewhere—doomscrolling, anxious overthinking, that nagging feeling that, no matter how much we’re doing, we should be doing more.

The antidote isn’t stillness. It’s exploration.

Maybe it’s not more rest that we need. But a more meaningful challenge. Not less stimulation, but instead the right kind of stimulation.

In Unhinged Habits I introduce a framework called the Explorer’s Compass. It’s a way to intentionally introduce uncertainty back into your life. Small and safe experiments that remind your brain what it feels like to figure something out.

Things like:

• Eating at an unfamiliar restaurant without looking at the menu

• Being a tourist in your own city and wandering without a plan (or your phone)

• Taking on a project slightly outside your expertise

Maybe “pathological productivity” isn’t really about doing too much, but doing too much of the same. Too much comfort. Too much predictability. Too much control.

Maybe what we need isn’t to slow down. Maybe we all need to get a little lost. Just something to think about.

I’d love to hear your reflections in the comments. With that in mind, here are your prompts for the week:

• When was the last time you felt that “sweet spot”—challenged but engaged, uncertain but alive?

• Where in your life have you optimized away the uncertainty…and maybe the joy along with it?

Jon