You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hu. During this seemingly perpetual pandemic, organizational psychologist Adam Grant ran into something he doesn't face often. He couldn't explain his own behavior. So eventually he named it, languishing. In his talk from Ted Monterey in 2021, he helps explain

the blas we feel, the effects of them, and how to flourish instead. If you like what you hear,

find Work Life with Adam Grant wherever you're listening to this. I know you all have long

to-do lists, but I hate wasting time so much that I have a to-don't list.

Don't scroll on social media.

Don't check my phone in bed.

And don't turn on the TV unless I already know what I want to watch.

But last year, I found myself breaking all of those rules.

I was staying up way past midnight, doom-scrolling,

playing endless games of online scrabble, and mincing entire seasons of TV shows that weren't even

good. The next morning, I'd wake up in a daze and swear, tonight in bed by 10. But it kept

happening night after night for weeks.

What was I thinking?

As an organizational psychologist,

I have spent my whole career studying motivation.

So it really bothers me when I can't explain my own behavior.

I wasn't depressed.

I still had hope.

Wasn't burned out.

Had energy. Wasn't lonely. I was with my family.

I just felt a little bit aimless and a little bit joyless. Eventually, I remembered there's a name for that feeling, languishing. Languishing is a sense of emptiness, stagnation, and ennui. It was coined by a sociologist,

Corey Keyes, and immortalized by a philosopher, Mariah Carey. When you're languishing,

...