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There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing
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There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing

The neglected middle child of mental health can dull your motivation and focus – and it may be the dominant emotion of 2021.

Adam Grant
The New York Times, 2021
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In a culture that recognizes physical hindrances to health while ignoring obstacles to mental health, take a moment to acknowledge the validity of your current mental state. Are you flourishing; do you have a purpose and are you connected with other people? Are you depressed, lacking energy and feeling despair? Or are you neither of the above, but feeling stagnant, empty and joyless nonetheless? If so, you may be “languishing.” In this timely New York Times article, organizational psychologist Adam Grant describes the postpandemic “blah” and offers a simple prescription that may help cure it.

Take-Aways

  • “Languishing” is a common response to late-stage pandemic.
  • Getting into a state of flow helps combat languishing, but it’s hard to achieve when you can’t concentrate.
  • To attain a flow state, ditch multitasking and focus on one thing for a scheduled block of time.

About the Author

Adam Grant is the host of the TED WorkLife podcast, the author of Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know and an organizational psychologist at Wharton.

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