The Scientific Secret Cultivating Creative Health (Pt 1): Autotelic living
We can't do anything these days unless it's tied to extrinsic rewards: money, fame or success. But, science has the secret to making art, working and playing - without constant optimization.
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Total reading time: ~9 minutes
Synopsis: It’s no secret that we’re living through the struggles of late-stage capitalism. Everything - from leisure time to mere survival - is measured, monetized and manipulated towards never-ending growth. But, decades-old scientific research may hold the secret to cultivating Creative Health and living a good, even flourishing, life in spite of it all: something called Autotelic Experiences. And the best part? Everyone has the capacity to do it.
*This topic is so integral to Creative Health, it will be split into a 2-part series!
It’s not just you: The world feels impossible these days.
Everything - from the meals we make to the hours we sleep - is captured, tracked and optimized with a bent towards constant improvement.
It’s not enough to simply enjoy experimenting in the kitchen anymore. There’s now a voice in the back of your head, whispering: Make that time worth it.
Even outside of leisure time, the pressure to constantly perform feels enormous. It’s like we’re all chasing an outcome, a metric, a place where we’ll finally just feel…satisfied.
That’s because somewhere along the way, the world has convinced us that never-ending growth is normal, and frankly, expected as the baseline.
But, the catch? That finish line always moves. Psychologists call it the hedonic treadmill: We keep running faster and faster…just to stay in place.
If we look back to most of human history, life wasn’t always this way. In fact, it was often shaped by messy, meaningful acts of creativity - storytelling, making, playing - that rejuvenated us and reminded us what it feels like to be alive.
And scientifically, we aren’t built to sustain this extrinsic way of living for long. But, where do we go from here? How do we actually fight back against the suffocating elements of productivity burnout culture?
These were the questions swirling in my mind as of late - and, as I explored the research, I noticed that the healthiest, happiest and even most resilient people have one special quality in common: They can turn any moment into its own reward - no matter how chaotic the outside world looks.
This trait has a fancy name - and really set the groundwork for much of what we know about human flourishing, Creative Health and what it really means to live a good life. It’s called Autotelic Experiences1, and it was first discovered by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi when he found the mystical, elusive “flow state.”
This research has always been central to our work at Daydreamers - but, the more I dug into it recently, the more I saw just how countercultural it’s become in today.
So, in today’s Deep Dive I want to reintroduce this powerful, decades-old scientific framework that frankly needs a comeback - in the hopes that we all can begin to nurture the exact skills to get off life’s hamster wheel.
And, since this topic is so important to our work here, we’re splitting it into two. Next time, we’ll dissect exactly why this way of living has become so radical, how to stop monetizing, optimizing and striving in every part of your life, and most importantly, the role we all play in shaping a future that’s more creative, fulfilling and honestly…alive.
Let’s go 🤓
The problem: Life feels…unlivable (but, hasn’t it always? 😅)
Let’s be honest: Most of us are running on fumes right now. And some days, it feels like no matter what we do, it will never be enough.
But, this isn’t necessarily new. In fact, it might be…a fact of human nature.
Psychologists have long wondered: Are we always meant to be unfulfilled on some level - wanting more than we can actually have?