There is something strange happening right now. We have more help than ever. AI writes, summarizes, plans, analyzes. Automation streamlines. The flow of information is endless. Yet many people feel tired.
Tired in the head. Tired in the body. Tired of constantly having to take in more.
We scroll to rest. But scrolling is not rest. It is like letting the brain stand or jog all evening instead of sitting down.
At the same time, AI and automation are driving up the pace. When a task goes faster, more is expected to be produced. When quality is raised by technology, the bar for what is considered acceptable is also raised. The time we thought would be free time instead becomes more orchestration of information at an even faster pace.
In the middle of this is a paradox. Creativity is what can make us more resilient as humans. But we practice it less.
When AI makes us more efficient but not calmer
It almost feels a bit useless to write a long text yourself. Why struggle with a draft when AI can deliver something well-formulated in seconds? It feels almost inefficient to sit with paper and pen and scribble ideas when you can ask a machine to generate a list.
The problem is that the time we save is often used to generate more content, more output, more AI slop. We feed the machines and the machines feed us. The pace increases. The quality increases. The requirements are tightened.
But our brain is not a server room. It needs recovery. It needs training. It needs resistance. Just as the body loses muscle if we never strain it, the brain loses creative flexibility if we never use it.
Creativity as mental resilience
Resilience is about the ability to handle change and stress without breaking down. Human resilience is about being able to face a complex world without becoming mentally exhausted or passive.
Creativity is a central part of this resilience. The ability to see multiple solutions. To reformulate problems. To think the other way around. When the world is changing rapidly, we don’t just need fast information. We need the ability to reinterpret and restructure it.
That’s creativity.
Think of it as mental gymnastics
A simple example shows how powerful creative training can be.
Imagine a ball has fallen down a long pipe. The question we spontaneously ask is how do I get hold of the ball?
That’s a reasonable question. But if we think of that problem the other way around, we can ask ourselves how we can stop grabbing the ball and instead fill the pipe and forget about the ball.
But… if we fill the pipe with water, the ball floats up and we get hold of the ball.
Suddenly, the problem has been solved by changing our perspective. We didn’t focus on the ball. We changed the system around it.
This is a small exercise. But it shows that many problems have more solutions than we first see. Some are more intuitive. Others are unexpected and sometimes better.
AI also needs creative input
When you feed a complex problem to an AI, you often get many solutions. But the solutions are based on how you phrased the question. If you are tired and oversimplify the problem, you will get simplified answers. If you can’t bear to describe nuances, or think differently about the problem, you will most likely get generic solutions.
AI is not bad for creative thinking. On the contrary, it can be a fantastic partner. But both we and get better when we have trained our creative ability. A creative person can give AI an unexpected push. Ask it to prioritize solutions from an unusual perspective. Ask it to think the other way around. Ask it to assume that resources are halved or doubled.
Creativity is the direction. AI is the amplifier.
Why we are tired despite technology
Many people feel mental fatigue precisely because the brain is never allowed to truly rest. We switch between tabs. We respond to messages. We scroll. We produce.
The human brain needs periods of so-called default mode, where it is allowed to wander freely. It is often in these states that insights arise.
When we block every void of information, we turn off incubation. We turn off the inner creative workshop. It’s like always having the light on in a greenhouse. Plants need darkness to grow.
An exercise program for the brain
If you feel tired, it may not be more efficiency that you need. It’s creative training and recovery.
Start with brain gymnastics. Write by hand for ten minutes without censoring yourself. Solve a problem by formulating three completely absurd solutions before moving on to realistic ones. Change your perspective and write how a completely different person would solve the problem.
Try thinking the opposite way about everyday problems. If the goal is to reduce meeting time, how would you do to double it and what does that say about the structure of the day.
Then you need recovery. Walks without podcasts. Rest without screens. Sleep time that is not cut to catch up. The brain needs space to integrate what it has learned.
Creativity as Everyday Resilience
In a world where AI is accelerating, it’s easy to think that the solution is to become even faster. But human resilience isn’t about running faster all the time. It’s about being able to switch speed. Being able to think deeply. Being able to rest. Being able to reinterpret.
Creativity is not a luxury. It is a form of training for the brain. It makes us more flexible, more solution-oriented and less locked into a single perspective. When we practice creativity, we build an inner stability that is not dependent on how fast the world is spinning.
Give the brain a chance
The next time you feel mentally tired despite all the aids, stop. Ask yourself if you are really resting or if you are just feeding your brain more noise. Give it a chance to work on itself. Let it think the opposite. Let it write a draft that no AI sees. Let it fail a little.
It is not ineffective. It is strength training.
In the age of artificial intelligence, perhaps the most radical act is to train your own.
