PRODUCTIVITY PORN: 10 Reasons Why People Are Way Too Obsessed With Getting Things Done
Why is it there are so many people writing articles about how to increase/maximize/enhance/optimize/improve/streamline productivity, and so many more people consuming them? Is the path to salvation truly found at the end of the productivity rainbow - if only we could 80/20 our way there?
If all we had to do with our lives was be more productive, why do so many people not feel happy and fulfilled?
In his recent book "Four Thousand Weeks" (my review can be found here: https://notepd.com/idea/11-valuable-concepts-from-four-thousand-weeks-by-oliver-burkeman-bf76c), Oliver Burkeman suggests that for all of the knowledge, technology, and hacks at our disposal to speed up our lives and get more done, we are none the better for it.
Sure it's great to have someone deliver groceries to my front door, to be able to send a message to someone on the other end of the globe with the press of a button, and to have access to an endless array of amusing cat videos on the device in my pocket, but am I content with my life? Did I do anything meaningful with my family today? Who am I serving by living a perfectly optimized, productive life?
What is the point of it all?
If all we had to do with our lives was be more productive, why do so many people not feel happy and fulfilled?
In his recent book "Four Thousand Weeks" (my review can be found here: https://notepd.com/idea/11-valuable-concepts-from-four-thousand-weeks-by-oliver-burkeman-bf76c), Oliver Burkeman suggests that for all of the knowledge, technology, and hacks at our disposal to speed up our lives and get more done, we are none the better for it.
Sure it's great to have someone deliver groceries to my front door, to be able to send a message to someone on the other end of the globe with the press of a button, and to have access to an endless array of amusing cat videos on the device in my pocket, but am I content with my life? Did I do anything meaningful with my family today? Who am I serving by living a perfectly optimized, productive life?
What is the point of it all?
1. Society makes us feel inadequate unless we are doing, doing, doing all the time.
Soon, though, as in one year later when they reach the ripe old age of six, children begin the first of twelve long years of stacking one hourly class after another, day after day, getting information that will be of little import to their lives crammed down their throats. Who schedules their days by studying one topic for exactly one hour, as if that was adequate to learn any topic deeply, and then switch to another topic for exactly one hour, and continue that haphazard approach to learning all day? Oh, adults do that - they do it all the time by scheduling meetings hour after hour all day long.
All in the name of efficient learning, so we can maximize how much children learn and therefore become productive members of society.
Except, for the majority of children, it doesn't work.
2. People who feel inadequate (bosses) push other people who feel inadequate (employees) to do more.
There's nothing wrong with growth and improvement, but it is not healthy to pursue it from a state of insecurity.
3. We are convinced we will achieve enlightenment if we could only reach the tantalizing yet always just-out-of-reach INBOX ZERO.
Sure, I don't like having a lot of emails in my inbox either. Since you're probably not going to respond to them all anyhow, either forget about them and let them go or just delete them all. If there is something truly important in there, you would have seen it and responded. Or, if not, the sender will get a hold of you somehow.
4. Being "productive" (which could mean getting something valuable done, or it could mean just doing busy work) releases dopamine, and we are hooked to it like crack.
Everything in moderation.
5. The news media always makes us think the economy is about to implode and we're all going to be eating cat food on the streets.
6. Life responsibilities always have us on a slow simmer - just enough to keep us hustling every minute of the day, but not enough for us to boil over.
7. The advent of "hustle culture."
8. We all have ADHD now.
Yet it all makes us feel like we're getting so much done. In reality, most of it is noise and does not get us closer to anything we truly value in life. What it has done has made it difficult for us to focus on one thing at a time; one thing that might actually be worth our energy and attention.
9. Secretly we all know we're going to die and we're super anxious about it.
10. For all the tricks, hacks, and secrets, many people miss the things that actually allow us to get meaningful work done.
2. Work hard on it.
3. Rest.
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