I do therefore I am: How to challenge the toxic culture of hyper productivity
Somewhere in an exploited developing country a sweatshop worker squints and expertly dodges their fingers as they sew a name brand logo onto a shirt. A college student sits down for a 3 hour study session after coming from yoga and working a cover shift for a co-worker at Starbucks. An office worker burns the midnight oil and stays an extra 2 hours after the boss has long gone home to stay on top of upcoming deadlines. What do all three of these scenarios have in common? They’re all falling gracefully into the roll of being good productive members of society. And while I understand that in some cases this is a necessity, there are too many cases where people willingly choose this lifestyle of overexertion; wearing their exhaustion as a badge of honour. We’ve built our great nation on the backs of people like these. Millionaires have become billionaires all thanks to their drive to achieve and placate authority figures.
You’ve probably heard of the buzz term ‘toxic productivity’ floating around especially amongst Gen Z. This is to differentiate from normal productivity which is a necessity to keep the world turning. Using the term toxic productivity is meant describe a level of productivity that is carried out to the detriment of the subject. Being a former overachiever and now proud underachiever, I have more than a few thoughts about this. I was once that student who was taking a full-time college course while working 2 jobs and hosting dinner parties with friends. This calls for a flashback.
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‘You’re gonna burn out.’
My uncle said after he graciously picked me up from my 5–11pm evening shift at Costco. I gave him a curt smile and said, ‘I’ll be fine.’ and hoped the conversation would end there. I wanted to keep conversation short since it was exam month and I knew that after he dropped me off that I’d by studying until the next morning. No rest for the wicked or for type A personalities. My self-inflicted near-impossible schedule left me with no choice but to regularly cram and pull all-nighters. I relished the short moments of doing nothing whenever I could, so I hope you’ll understand just how much his talk about his concern for my well-being was seriously ‘’harshing my mellow’’. And besides, I’d been doing this since grade school. I was a pro.
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I was riding high in the economic bubble that was my life at that point. But even the most novice economist knows that all good things come to an end; all bubbles succumb to the laws of physics and must pop. Safe to say, my uncle was right. But it wasn’t the last time that I burned out. I’m stubborn as hell, so it takes me a while to learn my lessons.
If you’ve clicked on this article, though, you’re probably at the burnout stage questioning your entire life and existence in general. So, without further ado, here’s the point that you’ve been waiting for me to get to.
3 Things to Help Combat Toxic Productivity Habits without Selling All your Things and Moving to Thailand
1. Do Nothing
The art of doing nothing is greatly underestimated. We’ve been trained that if we’re not filling every second of every day, we’re not doing enough. We’ve all developed collective ADHD and the only way to find relief from the ever turning hamster wheel is to force yourself to jump off and get comfortable with the feeling of just being. Think of it as a kind of meta exposure therapy. The more you expose yourself to the activity of nothing, the easier it gets. I’m not going to lie, this will be extremely difficult for some of you. Especially those of you who consider yourselves overachievers. Your entire being, for however many decades you’ve been on Earth, has been intertwined with your output. But I’m here to remind you that you are more than what you do. You are more than what you achieve. You have value irrespective of these things. Repeat these things to yourself like a mantra.
2. Actively combat toxic beliefs with mantras
That brings us into our second tip. Create a mantra. The good thing about mantras is that they can be anything that’s significant to you. If you don’t like the ones offered by cringey self-help gurus, it’s not a problem. Personally, I have a very sensitive cringe reflex so I could NEVER. Here are some (hopefully) non-cringey and relatively chill mantras:
* Work isn’t everything
* It’s completely fine if I take a break
* The world won’t end if take a day off
* Everything else can wait for a bit
* I’m not a robot. I can take a break
* Chill the hell out
That last one is one of my go-to’s. But see? No flowery language. No frilly frou-frou. Give it a try you just might like it.
3. Be deliberate about doing things that are just ‘fun’
Last but not least, you have to make a conscious effort to bring about change. Habits are habits for a reason. Changing your default settings won’t happen on its own. So, mark it in your schedule if you have to. On such and such a day or this many times a week, I’ll do something just for the hell of it. Embrace a sprinkle of a dash of hedonism. For some, that may be grabbing an ice cream cone before dinner or snorting a line. Whatever, I don’t judge. The important thing is that you’re safe and slowly moving away from exclusively doing things that are result-based.
Hopefully, with these tips you’re able to begin to settle into an existence that is a bit more balanced. No one’s asking you to completely upend your life. Contrary to movies like ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ , you can augment your feelings of well-being by taking small purposeful actions that don’t involve month-long yoga retreats in Thailand.
Can you relate to being a super over-zealous type A overachiever? What stage are you at in the recovery process?
Until next time,
Luna ❤
