Personal Growth | Why the Modern Cult of Productivity is Bullshit
I want to discuss with the audience one very important topic, the topic of personal growth and the cult of productivity. How often do you hear from popular bloggers that you need to wake up at 5 in the morning, engage in self-development before a working day - meditation, reading, sports, cook a delicious and healthy breakfast. I am sure that very often, and it is not just that.
People want a better life, they want to live better and better, and they strive for this, so the audience is inspired by the words - stop scrolling through social networks in pastels before breakfast and before bed, read or go in for sports. Today I want to talk about such a cult of productivity. This article may have both supporters and opponents. I think that there will be more opponents of my words, so I want to say right away that this is my personal opinion and everyone has the right to it.
My History
Let me tell you a little story from my life first. In the last year at the university, there were big parties almost every week. Graduation and academies are a big holiday and celebrated it in advance all year. There were so many parties that everyone wanted to jump off them, refuse once and for all, because the liver could no longer stand it. It was then that I first encountered the cult of productivity.
I thought - ok, if the Rock says that you need to wake up at 5 in the morning and start your day with training, a healthy breakfast and self-development, then it makes sense to listen to him, because he is quite successful in his business. It took me a long time to get to my ideal state. For about a month I got used to getting up at 5 in the morning, jogging, reading and even trying to meditate, and during this month I learned a lot.
First, I realized that my biological sleep clock is very different. I am a programmer and I work a lot at night, brilliant thoughts come to me at night. At night, my brain activity peaks - this is how I am arranged, this is not a habit, as many might think. I was getting used to the normal hours of sleep - sleep at 9, rise at 5 in the morning. For a whole month I felt like a rotten log. Yes, I had more hours in the day, but what's the use of these hours if I'm like a cracked mug.
Productivity Cult
After I lived on the schedule of the Rock for a month, I thought - maybe this is not enough. Maybe this is a long-term investment and the result is worth the wait a little more. I set up an experiment on myself and lived according to the schedule of the Rock for three months. (The Rock chart is a conditional concept. I only put into it the concepts of productivity - reading, meditation, sports, healthy breakfasts, etc.). This experiment ended yesterday and in this article my conclusions.
Productivity Meme
I sincerely believe that this is nonsense and the cult of productivity in society only prevents this society from feeling comfortable. Bloggers, celebrities and just influencers created this fashion for productivity, fashion for self-improvement. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against self-development, but it should be adequate.
Influencers create the opinion among the majority that this is how the majority lives. Most get up at 5 am, do yoga and read Nietzsche. Due to their large audience, people get the impression that everyone lives the same way or everyone wants to live the same way. This is how a person is psychologically arranged. This gives rise to a cult of productivity - everyone considers themselves obliged before work to do everything that they did not have time to do in a week, while simultaneously starting their own business, raising children and caring for elderly parents.
The Main Problem
People have got this same cult of productivity into their heads, which, in their opinion, should solve all their problems, but everyone forgets about the most important thing - burnout. Living this way every day for weeks, months, years, you can just burn out and lose interest in everything. It is very easy to understand - reading ceases to bring pleasure, and you read only because it has become a habit for you, you can read the text for several pages and not even catch the sentences from what you read.
Due to prolonged burnout, depression appears. Why do you think more and more people in the world are on antidepressants? The question is rhetorical. I repeat, I am not against self-development - I am for society to develop, become kinder and more peaceful, but burnout will not help this in any way.
Productivity Meme
The first days when I got up at 5 in the morning, my day did not start at 5.30 after all the water procedures, like at the Rock - I lay for another hour, looked at the ceiling with wooden eyes, flipped through the social networks. I did exactly the same thing as every day only longer, because of which my day did not start earlier, it just stretched out.
Yes, I increased the number of active hours in a day, but these hours became sluggish, I lost the dynamics of life that I like so much. I liked getting ready for university 30 minutes before class because I got everything done in that half an hour. Yes, there was less time, but my pace was higher. I didn't look like a boiled cucumber.
Productivity Cult Origin
Where did this cult of productivity come from? Why did people live their normal lives, those who went to bars all night now run every day at 6 in the morning. Everyone wants to get better. Broadcasting to a large audience, influencers make people think that this is how everyone lives and people simply have a question to themselves - why am I worse? All subscribers of this blogger begin to lead a correct, productive lifestyle, but I can do the same.
It's true - everyone can do it, but it's not for everyone. For some reason, all productive activists are silent about this. You can't tell a person - lead a productive lifestyle, read in the morning - when he has three children and everyone needs to be taken to school. Because of the herd mentality, he can and will begin to read, but to the detriment of his more important affairs. Such a person cannot meditate every day ignoring the cries of a newborn, a student cannot go to bed at 9 when he has classes until 11. A girl cannot go jogging every day if she has problems with her knee.
Everyone talks about the cult of productivity, but they don't talk about it. That it is not suitable for everyone and not everyone is capable of it, at least physically. They make an ideal out of a cult - if you do not follow the daily routine of the Rock, then you are mentally weak and you have no willpower. I have met such people, in all seriousness.
This 1%, who leads a productive lifestyle according to them, are wealthy people. They don’t have university classes until late, they have a whole squad of nannies for their children, they have assistants who take care of routine household chores like washing and cleaning, they have facilities that are not available to their audience. Therefore, to talk about productivity is to inflate a soap bubble, it causes psychological problems for those who are not physically capable of it and who do not have the opportunity.
Conclusion
Be wiser. Don't break yourself and your lifestyle in this bad direction. Get rid of bad habits, do not sit at the computer until late, eat fruits and vegetables, run when you have time, take your children to school, do not skip classes at the university, do not forget about your parents, learn new things. How do you like my cult of productivity? In my opinion, it will suit everyone without any restrictions.