Have you ever felt like time not spent on improving yourself or finishing tasks is wasted time? Do you feel like you could have done more at the end of the day, no matter how many tasks you completed? You have a type of anxiety called “toxic productivity.”
Leisure is the mother of philosophy.
Thomas Hobbes
What is “Toxic Productivity?”
In today's world, we are overwhelmed with stories of successful CEOs, entrepreneurs, and authors, who are making “six figures.”
And they all have their secrets to success. But what is common to all of them is hard work, waking up at 5 am, sleeping less, and all the other perks of being a millionaire. Right?
We are overflowed with self-improvement books saying that we can always improve, that we are doing something wrong, that we must squeeze ourselves even harder to make those “six figures.” We are not productive enough, we are not disciplined enough, we are not organized enough...
We are not ENOUGH.
And then comes toxic productivity. Consuming this kind of content is burning us out. Constantly feeling guilty about why we didn’t do everything we planned in a day. We will never make it that way. We are starting to feel like failures.
So we must read all the time, we must be sleepless, and we must hang out with accomplished people. We must seem busy, always on our phone, hustling, making deals, making extra money… Or we will feel like a failure.
I’ve been there.
The Background
There are a few reasons why a person gets into the trap of toxic productivity.
One of the reasons may be a feeling of low self-worth and guilt, which is the mask for depression. We are measuring self-worth by daily productivity and money.
Or the reason may be the hyped “hustle culture"—a competition as to who will sleep less and work more. Modern technology gives us the chance to “work” all the time. No excuses.
We become addicts. Our brain is designed to reward us with dopamine after completing tasks. Over time, the body develops tolerance and more dopamine is needed, so more tasks need to be completed.
What Toxic Productivity Gives
It makes you feel guilty when you are doing something that doesn’t have a clear point.
Would you love to read a book? I won’t read Dostoyevsky, it’s more important to read this how-to-discipline-yourself book.
Would you love to listen to music? Nah, maybe a podcast with a boring scientist will be a better solution and provide me with some crucial knowledge.
Would you love to hang out with friends? How will that time improve me? What new things will I learn there? Nothing. Better to stay home and read a biography of some slumdog millionaire. They are wasting their time having fun.
Would you love to take a walk? Where? Do we have a goal or destination?
What should I be doing next?
And numerous other anxious thoughts.
How to Reset
If you recognized yourself in these behavioral patterns (if you didn’t, well lucky you) first thing is to admit it.
Congratulations, you now have a diagnosis. But how to cure it?
Don’t completely stop being productive and finishing your tasks, that’s important. But cut down the number of tasks in a day. Be content with 3 or 4 of them done.
Take some time for self-care. Take a meaningless walk, read that book, watch that movie, spend time with people you love.
Detach from social media from time to time. It makes us compare ourselves with others all the time.
Others also have struggles and laziness but social media doesn’t favor it. Limit phone usage for some time in a day.
Allow yourself to feel bored. Some say it will bring creativity in our brain back to life.
“Memento mori.” (Remember that you have to die)
In the end, we all have a limited lifetime here.
While battling with being more productive, sacrificing our social life for some dream jobs and lifestyles, we are missing the present time.
Life is too short to feel miserable and incomplete because we still don’t have a “dream life”.
Appreciate things you have — family, friends, health.
So, carpe diem (seize the day), but in the right way.
That’s why I am writing articles every two weeks (I guess).
