It's always "the most stressful 24 hours of my life". "When will it end?", is a question most of us don't ask them, and ourselves too; after all, there is no denying that besides over-consumption, one of the things influencers have successfully done, is to convince us that success can only be achieved by being overly productive...just like them (apparently).
Behind every action taken by any animal occupying a space on Earth, there is a core driver; the driving force fueling the thinking, behavior etc., in this case humans. what do you think are the core drivers behind over-productivity? Let's explore them below
- Productivity as a proxy of self-worth- First, we understand that before every, if not all influencers, is a person who noticed something wrong in their life or that of others. And with productivity influencers, studies have shown that most of them previously struggled with attaining or achieving their goals in time; for instance, failing a grade in high school and when they finally managed to pass it this one time after using a certain study method, they became obsessed with productivity, because they received recognition for finally passing that one class they had been repeating for two years. With that, productivity became the only way they can feel worthy to be called a student. This is one of the reasons today we have study-tubers, and study-tokers who are always studying even though they posted their grad day video. They only feel a sense of self-worth when their comments section gets flooded by comments of low self-esteem spectators telling them how they got motivated to open their books after closing them since last week.... little do they know that their 'idol' is in the same boat as them.
- Perfectionism- [this one is hitting really close to home, because this is so me] Most perfectionists are not 'perfect' by nature; it all started in their head when their developed a fear of being criticised, trying to prevent the unknown before it even happens or show signs of happening. Psychologists have also attributed perfectionism to childhood trauma, where high expectations were placed on the shoulders of a kid to out-perform everyone in their grade. Take the whole "You're an A-sian child, not a B-sian ", which is said to be a common phrase Asian kids hear at their homes when they didn't an A for their test or exam. Such stress and anxiety endured by kids, leads to the development of a perfectionist state of mind, where getting the highest mark in the grade, excelling in hockey, music and art is the main goal.
- The capitalism/ worth conflation- we are currently living in a society where productivity moved from what it previously was, to completely being a moral category, and not just an economic one, for that matter. "How productive was your day", is now the word of the day. If you can't dedicate 10 hours of your day to working at a cafe, you've failed, cause, what are you busy with?..that's what they are saying on the internet streets, right?
You clearly didn't think that people are doing all this by themselves, yes, you're right. There are mechanisms that are keeping these individuals running all day long.
- Dopamine/ rewards loop- Rewarding oneself after completing a task has been a recent trend that i have seen grow rapidly over the past half a decade. Productivity apps and to-do lists exploiting the same psychology as slot machines are being used to acts as measures of rewards from checking off things.
- Social media productivity porn- Nothing gets a person going like simultaneously seeing 5 videos from five different creators telling you how they have finished a month's worth of their academic reading in just 6 hours [laugh with me] You get a sense that you are not doing enough, mind you there's no proof that such was done, just a video and a 15-seconds time lapse.
- The identity trap- when your title at the workplace, school or wherever becomes your entire self-concept, taking a break starts to feel like an erasure of the self. "If i am not study/ coding or doing just anything, what am i? who am i ?" those are the questions we ask ourselves, also acting as justifications for our over-productivity.
Not denying that in some cases over-productivity can be good, but what how expensive is the bill? The cost of doing all this, what is it in the long run. Is it going to be worth it?
The simple answer is "No". Burnout as the eventual endpoint, and why more effort/more systems usually make it worse, not better