Obsessive Productive Syndrome
Unproductive as ever
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Another article about being productive. How to save 2 seconds by using this app overwriting. Add this to your workflow and earn back some free time.
Data displays information. With information, we can learn more about anything. Too much information seems to extend to how we can nitpick, creating an obsession with “maximizing” our time.
The equalizer for all humans is death, and life is a race. The more we accomplish in life, the more fulfillment we can embrace on our deathbed. During this speed walk to enlightenment, we experience burnout from working so aggressively to make each minute count. Our brain glitches into fatigue. Work has bled into our life, and our brain cannot separate the tasks. Overwork and overthinking drain our vitals leaving us feeling lifeless and mundane.
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Digitize
The spark of this supercharge movement is in your pocket, on your desk, around you everywhere. Even though I seem to always be critical of it, the digital world is an extraordinary achievement in the modern age. Great power, though, requires a responsible sense of moderation. There are great sources now pushing for tech platforms to be more accountable in the technology they create.
We envision a world where technology is realigned with humanity’s best interests.
Considerable concern about the digital age is mental health. With many tech platforms, especially social media, we are obsessed with the feeling of fulfillment and success. This perpetuates the cycle of figuring out how productive we can become, to be perfect, successful, and better. In the article, How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation, the term “branding” explains the danger of never having downtime. Even kids view themselves as a “product” that again has to maximize and optimize themselves to be liked.
With the mobility of smartphones, adults are prisoners of these portable and digital offices. Emails notify an urgent response. Employees are summoned upon by bosses and fill the gray space of work and life further. If you are not available 24/7, another person is, and the competitiveness of surrendering becomes an obligation to survive.
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Extremes
It’s like a water valve. We turn it on to full blast. After realizing there is no place for all the water, we start to tweak and lower the pressure to fine-tune the amount to manage our consumption. This is great if the intention is genuine. Sadly, this warrants another opportunity to sell the idea of a type of nomad. Now there are articles about life hacking and maximize downtime instead of merely enjoying our free time. It makes sense now there is a flirtation with companies introducing shorter work weeks, retreats, and individuals doing a “digital detox.”
Jaded are we now who see every book, article, app, suggestion as a gimmick or scheme. Once we are feeling anxiety, and concern about counting the minutes of not being productive, we are told about a way to hack our life. That hack usually costs something. If it is not money, it’s your data; if not data, your attention and time.
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Consumption
Society dictating so much consumption traps humanity into thinking they need multiple jobs and do not have the luxury of free time. Going further, the essential cost of living, not only in developing countries but also in established nations, also elevates beyond the reach of at risk people.
A higher cost is one that stays with us longer, our sense of self. Feeling accomplished and fulfilled is robbed with the notion that now that we have discovered a new production system and method, we have evolved into a more efficient species. Fortunately, some data points can quantify where people are the happiest in the world in the digital age.
World Happiness Report 2020 | The World Happiness Report
The world seems so polarizing. Humanity carries from one extreme to the next. Overconsumption of oil leads to the planet facing climate catastrophes. Because of gluttony, we learn to optimize and try to be minimalists. It is easier to jump from one end to the other rather than find the balancing point.
As soon as we have the data showing what is wrong, we start to analyze and critique our own everyday tasks and to-do lists. Idle hands have become idle minds. We are frozen in still thoughts of how to do everything better before lifting a finger. The obsessive productive syndrome is paralyzing to accomplishing anything worth doing.
In Conclusion
What is the answer? Gimme the TL:DR of this article. We have to be mindful of being in the present. Organizing, optimizing, minimizing, digitizing, and maximizing are cheat sheets and hacks that do not presently bring your presence.
Compartments
Create separation between work and life. Physically and mentally create space between those categories.
Honesty
Admit your successes and failures to yourself. The social media world can be a fraud, but you do not have to be. Evaluate what you can work on, and celebrate the real successes you achieve
Rest
Clear minds, clear thoughts. Meditate, sleep, do nothing. Create the space for your brain to reset and be okay with that.
