The Greatest Li(f)e (Hack) Ever Sold
We’re young. We’re bold. We live fast, exciting lives. Ergo, we need our time to be streamlined, our movement through this plane of existence to be itself optimized for maximum efficiency.
We feel like champions when we hit play on the latest episode of our favorite go-getter podcast, as the treadmill starts to speed up; and of course, we get that self-entitled glow when, an hour later, we’re leaving the gym feeling wise, as opposed to superficial.
We are living, my friends, in the best of times.
So why then are so many young people in critical burnout?
Nearly half of young people aged between 18 and 29 report feeling drained, constantly out of batteries, and utterly depleted of energy, says a recent study done by the Future Forum.
Where by logic, we should be seeing peak levels of performance, energy, and overall satisfaction, given all the improvements to our lifestyle compared even to 50 years ago.
Could it be that us “Gen Z-ers” are defective? Are we reacting poorly to the greatest age of productivity and good health? That’s one way to look at it. There is a segment of the (typically older) population that views young people as weak, entitled, self-absorbed. Pussies, basically.
And I wish I now had the space to discuss in more depth the traumatizing effect of such views, but this isn’t about that.
What’s up, Gen Z — Is our obsession with productivity igniting a quarter-life crisis?
I was sketching the other day, listening to a podcaster I like. Well, used to like, at this point, and he was talking about his usual stuff, essentially how to streamline your existence to be in peak performance.
And I realized at about twenty minutes into the episode that I was feeling so drained.
It suddenly hit me that I didn’t want to listen to this person telling me I should set my alarm five minutes earlier from week to week to get in more work.
I didn’t want to be told what the perfect work-life balance is.
I didn’t care about cutting down my sugar intake, or hitting peak performance in the gym.
And it wasn’t just that I wasn’t in the mood, I was overcome by this virulent, overpowering hate for all this life hack crap. While I think all of these things (sugar intake, fitness, life-work balance) are important in and of themselves, I feel we’re devoting far too much time, energy and focus to them.
And considering the above study results, we’re doing it with a very poor result. If these “hacks” (what an appropriate word, nay?) were to be believed, we should be seeing an increase in productivity, feeling better, happier, more at ease and balanced. Yet, we seem to be doing the exact opposite, and it’s terrifying. Makes me wonder, if we’re so wrecked by this obsession with productivity, what chance do our children have?
Not only is this sick mania affecting us, and poisoning our mental waters, but imagine being the child of two productivity-crazy young people today. Because that’s the way we work, and it’s inevitable, sadly, for many of the parent’s manias to eventually pass on to the child in some form or another.
And if both your parents have been fed, from a very young age, this lie that your productivity gives your life value, what will they be teaching their kids?
Your productivity level should never equate your self-worth.
Yet for many young people, it does. I’m overwhelmed by the number of young people (particularly men) who’ve fallen into this pit of narcissistic obsession. They all want to be entrepreneurs, self-made men (conveniently forgetting the erstwhile noblesse of that expression). They all wanna be Andrew Tate. They all wanna get rich quick, and have bigger muscles than the next guy. They all put a slice of lemon in their water in the morning, and listen to meditation podcasts on 1.2x speed.
And even so, even with all this, they’re still chasing after the next life hack. The next podcast episode telling them how to streamline their lives even more.
Which obviously betrays a deeply-rooted discontent.
It stands to reason that you’re unhappy with your life if you’re chasing another existence, right? It’s one of the dictums of our human society — if you’re happy with what you have and where you are, you wouldn’t keep looking for something else. Yet, we’re ignoring it when it comes to self-improvement.
We’ve somehow been tricked into believing that this unending chase for the next great hack is satisfying and productive, giving us the best lives.
In which we’re critically unhappy.
When we reach breaking point…
It’s natural to fear regression, when that burnout becomes critical. It might not seem evident for all I’ve written so far, but I’m a firm believer in growth, and self-development. I do believe you can improve your life, and bring it to a level where it brings satisfaction, and yields more fruitful pastimes.
So no, for those of you wondering, I don’t buy into the idea that “you should be content with what you have”.
You need to aim higher, otherwise, if our long-ago ancestors had been content and keeping their head down, we would’ve never evolved.
But rather than placing blame with the concept, I’m taking a closer look at our so-called gurus.
Of what we see of them (largely their public personas), they don’t strike me as leading covetable lives at all. Podcast-makers always chasing the next big “hack” or always doling out productivity tips should not be your role model.
Neither should uber-rich “gurus”, productivity coaches, happening CEOs, or “life experts”. Occasionally, an individual in one of these groups may become a role model, but I believe their belonging to this category is incidental. In other words, you should pick your role models, and your productivity models, based on their lives, not their projected personas or their job title.
I’ve found infinite more value in adopting habits, diet tips, and borrowing reading material from the people around myself whose lives inspire joy. Who go about their daily life doing good for others. Who aren’t afraid to dance, and embrace their bodies. Who go through the world not taking bullshit, and knowing to enjoy a slow day.
Because that’s the thing with time. It passes, irrespective of how productive you are, how you’re feeling. And when I look around myself, and sometimes in the mirror, I see a lot of people feeling like crap because they “wasted their time”, or because they could’ve been more productive.
What do I see? Another day gone by, a month, a year. With you feeling like crap. Sure, maybe you could’ve spent the day creating something, or getting stuff done for your job. But tell you a secret, even if you had, you’d still feel guilty because you didn’t find time for the gym today, or “cheated” and had a slice of pizza at lunch.
Is this what we look like, at our happiest, most productive best? Good Lord, I hope not.
Thank you for reading! I’m fairly scatterbrained, and this was one of the many random subjects that pique my interest.
I recently put out my first book (the first in a fantasy trilogy), and am working on the next two. So there’s a chance I’ll be talking about that, sometimes.
So if you’re someone who enjoys that kinda writing, well, why not subscribe? It’s free. And I’m desperate. So there, honesty.
