The Price We Pay For Being Productive - A Philosophical Critique of Hustle Culture
Summary
TLDRIn this video essay, Rob Mauldin explores the detrimental effects of our productivity-obsessed culture, drawing on the insights of Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han. Mauldin critiques the hustle culture's demand for constant work beyond traditional hours, leading to burnout. He discusses the shift from valuing quality to consistency in writing, the rise of 'pre-crastination,' and the self-imposed pressure to be productive. Mauldin argues that this productivity addiction results in a constant state of overstimulation and fragmented attention, undermining our ability for deep contemplation. He suggests that embracing 'healthy procrastination' and 'profound idleness' can counteract the rush of productivity, allowing for more creative and fulfilling work. The video is sponsored by brilliant.org, which is highlighted as a resource for interactive learning in STEM fields.
Takeaways
- 📚 The video discusses the negative impacts of productivity culture, referencing the work of Korean German philosopher Byung-Chul Han and his book 'The Burnout Society'.
- 🖋️ Writers often have unique and personal processes for creating novels, which can be difficult to articulate and may not follow a conventional structure.
- ⏳ The modern emphasis on consistent output over quality can lead to a decrease in the depth and thoughtfulness of creative work.
- 🔄 The concept of 'pre-crastination' is introduced, where individuals complete tasks prematurely to maintain an appearance of productivity, sometimes at the expense of quality.
- 🚫 Byung-Chul Han critiques the 'achievement society,' where individuals are driven to constantly achieve and produce, leading to an addiction to productivity.
- 📈 The self-help and motivation industry has grown as a response to the pressure to be constantly productive and achieve more.
- 🤔 The video suggests that our society's focus on productivity has led to a decrease in our ability to deeply contemplate and create original content.
- 🐘 Byung-Chul Han uses the analogy of wild animals to describe how humans, in their quest for productivity, have become constantly distracted and unable to focus.
- 🎨 The video argues for the value of 'healthy procrastination' and 'profound idleness' as a means to foster creativity and avoid burnout.
- 🧘♂️ Meditation and deliberate practices of boredom are recommended as ways to recharge the mind and encourage the generation of new ideas.
- 🎓 The video is sponsored by brilliant.org, which is presented as a tool for interactive learning in math and science, supporting the idea of taking time to learn and recharge.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is the damaging effect of productivity culture and hustle culture on individuals, as explored through the philosophical lens provided by the works of Korean German philosopher Byung-Chul Han.
Who is Byung-Chul Han and what is his contribution to the discussion in the video?
-Byung-Chul Han is a Korean German philosopher whose book 'The Burnout Society' provides insights into the negative effects of productivity culture. His work is used in the video to critique the overemphasis on productivity and its impact on society.
What is the 'hustle culture' mentioned in the video?
-The 'hustle culture' refers to the societal pressure to work beyond the traditional nine-to-five schedule, constantly striving for more productivity and success, often at the expense of personal well-being.
Why do writers often struggle to explain their writing process?
-Writers often struggle to explain their writing process because it is an idiosyncratic and often subconscious activity. The creative process is not always clear or linear, making it difficult to articulate.
What does the video suggest about the current state of online writing and its focus on consistency?
-The video suggests that in the current online writing economy, the focus has shifted from the quality of writing to the consistency of uploads, which can lead to a decline in the depth and thoughtfulness of content.
What is 'pre-crastination' and how does it relate to productivity culture?
-Pre-crastination is the tendency to complete tasks well before they are due, often at the expense of quality. It is a result of the productivity culture that values speed and output over thoughtfulness and depth.
How does the video connect the concept of an 'achievement society' to the current productivity culture?
-The video connects the concept of an 'achievement society' to productivity culture by suggesting that individuals in such a society feel compelled to constantly achieve and produce, leading to an addiction to productivity and a decline in the quality of work.
What is the role of motivation in the productivity culture discussed in the video?
-In the productivity culture, motivation is seen as a driving force that pushes individuals to constantly strive for more. However, the video argues that this constant drive for motivation can lead to a focus on quantity over quality and a lack of deep contemplation.
How does the video link the concept of 'work ethic' to the productivity culture?
-The video links 'work ethic' to productivity culture by suggesting that the societal expectation to always be productive and efficient has turned into a moral standard. Failure to meet these standards can lead to feelings of guilt and social ostracization.
What is the solution proposed in the video for overcoming the negative effects of productivity culture?
-The video proposes that embracing 'healthy procrastination' and allowing for periods of profound idleness can counteract the negative effects of productivity culture. This approach encourages deep relaxation and the generation of new, creative ideas.
How does the video use the concept of 'boredom' as a tool for creativity?
-The video suggests that boredom, when embraced, can serve as a tool for creativity by allowing the mind to relax and recharge. This state of rest can lead to new insights and ideas, which are often stifled by constant productivity.
Outlines
📚 The Critique of Productivity Culture
The paragraph discusses the negative impact of the productivity culture, often referred to as 'hustle culture,' which pressures individuals to work beyond traditional hours. It introduces the concept through the lens of Byung-Chul Han's philosophical work, 'The Burnout Society,' suggesting that this culture is damaging. The speaker also reflects on the writing process of novelists, using Umberto Eco as an example to illustrate how the current economy values consistency over quality, leading to a 'pre-crastination' problem where tasks are rushed without proper contemplation.
🔥 The Achievement Society and Its Drawbacks
This section delves into the concept of the 'achievement society' as described by Byung-Chul Han, where individuals are self-motivated to be productive without external coercion. The paragraph highlights the rise of the self-help industry and the pressure to maintain a high work ethic, which can lead to self-judgment and societal exclusion for those who do not meet these standards. It also discusses the overabundance of stimuli in our digital age, which has conditioned us to multitask and reduced our capacity for deep contemplation, drawing an analogy to how animals must remain vigilant while eating.
🎨 The Value of Deep Work Over Productivity Addiction
The speaker argues against the productivity addiction and for the value of deep, focused work. They use Umberto Eco's dedication to his craft as an example of the benefits of taking time to produce quality work. The paragraph suggests that the constant demand for output leads to mediocre results and a lack of innovation. It introduces the idea of 'healthy procrastination' as a means to foster creativity by allowing the mind to rest and generate new ideas, contrasting it with the unproductive busyness of the digital age.
🌟 Embracing Boredom for Creative Rejuvenation
The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of embracing boredom and 'profound idleness' as a means to recharge and foster creativity. It suggests that our aversion to boredom leads to a culture of repetitive and mediocre work. The speaker shares personal practices like meditation and piano playing as ways to face and overcome boredom, allowing for mental rejuvenation. The paragraph concludes with a promotion for 'brilliant.org,' a learning platform that offers a variety of courses to help individuals learn and grow in their spare time, aligning with the theme of using time productively for personal development.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Productivity culture
💡Hustle culture
💡Burnout Society
💡Consistency
💡Pre-crastination
💡Achievement Society
💡Work ethic
💡Stimuli overload
💡Deep contemplation
💡Healthy procrastination
Highlights
Productivity culture is damaging, promoting a 'hustle' mentality beyond traditional work hours.
Byung-Chul Han's book 'The Burnout Society' sheds light on the negative effects of productivity.
Writers' processes are idiosyncratic, and they often don't understand how they create novels.
Umberto Eco's sarcastic comment on the pressure to produce novels regularly.
The shift from valuing quality to consistency in online writing.
Consistency is now prioritized over the time needed to develop well-thought-out ideas.
The concept of 'pre-crastination' where productivity becomes an end in itself, sacrificing quality.
In an achievement society, individuals are self-motivating subjects, driven to do as much as possible.
The self-help industry booms as people seek ways to increase motivation and productivity.
Work ethic is a system of morals dictating how one should behave in the achievement society.
Non-compliance with work ethic standards leads to social judgment and ostracization.
Excessive stimuli in our environment due to the drive to create more content.
The need to multitask in the information economy leads to a fractured attention span.
Byung-Chul Han's analogy of humans resembling wild animals due to the constant need to multitask.
The reduction in our ability to deeply contemplate due to the digital wilderness of stimuli.
The importance of spending time on fewer projects to create quality work, as opposed to spreading attention thin.
Healthy procrastination can set the stage for creative projects to flourish by allowing the mind to rest.
Byung-Chul Han's concept of 'profound idleness' as a necessary state for mental rejuvenation.
Boredom is essential for deep relaxation and creativity, contrary to the modern aversion to it.
Meditation and deliberate practices of boredom can help recharge the mind for better creative output.
Brilliant.org is a platform for learning math and science interactively, supporting well-rounded education.
Brilliant.org offers courses for every skill level, including exercises and quizzes for comprehensive learning.
The video concludes with an offer for a free trial and a discount on Brilliant.org's annual subscription.
Transcripts
today's episode is brought to you by
brilliant.org and welcome back to
another video and today we're going to
do a video on the damaging effect of
this productivity culture that we're all
all a part of the hustle culture how you
have to work beyond the nine to five and
how you have to really get down in a
grind set in order to complete all these
tasks but recently I've been reading a
lot of stuff and reading a lot of books
by this Korean German philosopher by the
name of bien Chohan and one of his books
called the burnout Society really casts
some light on this damaging effect that
productivity is having on all of us so
in this video as a broad series covering
a lot of different philosophical works
and to give some problems a
philosophical lens this video is going
to philosophically provide a
philosophical critique for this over
productivity that we have so let's start
from the very beginning which is with a
very curious observation if you ever sit
a writer down and you ask him what is
your process of writing like how do you
write a novel well like what is your
writing routine like what you're going
to realize is that the writing space on
the Internet or at least for Myspace and
for various novelists it is a very
idiosyncratic space where each writer
have their own little thing going on and
whenever you try to ask him about their
process they always seem to try to find
a nearest fire escape to run out of
because fundamentally Riders don't
really know how they how they write a
novel they don't really know the process
that goes on behind it and if you try to
analyze their art form retrospectively
sometimes things become clear but as the
writer's writing the thing they don't
really know how they do it and the
Italian novelist thinkerto Echo is not
an exception in an interview in 2015
Tommy vorm actually interviewed Umberto
echo on his writing process and asked
him the Forbidden question for all
writers which is how in the hell did you
come up with a novel idea and how did
you write the name of the Rose which was
Umberto echo's first novel and he
responded with a very sort of sarcastic
comment it happened when you
feel that you haven't to peace and you
have to to run to the toilet and then he
added that I think I cannot understand
those novelists that publish a book
every year they lose this pleasure of
spending six seven eight years to to
prepare to prepare a story that's a very
curious observation because
in this economy I don't think Riders
have that much time to prepare a story
everything is about consistency and a
metric for online writing turned from
quality of writing to consistency in
this economy at least I want you to
observe like this idea of spending six
seven eight years as Alberto Echo did to
prepare a story or to prepare article it
is no longer the fashionable way of
doing things for example now I spend a
lot of my time writing a sub stack and
one of the things that really irritates
me on substance is that the key metric
or the key measurement of your writing
is actually not engagement per se
there's an open rate on each email but
it actually depends upon your
consistency of uploads or consistency of
writing so in a sense consistency really
took over the quality of writing or
really took over the time we need to
prepare an article to prepare a
marinated idea and to use Umberto echo's
funny toilet analogy it is as if the
writing economy is forcing us to piss
before we even have the urge and this is
going to lead us to the second problem
which is the problem of pre-crastination
back when I was doing my Bachelor of
Arts I was a crazy person so I spent the
entire semester doing a full course load
and what happened was I was always the
stickler person I was always this person
who turns in assignments like a week
before the due date but in retrospect
after I graduated I started looking over
some of my older essays they were all
full of typos in some essays and one of
these essays even has some pretty severe
citation errors but it is just to me it
was a case of productivity seeping into
my work as I turned productivity into
kind of like a goalie in itself really
sacrificed the quality of the work so
this addiction this productivity
addiction that I had is what the
philosopher the Korean German
philosopher bianchohan called it's a
natural consequence of this concept of
the achievement Society back in the days
people with theorizing at least um at
the end of the 20th century people were
theorizing about a repressive power a
negative power where people have to tell
you to do things where people put a gun
Frontier had to force you to do things
but in an achievement Society according
no one's really forcing you to do
anything so in a sense all of us become
achievement subjects the key incentive
for this achievement subject is to do as
much as possible is to motivate
themselves as much as possible and to
complete some sort of aim and in this
case it feeds into this pathology that
bianchohan called um in a sense this
addiction to productivity that turns us
all into self-motivating subjects where
we don't suffer from a negative power
but we suffer from an excess of
positivity the verb can becomes the
modal verb that excites everybody you
can't do this just do it so bianchohan
wrote very beautifully quote
prohibitions Commandments and the law
are replaced by projects initiatives and
motivation end quote this is probably
why have you ever noticed that the
motivation section in your local Barnes
Noble or your local bookstore they're
getting fatter and fatter every year I
remember when I was in high school the
motivation section was kind of like just
a little sliver at the bookstore but now
it spans across three or four different
shelves there's really a boom in a
self-help industry because as people get
more and more self-motivated to become
self-made entrepreneurs or self-made
productivity junkies or a self-made
achievement subjects there's more of a
need for us to find Solutions not for
personal happiness but for the quickest
way to increase motivation the quickest
way to get the most amount of stuff done
because we're literally addicted to
completing projects as they start to get
enamored by this idea of I'm going to do
as much as possible as everyone gets
addicted to this idea of motivation that
then consequently gives rise to the idea
of a work ethic the word work ethic here
is not as innocent as it seems work
ethic actually has a pretty good reason
to be there because ethics implies a
system of morals and a system of how you
should behave if people fail to comply
to these standards and if people fail to
somehow find a way to to fulfill these
morals because you know typical Morality
In terms of Ethics when you fail to
fulfill sometimes you have to go out of
your way to fulfill an ethical standard
but if you fail to comply people tend to
look at you with judgment with guilt and
tend to ostracize you from the community
in the same way in the achievement
Society sometimes we don't really call
these people Mad Men or criminals when
we don't comply to this code of work
ethic but instead we call them
depressives and losers how many times
have you guilted yourself for being
quote unquote by Society standards as a
loser because you couldn't complete a
task how many times did you exercise
that self-restraint to not be a
quote-unquote loser so that is the
essence of the self-motivating subject
we police ourselves we can say that
we've turned our society into a labor
camp where one is simultaneously
prisoner and guard victim and
perpetrator as we exploit ourselves
going off from that line of logic of the
self-motivating subject what are some of
the prices that we're paying for this
over productivity one of the direct
consequences according to Han of this
zealous culture of achievement is that
we are constantly surrounded by excess
stimuli we're constantly surrounded by
images sounds tick tocks YouTube videos
and different music videos on YouTube
they're all popping up all at once
cramming your feed by the very fact that
everyone's motivated to create more and
more and more and more content guess
where all this content is going you're
right so we are consuming the very thing
that we've created we've created a very
environment of excessive stimuli we've
created a diet that we're consuming
right now so under this condition we've
altered kind of like our perception of
the environment of favor multitasking
because sometimes to surviving this
information economy in order for us to
keep up to date to follow to keep up
with the Joneses we have constantly
fracture our attention what this gives
rise to is what biento Hond had a really
beautiful analogy he basically said that
we start to resemble wild animals the
more refresh our attention quote an
animal busy with eating must also attend
to other tasks it must constantly be on
the lookout lest it be eaten while
eating in the wild the animal is forced
to divide its attention between various
activities end quote so in that sense
we've really Unleashed ourselves into
the digital Wilderness where scrolling
the news is synonymous with eating
dinner and as you scroll the news it's
you're not just looking at the news
you're also keeping an eye out on that
from Twitter you're also trying
to defend your opinions through the
comment sections and the TVs probably
also iron in the background so there's
not a stimulus right there and you're
constantly switching your attention from
one thing to another start to resemble
an animal out in a while who has to
attend to everything all at once the
main difference between an animal and a
human being is to human beings
supposedly have this deliberate ability
to contemplate and this is what the
first is from wild animals but because
we've trained ourselves to behave like
wild animals out in the digital
Wilderness we've really really reduced
our ability to deeply contemplate about
things or to deeply think about things
sometimes in our lives the most
rewarding experiences don't really come
from fracturing our attention imagine
going to a party sometimes the most
interesting conversations they tend to
come out of just locking into a
conversation with one person and
sometimes watching her favorite film
again and again and again and again is
way more rewarding than flipping through
Netflix and try to watch two episodes
out of every season of a show and for
writers and artists sometimes it's way
more rewarding to put more effort into
one project over years like Umberto
ecoset spent six seven eight years on
one story and then write it and then
craft it really well compared to
fracturing your attention with constant
two-week-long timelines and to turn out
a bunch of mediocre work that you are
not really happy with for example this
video essay that you're listening to
right now it took me over a year to
properly articulate it to putting to
words that are sensible and to really
phrase this in the right way
productivity addiction implies that you
have to constantly turn out stuff
whereas doing good work requires you to
defer that pleasure of completion and to
spend more attention and energy on the
task at hand so what's the solution to
all of this now you might be wondering
holy we are in a pretty bad
situation as self-motivating subjects
wearing a pretty bad spot how do we ever
get out of this mindset of being overly
productive how do we stop burning
ourselves out over the silly thing of
always needing to complete certain tasks
so contrary to popular belief I actually
believe that procrastination is not the
problem procrastinating in a right way
can actually set up the very conditions
that you use to make your creative
projects flourish for example when most
people think about procrastination when
most people think about putting off work
they're in a sense still engaging with
the information economy by by scrolling
through their phones or picking up a
random book or turning on a TV so in a
sense their brains are never really
fully relaxed and they're not really in
that state of full mental Rejuvenation
so when they return to actually getting
down to business or getting down to what
to what they actually need to do they're
still very much exhausted and the state
of exhaustion and I quote bianchohan
again from his really beautiful Book
quote we end up riding a hectic Rush
that produces nothing new accelerating
what is already available end quote have
you ever wondered why most tick tocks
have the same soundtrack over and over
and over again which is because we don't
have the mental energy to think about
soundtracks and because it is very
convenient way for us to slot that
soundtrack in this is why we are
accelerating a culture of sameness we're
accelerating and replicating the same
thing over and over and over again just
so we don't have to spend more effort
into creating new ideas or new content
or New pieces of information so if we
ever want to combat this hectic Rush we
have to subject ourselves sometimes
against our instincts to this idea of a
profound idleness bianchohan talked
about so this state unlike compulsive
consumption actually requires you to
face boredom maybe for the first time in
your life and boredom is such a
condition that is so agitating to the
modern mind that we almost don't want to
look at it when you're on the train
people can possibly check their phones
to displace the boredom when you're
sitting at home by yourself sometimes
you don't even feel like you can be
bored even during those moments when you
feel like you can't be bored maybe you
know waiting for your doctor to get back
to you at the dentist's office you in a
sense find some distracting activities
to keep that boredom out of line without
realizing that for bianchohan at least
boredom to the mine is actually what
sleep is to the body and it encourages
deep relaxation and if we don't somehow
schedule enough time or boredom in our
lives it is actually going to burn us
out and giving rise to repetitive work
giving rise to mediocre work that the
artist or the writers they're not very
happy with those kinds of mediocre work
and this is where healthy
procrastination comes in at the very end
of this video and healthy
procrastination forces you to
deliberately schedule in ordinary
activities or even even quote-unquote
boring activities to relax your mind
enough so you can give your mind enough
space for new insights and ideas to come
in and for me personally I really adore
meditation as a very deliberate practice
at boredom and I love practicing the
piano because working through a long
complicated piano piece is anything but
exciting finding those spaces for me to
properly cultivate this ability to face
boredom and to rejuvenate and to
mentally recharge is really important
for me when I want to put all of my
energy into creating these videos into
writing more substack posts and to
making more quality content for you guys
because sometimes compulsive
productivity is not the answer and
sometimes we have to make space space
for the things we love while we create
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in the next video Rob Mauldin here take
care
and goodbye
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