Our Society Has a Productivity Problem.
The Copywriter Column #104
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You know the thought I couldn’t seem to shake this week?
Our society’s freakin’ obsessed with productivity.
I don’t know about you, but I was indoctrinated early in fifth grade. It all started with a Trapper Keeper.
“Every middle schooler uses these to stay organized,” I remember my teacher saying. “We’ll be using these the remainder of the year.”
We kept everything in those Trapper Keepers. Assignments, notes, a log of our study habits – you name it. Then when I got to middle school, they introduced another productivity tool…
THE PLANNER.
We were shown how to schedule study blocks, due dates, and everything in between. To be honest, it was a broken system, but it didn’t matter. The damage had been done.
At the heart of most organization methodologies and productivity systems taught in schools lays a core idea: You are what you contribute.
And for nearly 40 years now, I’ve bought into that belief hook, line, and sinker. In fact, I’ve built significant aspects of my career around it.
Unfortunately, 99.9% of us have because modern workplaces reward output regardless of what said output costs for the people doing the outputting.
But here’s the problem…
WE ARE MORE THAN WHAT WE CONTRIBUTE.
When we reduce our value and our worth – either willingly or unwillingly – to whatever our output is for the greater good of whatever “XYZ” is around us, we make a trade-off that, well, we can’t necessarily undo.
There are a ton of reasons you should make it a habit of saying no. This is one of them.
So what’s the solve here? I dunno, honestly.
I think a reason so many of us burn out, especially in creative gigs is because of this – we’re valued for what we create, not for what goes into the act of creation itself.
And at some point, you’ve got to take back your creativity.
Take back your dignity.
Draw hard lines in the ground and just model something different.
Because you are so much more than what you contribute.
P.S. Like what you read? Please comment and share this post on LinkedIn. It’s an easy way to support my work and goes a long way! You can also repost it on Substack.
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