The productivity myth
I was shopping at the grocery store; I don’t buy many things — I usually buy lunch there because it’s cheaper than restaurants. (I can get a full meal for about 6 bucks in the hot food section) When I went to go pay, the cashier seemed like she was working in double time. She was spraying down her conveyor belt in between customers, wiping her screen every chance she could get and packing the bags as fast as possible so the next person can go in line. There were two people in line.
“Why do you work so fast?”
I asked, curious as ever — she was working like she someone money — which by all accounts is very likely in America.
She froze.
It was like for the first time she ever contemplated the speed at which she worked. After a brief moment her fogged glasses looked up at me and she responded with a face mixed with confusion and surprise.
“I don’t know.”
Maybe everything we do shouldn’t be in the spirit of more productive. Humans by nature, are inefficient beings. Our body, minds, personalities, are all built to change — and our biology is built to adapt.
So why do we chase productivity?
That’s easy, it’s what we’ve been taught, by people who want us working for them. Those who objectify people, want people to be mindless, productive, robots who are a means to an end. The end is ‘more for me, and less for you. I set my eyes on a different goal, one that doesn’t make me someone else’s tool — and one that allows me to work under my best conditions.
Value.
Work to deliver value, and that can go way further than ‘productivity’ got you. If you have something that is valuable, especially a skill — it’s what allows you to collaborate, serve your fellow human, and of course make a little money. Anybody can be a worker bee, but delivering value is what makes you irreplaceable.