Rest and Productivity

There is something deeply disturbing about how even our moments of being alive have been recruited into the service of productivity.

We breathe to regulate our nervous system.

We drink tea to restore focus.

We enjoy a sunset to reduce stress.

We take holidays to come back more productive.

We practise mindfulness to improve performance.

Everything becomes an investment in our capacity to produce.

Even pleasure has acquired a job.

But what if I don't want to breathe to perform better?

What if I want to breathe because I am alive?

What if the tea is just tea?

The sunset just a sunset?

And rest doesn't need to justify its existence by making me more useful tomorrow?

Not everything that nourishes us needs to make us more productive.

This is the hypocrisy of a culture that has learned to commodify even the language of wellbeing.

It sells you breathing as a performance-enhancing technique.

Rest as a productivity strategy.

Mindfulness as a leadership competency.

Joy as a resilience intervention.

Gratitude as a way to improve engagement.

And it wraps the whole thing in positive language.

It's exploitation with a smile.

If taking a breath, sipping a cup of tea or enjoying a sunset are all things you should do to perform better at work, then please stop enjoying them right now!

Even wellbeing has become another KPI.

We have managed to turn the most human things into instruments of productivity.

And we call it care.

That's not wellbeing. That's exploitation dressed up as positive thinking.

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