You Can Shove Your Productivity Tips
The only thing you needed to do during the pandemic was survive it.
This morning, I read an article that set my teeth on edge. There was a moment when I considered violence, but settled on kicking my heels into the mattress. You can tell this gent was the sort to slap you on the back, doling out tips like miniature rotten sweets. The gist of his article was this: you’ve been lying around for 18 months — it’s time to get back to work! Throughout the piece, which lacked any perspective and data to support the bold claims made, I was reminded of a book I just finished — Anne Helen Petersen’s excellent evisceration of capitalism, overwork and burnout culture in Can’t Even.
Apparently, we are not valuable unless we are productive. Unless we oil that machine that keeps the engine running our bodies into the ground until we’re pulverized into dust. But no worries, the numbers guy ran the numbers and we’re still profitable. The margins are manageable as the remains of you are swept off the floor.
Listen — fuck productivity and the little pony it rode in on. As Anna North writes in her exceptional article, “Lockdown Was Not a Sabbatical,” the only achievement you needed to have made during the pandemic was survive it.
