Hot Take: Productivity < Happiness
A short piece of life-advice and cynical rant in between.
The State of Productivity in America
More and more today people -especially Americans- are vapid.
As a collective, we not only focus on the aesthetics of things as their main source of worth and allow social media and its shallow appearances of life control us, but, in our careers and hobbies, productivity is prioritized more than happiness.
In fact, Americans consistently rank productivity as their number one goal, above happiness.
For most low middle-aged Americans happiness isn’t number 2, or number 3, in what they strive to have: it’s number 4.
This is a huge problem: people are setting themselves up for an unhappy life by not prioritizing it first.
Perhaps it is the capitalist society, that, as I will elaborate, only values output, that we live under that makes Americans feel like they must go this way: to validate their existence, and have the chance of gaining amorphous respect, or a ‘legacy,’ as a productive cog, under capitalism.
The truth is though, ‘legacy’ doesn’t matter; in fact, it doesn’t exist: everything and everyone everywhere will be forgotten and become an atom in the grand scale of universal time.
This is not up for debate, it is simply a fact.
With that, it is not only a puerile and naïve effort to delay one being forgotten by opting to be productive more than to be happy, but it is a stupid effort.
Rather, knowing our actions in this ether won’t last, and can’t ever last, we must put happiness above all else (within reason, of course - I’m not standing for complete hedonism) and recognize if we want a life-well-lived, -because, surely we do, right?- we must live a happy life.
“Is Happiness, in My Workplace, Needed?”
— Surprisingly said by a lot of employers.
Below is my pessimist ramblings: bon appétit.
In society today we disregard happiness so much that in my research for this newsletter I stumbled upon dozens of articles with headings like “Creating a Happier Workplace Is Possible — and Worth It.”
In particular, the wording of this specific article is so spine-tingling in its soullessness, even in the title: the line “— and Worth It” implies that, as a manager or executive at any given company, the only possible use of happiness, bestowed upon employees, would be for some quantified object, or data point, or increase, rather than for the simple sake of being a good person and engaging in the human urge of helping one’s brethren: helping them be happy - what should be -but, sadly somehow is not- the constant goal of life.
From the article—
“Research shows a causal link between happy workers and a 13% increase in productivity. On the flipside, unhappiness at work costs the world $8.8 trillion in lost productivity, equal to 9% of global GDP[.*]”
Shouldn’t this be obvious: obvious that we must help others -not even just our employees- be happy?
Isn’t that a given?
It’s so disappointing that the Harvard Business Review feels it actually has to provide reasoning instructed to employers on why they should encourage happiness in the workplace.
This may be overly cynical, but we are in a world run by oil, war and short impressions, not belief or community.
So, it’s not their fault, HBR is simply in tune with the American conscience: for nearly everything now, we must have data to back up our decisions and forgo the previously required in favor of product.
Driven by money, and money only, big-time executives and world leaders don’t see anything outside of it, even the most rudimentary morality, which leads down a path without virtue and only gain in mind.
This is long clichéd to say but, Nietzsche was right in stating “God is dead,” especially today where we are peeling back our, once widely considered sacrosanct, philosophical framework because of our lack of worldly rationality behind any and all morality due to the further spreading notion of the absence of a god or divine being supposedly dictating it.
Hopefully, we, as a society can move on from this extremely materialist, consumerist and, arguably, utterly immoral phase.
Know Thyself
On a more optimistic note…
Take what you will from this short passage, but my advice is to “know thyself,” especially when thinking about current and future life goals.
Consider: “Why am I driven to accomplish this?”
If you ask this question, everything will come easier.
I, personally, prioritize productivity in my life because it causes me happiness: not because I feel I must impress or imprint my identity into the world with my achievements, but because I take great pleasure from organization and proper usage of my time.
If you find productivity, or any other goal, coincides with your happiness: pursue it.
If not, don’t.
Strive to live a happy life in every moment.
I love this so much. Have you read A Hedonist’s Manifesto by Michele Onfray? He reframes hedonism in a way that might resonate with you. It did with me.