It’s a Friday afternoon, and you are done with the tasks you set for the week — time to turn off the laptop and go home. Join your friends for a pizza, or spend time with our significant other. Maybe game night? Its been some time since the last time you played.
But wait, a feeling of guilt is building up. It’s “only” 4 pm, and you also had lots of meetings taking up your time this week. Did you use the week to its fullest? You could still answer the email that just came in — you know, to show that you are willing to go the extra mile. Or what about that article you put on your reading list a week ago already? No, you should already start pushing the project for next quarter to impress your advisors and peers. Don’t postpone it another week, otherwise how can you make a name for yourself? After all, you want to reach that next promotion.
In today's world, we're always on. We are constantly pushing for more success. We are living in an achievement society that praises those who do more, faster, better.
Compared to the past, many cognitive jobs are becoming independent in the design of work tasks and goals. What your tasks and achievements will look like depends mostly on you. Whatever you create for yourself and your environment determines your success.
By you becoming more independent it gets increasingly difficult to disconnect from work during your non-work time. In the past, once the tasks agreed upon between you and your boss were done, you could leave work in good faith… and be done for the day.
Today, we’ve become our own taskmasters, pushing for constant improvement and constant productivity. We are at war with ourselves at ourselves. We've constructed a mental prison where we feel watched and judged, even after work hours — because we could always do and achieve more. This self-imposed surveillance is tiring. A voice inside us says, "You can do more if you just push a little harder.” And probably you could. But what is the price?
You won’t have time for the things that matter in life!
Spending time with your friends and loved ones. Regular exercise and a healthy diet. Connecting with nature. Relaxing and reducing stress for extended periods of time. All of these make you happy (and productive) in the long run. Chances are high that you won’t have enough time for the beautiful things that make life worth living if you become the victim of a success-seeking taskmaster.
Greed has no end. You can always get another promotion, more money, and more professional recognition. It’s a hamster wheel. You can spin it, and spin it, and spin it...
The idea of consistently achieving more can also make us more egoistic. We increasingly ask only what is good for us. Does a favor we do for someone else return something back that helps us later? Adam Grant did a great job in his book “Give and Take,” providing nuance to this concept. We have increasingly become takers trying to capitalize on our own profit. We sometimes even think of new friends and acquaintances we make as a quit-pro-quo relationship. The joy of relationships? It gets lost in our ever-seeking success demands.
When you look back at the last few years, what memories do you want to remember? What are the non-professional experiences that shaped your personality?
The hamster wheel will keep spinning.
Will you stop and step out to see the beauties of life?