This article has resonated with me far more than I thought it would.
I can't help but think that this is not just an Uber culture problem but a problem of culture in general. Hyper productivity is so in fashion and I don't think it's good for us.
I spent a number of years in tech in Vancouver and during my time I went though a period of unconscious breakdown which ended up with me in the hospital with perimyocarditis (heart failure due to unknown reasons, ie: stress).
After a number of years doing what I have aspired to do for what is really the majority of my conscious life, I ended up quitting my career and just leaving altogether. I met a girl, she was not from my country, and when she had to leave, I took the opportunity as an out from the life that I was living. At the same time, I began using photography as a way to explore my new city and as a creative outlet, as tech no longer was that outlet and became a source of stress.
The interesting thing is, once I left tech and began to put my free time in to photography I got caught up in the same culture that I've been trying to leave. Managing Instagram, Facebook, 500px, Flickr, and YouTube profiles to garner my following. The constant idolization of " work work work" I see YouTubers and IGers tout. Constantly judging myself against other people. Always feeling like I'm not good enough yet or that I'm lacking in talent that other naturally have. Believing that I'm not living my life correctly in relation to the perceived 10xers around me. Chasing the illusion of the 1%.
This article handed me an epiphany. I'm only taking the life I want to leave with me.
Why is it so that I feel the need to chase hyper productivity as a measurement of success?
> Why is it so that I feel the need to chase hyper productivity as a measurement of success?
The ideals of Protestant Work Ethic have historically dominated north american culture, and provided a work-oriented definition of personal worth. Nose to the grind stone as the most salient measure of personal contribution...
It's one of the reasons I believe that aggressive photography is so common from American, German, and Japanese tourists: it's a vacation-job to fill the days so that even vacation seems like needed production.
Fevered work dreams do not a life make, and cameras quickly turn into filters to avoid experiencing things directly. And the bottom line is that we all need to learn to sit on the floor and play like a 2 year old, without filters and without external expectations.
I can't help but think that this is not just an Uber culture problem but a problem of culture in general. Hyper productivity is so in fashion and I don't think it's good for us.
I spent a number of years in tech in Vancouver and during my time I went though a period of unconscious breakdown which ended up with me in the hospital with perimyocarditis (heart failure due to unknown reasons, ie: stress).
After a number of years doing what I have aspired to do for what is really the majority of my conscious life, I ended up quitting my career and just leaving altogether. I met a girl, she was not from my country, and when she had to leave, I took the opportunity as an out from the life that I was living. At the same time, I began using photography as a way to explore my new city and as a creative outlet, as tech no longer was that outlet and became a source of stress.
The interesting thing is, once I left tech and began to put my free time in to photography I got caught up in the same culture that I've been trying to leave. Managing Instagram, Facebook, 500px, Flickr, and YouTube profiles to garner my following. The constant idolization of " work work work" I see YouTubers and IGers tout. Constantly judging myself against other people. Always feeling like I'm not good enough yet or that I'm lacking in talent that other naturally have. Believing that I'm not living my life correctly in relation to the perceived 10xers around me. Chasing the illusion of the 1%.
This article handed me an epiphany. I'm only taking the life I want to leave with me.
Why is it so that I feel the need to chase hyper productivity as a measurement of success?