December Issue III

12 features | DECEMBER 2020
is productivity an
overrated concept?
By PAIGE BAILEY ‘24
Throughout the pandemic, how
many times have you heard
something along the lines of:
“You have to make use of all this
new free time!”
What is this sudden, almost-universal
drive to be productive? The truth is, the
surge of motivation to accomplish things
that we “haven’t had time to do before” is a
false hope at the core.
Near the beginning of March, the general
public viewed the temporary quarantine
as a chance to take a break and relax.
This short-sighted mentality didn’t prompt
a sustainable drive to achieve lofty goals
since most people believed that the world
would soon be back to normal.
In the initial panic of the pandemic,
people stocked up on paper towels and
hand sanitizer, prepared to wait out the two
weeks necessary to “flatten the curve.”
It soon became apparent these people
were severely mistaken. As the quarantine
stretched longer and longer, the second
wave of panic rippled through the American
population.
This time, the panic was generally
more self-reflective. People began to fear
the imminent boredom that comes from an
extended period of confinement and wondered
about how they might retain a sense
of normalcy in their day-to-day lives.
Thus began the start of the daily
schedules, routines, chores, and planned
activities that most children in America received
from their parents, and most adults
created for themselves, according to an article
in The New York Times.
was this motivation so short-lived?
An article in The New Republic claims
that much of the burnout during April and
May is directly linked to the perpetuation
through internet news and media outlets
As the quarantine dates were stretched
longer and longer, a second wave of
panic rippled throughout the American “population.”
of “America’s hustle culture.” For months
on end, countless websites kept producing
articles overflowing with suggestions for
a never-ending quarantine to-do list, and
naturally, people absorbed them.
The excessive “go-getter”mentality
which many Americans have subconsciously
adopted was taken to an entirely
new level during the early stages of quarantine.
People took to the streets for family
walks and bought books in a frenzy to
what would they do if the new free time
was wasted on idle things like binging TV
shows or taking naps?
In such chaotic times, we have to
learn to prioritize, even if it’s at the cost of
“real productivity.” However, considering
how we are all faced with an abundance of
outside distractions, not only the pandemic
but also the election results and other hardships
that presented themselves, The Outline
writer Drew Millard pointedly asks,
How productive can we really be?
It’s far more important to focus on
our own individual happiness than forcing
ourselves to do things we hate to achieve
a false sense of self-fulfillment to distract
ourselves. The most that we can do for
well-being is simply doing what makes
us happy, whatever that may be: watching
Netflix, baking, exercising, sleeping, or
scrolling through TikTok.
Quite honestly, if we are doing what
we love, we’re all productive in keeping
ourselves happy, which is more than
enough.
Most remember this surge of motivation
as a “phase” of quarantine and not an
adapted lifestyle. So the question is, why add to their “quarantine resumes,” because Graphics and design by Chloe Yan ‘24