The Anti-Capitalist Case for Productivity

I’ve done a lot of anti-capitalist organizing over the years, so it can raise an eyebrow or two when I tell my friends that I’ve become a productivity coach. Have I bought into the idea that your worth is based on how productive you are? Have I sold out and started helping bosses exploit their workers?

Fortunately, the answer is no. I don’t care how many widgets per hour you produce, how much shareholder value you create, or what the GDP is. I would love to see a decrease in the standard workweek, an increase in paid leave, and universal benefits good enough that people could survive without a job.

But I also love getting stuff done. And I’m pretty sure everyone does, under the right circumstances.

Productivity is fulfilling

Forget about the part where working earns money. Take out the part where a boss or client is tapping their foot impatiently at you. Ignore the manager filling out an evaluation. That’s all capitalist trappings.

Productivity at its core is about you interacting with the world, expressing yourself, making an impact.

I love sitting on the couch eating bon-bons as much as anybody — more than many, if we’re being honest — but I don’t think a life entirely comprised of bon-bon sitting would be fulfilling.

I look at my friends who are constantly making art for no reason except that it’s really, really cool. I look at the wildly successful open source software community. I look at people who feel a little aimless when they retire. And I conclude that humans love doing stuff.

Procrastination feels terrible

But of course, all the capitalist trappings are still here. Not all work is fair or fulfilling. And that’s why I don’t help people with just any productivity issue. I’m up-front that I can’t help people whose bosses are asking them to do more than is humanly possible. And I’m not here to make you do things even when you really need a nap, or to push you to tackle a project that actually feels wrong to you. To me, saying no to tasks out of wisdom isn’t procrastination; it’s discernment.

Procrastination, in my book, is when you truly want or need to do something, but you’re at war with yourself over it. You try, and you freeze. You think about it, and you get overwhelmed. You find yourself walking to the fridge, or washing the dishes, or scrolling social media, and you don’t remember deciding to do so — your body just evacuated you from the situation when you got close to an intimidating task.

Procrastination feels awful. The inner conflict can show up as tension in your body. The “evacuation” can show up as brain fog. I used to have my pantry stocked with crunchy pita chips at all times because I would get my stress out through all the crunching whenever my boss wanted me to do something I didn’t think I could handle.

Even when you’re doing something fun or relaxing to procrastinate on your work, the work is hanging over your head, weighing you down. It’s harder to fully relax because guilty thoughts keep creeping in. If you do manage to forget about it, sooner or later the deadline approaches and the fear kicks in hard.

It’s all that suffering that motivates me to be a productivity coach. It’s not because I want you to get more done. Well, okay, I do think it would be cool if your self-expression and passion were unleashed on the world. But the reason that’s closest to my heart is that I don’t want anybody to have to feel this crappy just to do their day-to-day activities. Hardship is inevitable in this world, but to plan on it every weekday for your whole working life? I’m just not okay with that!

I coach people through procrastination because they’re more than just workers to exploit. We’re all human beings with feelings, and those feelings matter, even if they don’t make stocks go up.

Resolving procrastination is about inner peace

Ultimately, I’m in the business of conflict resolution. I help you find the part of you that desperately wants to get something done, and the part of you that desperately wants to avoid doing it, and I help you mediate between them and meet their needs, turning inner conflict into inner peace.

Inner peace leads to more productivity, kind of like how outer peace leads to more food production: war takes resources.

It takes energy to stress-clean, or stress-crunch pita chips, or ruminate about all the things you should be doing while you let Netflix wash over you. Ending the inner war frees up that energy so you can use it to create something.

It takes time to avoid a task by endlessly scrolling through social media. Resolving your inner conflict can free up that time so you can spend it with your loved ones and your hobbies — all those things that make you you, besides your job.

Less pain yes gain

Hustle culture implies that feeling good and being productive can’t go together — you have to choose one, and you should choose productivity.

Then self-care culture fights back, saying no, you should choose feeling good. But it often subtly agrees with hustle culture that you have to choose one.

But feeling better and getting more done can actually reinforce each other. Sure, there will be moments of boredom or frustration in your work, and there will be times when you need a break. But you don’t have to choose between slacking off and burning out. I think the best way to enjoy life is to do whatever we do — action or rest — without fighting ourselves.

Next steps

If this got you fired up to take on your procrastination, take my What’s Your Procrastination Type? quiz to start figuring out how you can do that.

Photo by SwapnIl Dwivedi on Unsplash