The Cult of Toxic Productivity
If you’re on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, you’ve probably seen a meme like this:
After seeing this the first time, I was shocked, but after seeing it multiple times, I just got pissed. As someone said so astutely, rise and grind Twitter is truly toxic. (I said what I said. Or rather, the person who said this whose name I unfortunately can’t remember said what SHE said.) We are in the middle of a pandemic and folks are shaming people that aren’t ready to birth the next six-figure startup, learn how to cross-stitch or read War and Peace.
Nowhere is the cult of productivity and shame more prolific than academia. I’ve heard way too many stories about departments expecting the same level of productivity from women in particular who are trying to juggle work and new unexpected careers as stay home moms. The fact that submissions to journals are up, but are mostly coming from men rubs salt in the wound. And no, the menfolk are not doing it while they’re doing most of the homeschooling.
It goes without saying that #notallmen so if it don’t apply, let it fly. However, the thing that REALLY took the cake was this article from STAT News. The article starts out fine, acknowledging that COVID-19 has thrown everyone’s research, including that of the author’s into disarray. Then came this comment:
“The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has thrown research into disarray, not knowing when this will end has further heightened anxieties. Yet as some wise leaders have said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
In that spirit, during this time of social distancing it’s helpful to focus on work that gives us meaning. Researchers can not only remain productive but have opportunities to gain new insights, bond more closely with their teams, make new collaborations, and have the one thing we never have time for at work: time to think.”
Have we forgotten that oh…we’re in a pandemic that has negatively impacted people’s mental health, including those of fellow academics??? There’s a short hat tip to acknowledging mental health challenges…before you dive into a research meeting. Further, the article fails to acknowledge that many of us have family members and close friends (particularly first gen and/or POC scholars) that are disproportionately exposed to COVID-19.Look, those of us with dependents or that are engaged in other caretaking responsibilities simply can’t maintain our former productivity—nor should we. Even scholars that don’t have others depending on them are struggling! This is not even to mention the impact this crisis is having on adjuncts and other contingent workers that make our research possible (and I say that as someone privileged enough to be at an R1 with a low teaching load).
So here’s my unsolicited loving advice:
Be kind to yourself and give yourself all the grace in the world. Just getting through the day is enough.
If you decide that you want to push the work forward, working on a regular or semi-regular basis is the way to go. Start with 10 minutes a day of writing, 3 days a week. I know it doesn’t feel like a lot, but touching your work regularly vs. binging has been shown to result in more output.
Oh, and one more thing.
