Why Our Obsession With Productivity Is All Wrong - Oliver Burkeman - #772

About this episode

Oliver Burkeman is a journalist, a writer for The Guardian and an author. We often find ourselves caught in a productivity spiral, feeling as though we aren’t accomplishing enough and scalding ourselves when we fall short of impossibly high bars. What drives this constant pursuit of perfection? Is it truly beneficial to continuously seek efficiency? Expect to learn why so many of us have a ruthless obsession with being productive, the problem with trying to optimise efficiency as much as possible, why control is such a point of tension in our lives, what the relationship is between productivity and emotions, whether there is power in embracing your limitations instead of trying to fix them, why it’s so hard to cut ourselves some slack, how we can make writing less hard and much more... Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get 10% off all Legendary Foods purchases at https://EatLegendary.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://bit.ly/sharkwisdom (use code MW10) Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period from Shopify at https://www.shopify.com/modernwisdom (automatically applied at checkout) Timestamps: (00:00) The Modern Mental Health Crisis (05:21) Are Therapists the Problem? (08:53) Do We Just Need to Connect to Our Feelings More? (14:39) Does Therapy Make Mental Health Worse? (22:17) Gen-Z Are Learning to Be Avoidant (27:31) Finding a Sweet Spot With Therapy (33:27) The Paradox in Depression Treatment (37:47) Therapy Culture Vs Bad Therapy (43:19) Are Smartphones & Climate Change to Blame? (51:23) The Impact of Single-Parent Households (55:04) Schools Making Parents Into Enemies (01:01:28) Overuse of the Word ‘Trauma’ (01:05:57) Is Mindfulness a Better Way? (01:14:34) Kids Are Too Over-Medicated (01:19:31) A Better Way Forward (01:23:35) Where to Find Abigail Extra Stuff: Check out Oliver’s BBC Maestro Course - https://www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/oliver-burkeman/time-management  Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: This Is How To Master Your Life - David Goggins - #577: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins⁠⁠⁠ How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs - Dr Jordan Peterson - #712: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson⁠⁠⁠ The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain - Dr Andrew Huberman - #700: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman⁠⁠ - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices