the pandemic productivity infatuation

​It’s January 2020, and I am about to start my final semester at Duke. After three and a half grueling years studying engineering, I’m ready for a change of pace. This semester’s going to be a breeze. I’m in easy classes and do not have the pressure of needing to find a job. 
 
As I walk around campus, I can’t help but notice stressed underclassmen worrying about exams, papers, and internships. It’s a constant one-up competition where they brag about how little they slept, and how much work they managed to do. Productivity is a social signal.
 
Three months later, classes are canceled and campus is deserted. But my Zoom calls with peers don’t feel that different. Everyone is talking about how little work they get done at home. Geographically isolated, but united in the quest for productivity.
 
I go on Twitter and it’s the same thing. My feed is full of people talking about their productivity levels. Some like working from home, others don’t. Some use the newfound free time to execute on their dreams. Others feel disillusioned and sit on the couch complaining about how hard it is to get anything done at home. 
 
As an international student, I’m naturally stressed. I’m not from here. My group chat with other internationals is blowing up. Duke wants us off campus, but we don’t know if it’s even safe to fly home. And if it is, where do I get the money to pay for the flight? What’s going to happen to my job? I’ve already signed a 1-year lease on my New York apartment. If I leave the country will I be allowed back in? And my visa status?
 
My first thought is – I need to get on top of all this. If I can just sit down for a few hours and be productive, I can get a headstart on all these issues and I’ll feel better.
 
But just like my peers, I can’t get anything done. I turn to my phone and come across photos from my freshman year and I start to reminisce about the good old days. Oh, how I miss those days.
 
It’s during this moment of reflection that I realize how we, as humans, only appreciate things in hindsight. We’re not accustomed to living in the moment. That’s why all those underclassmen are stressed about exams and internships. That’s why I’m stressed about my job. In that moment it starts making sense to me. We’re so infatuated with productivity because we’re so worried about the future.
 
Maybe that’s why so few people follow their passions. Peter Thiel hit the nail on the head when he said: “higher education is the place where people who had big plans in high school get stuck in fierce rivalries with equally smart peers over conventional careers like management consulting and investment banking.”
 
Duke is a small sample size but wow, almost everyone I know is working for a bank, a consulting firm, or a big tech company (myself included). Students come to college with big dreams, but this culture of worrying about the future forces people to brush aside the things they love. We delay pursuing passions in order to secure our futures so that we can provide for ourselves and our families. 
 
In the process of doing so, we tell ourselves that once we’re comfortable, once we’re settled down, then we’ll finally do what we love. But by the time that comes around, most people are tired, burnt out, and don’t have the energy. 
 
As college students, we should learn to embrace our naivety. At this juncture in our lives, we’re the most passionate and most willing to experiment that we’ll ever be. And the timing is perfect. The current dislocation in the world provides the perfect backdrop for us to make change, no matter the size.
 
Let’s shift our focus away from productivity for productivity’s sake. Being productive for the sake of it gives us a false sense of accomplishment. Sure, we feel good after a busy day, after we’ve seemingly done a lot. But I urge my peers to rethink productivity. Let us veer off the beaten path, let us zone in on pursuits that provide genuine satisfaction, and let us use the problems that this pandemic has exacerbated as a launching pad for change.