I closed another tab today. A $49-a-month "neuroscience-based mind training" app promises to "improve your focus span" through gamified, focused sessions.  I'm tired. Not because my attention span has waned, but because the entire genre of productivity wellness has become exhausting.  Somewhere along the line, "doing good work" has morphed into a performance identity and a subscription economy.  You know, the aesthetic is great.  A Notion template with 47 custom properties, like a server cluster.  A morning routine that requires you to wake up at 4:53 AM because "cognitive alignment is at its peak."  A Pomodoro timer embedded in your IDE prompts you to make a decision.  A meditation app that sends push notifications to remind you to focus on the present.  A productivity influencer films herself at a $3,000 standing desk under a ring light and delivers quotes about discipline.  Everything is presented as "your best self," "beautiful systems," "better you," and "powerful morning routines."  Everything is optimized.  Everything is tracked.  Everything is branded.  And somehow, none of it makes us clearer.  We're just... performing. Productivity Has Become a Personality (And a Commodity) We once thought of productivity as "doing something." Now, it's "being yourself." Or worse, "something you have to do to feel good." Wellness is about consistently increasing your productivity and staying positive.  Let it go, even if it's hard. It's not your fault, it's childhood wounds... your inner child. An endless journey of healing. Intoxicated by tear-jerking techniques. Can you really call yourself productive without a color-coded roadmap, 12 automation flows, three habit stacks, and a NASA-style Notion dashboard? Yes, I understand the desire to find light in the universe. The wellness industry learned this secret from technology:  Turn personal anxiety into a subscription. And now, the productivity world is following suit.  Focus-enhancing apps  Dopamine detox apps  Habit trackers  AI accountability bots  "Get More Done" bootcamps  Content creators selling PDFs on discipline  Everything claims to be "neuroscience-based," as if attaching a diagram of the prefrontal cortex justifies the cycle.  But here's the quiet truth:  Most people who use productivity tools aren't trying to be more productive. They're trying to escape their discomfort. The Hidden Cost of the Productivity Aesthetic The Hidden Cost of the Productivity Aesthetic When productivity becomes a performance identity, three things happen. 1. Output Becomes Proof of Worth 1. Output Becomes Proof of Worth Not tasks.Not progress.Butevidence of being a good, disciplined, optimized human. evidence of being a good, disciplined, optimized human You’re no longer working.You’re constantly proving you’re working. This is why people post screenshots of their time trackers.Not because it helps—because it gives them an identity anchor. 2. Tools Replace Thinking 2. Tools Replace Thinking Tools that were supposed to support you start making decisions for you: “It’s Pomodoro time.”
“Your optimal work interval is starting.”
“It’s time for deep focus.” “It’s Pomodoro time.” “Your optimal work interval is starting.” “It’s time for deep focus.” Your mind becomes an API responding to external triggers. You’re guided, not grounded. 3. Productivity Shame Becomes a Default State 3. Productivity Shame Becomes a Default State If you didn’t hit your streak, if you didn’t do your habit stack, if you didn’t meditate for 12 minutes… The inner dialogue arrives: “You’re slipping.”“Try harder.”“Others are disciplined, why not you?” Productivity becomes a moral performance.And exhaustion becomes inevitable. Buddhist Perspective: The Loop Beneath the Loop Buddhist Perspective: The Loop Beneath the Loop Buddhist cognitive science describes a mechanism older than any productivity app: contact → feeling tone → craving → clinging → becoming contact → feeling tone → craving → clinging → becoming Meaning: Something happens (notification, expectation, comparison)
You feel pleasant/unpleasant/neutral
The mind leans toward or away
Identity fuses: “I should be better”
A new mental loop forms Something happens (notification, expectation, comparison) You feel pleasant/unpleasant/neutral The mind leans toward or away Identity fuses: “I should be better” A new mental loop forms When the loop is tied to identity—“I am a productive person,”“I must maximize myself,”“I need to optimize every hour”—the loop becomes nearly unbreakable. This is why productivity wellness feels heavy:It targets behavior while ignoring the cognitive and emotional architecture underneath. It tries to control the output instead of understanding the process. output process What We’re Actually Hungry For What We’re Actually Hungry For It’s not streaks.It’s not dashboard aesthetics.It’s not peak performance metrics. We’re hungry for something quieter: clarity instead of pressure
presence instead of optimization
meaning instead of metrics
a relationship with work that doesn’t cannibalize the self clarity instead of pressure clarity instead of pressure presence instead of optimization presence instead of optimization meaning instead of metrics meaning instead of metrics a relationship with work that doesn’t cannibalize the self a relationship with work that doesn’t cannibalize the self People don’t want to "get more done."They want to feel less fragmented. They want to work without the constant internal commentary of: “You should be maximizing this moment.” Why I Finally Stopped Performing Productivity Why I Finally Stopped Performing Productivity I got tired of ritualized self-improvement.Of hacking myself.Of believing discipline is the only antidote to being human.Of thinking a more optimized workflow would solve emotional uncertainty. I didn’t need more systems.I needed to understand thearchitecture of my inner loops. architecture of my inner loops. I needed to see why certain patterns repeat.Why discomfort becomes urgency.Why fatigue becomes self-criticism.Why identity fuses with output so easily. And I learned something: Most people don’t need to be more productive.They need a way to understand their own mind without shame or performance. Most people don’t need to be more productive.They need a way to understand their own mind without shame or performance. Most people don’t need to be more productive.They need a way to understand their own mind without shame or performance. Everything else is marketing. A Final Thought A Final Thought The wellness-productivity complex will keep inventing new tools, new routines, new systems, new “neuroscience-based methods.”It has to.The business model depends on it. But there is nothing wrong with your mind.There is nothing wrong with your attention.There is nothing wrong with your pace.There is nothing wrong with your humanity. What’s wrong is the idea that you must perform a perfectly optimized self to be worthy. You don’t need another streak.You need a gentler relationship with your inner world. And that doesn’t come from a subscription. Once, what’s wrong is the idea that you must perform a perfectly optimized self to be worthy.

Notion

Why I’m Tired of Productivity Wellness (And What It’s Doing to Our Minds)

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

Discomfort as Human Technology: A Brain Function Beyond Predictive Coding

I Don’t Trust AI to Write My Code—But I Let It Read Everything

3 Common Misconceptions Fintech Founders Have About Engineering Teams

What I Learned from Giving People a Choice in Ride Types

10 Ways to Prevent Burnout While Working From Home

11 Ways to Fight Burnout 🔥

Discomfort as Human Technology: A Brain Function Beyond Predictive Coding

I Don’t Trust AI to Write My Code—But I Let It Read Everything

3 Common Misconceptions Fintech Founders Have About Engineering Teams

What I Learned from Giving People a Choice in Ride Types

10 Ways to Prevent Burnout While Working From Home

11 Ways to Fight Burnout 🔥

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Minty

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps