On the Age of Productivity
Hey Neurons,
This week, I was considering the idea of productivity and how, in our day and age, we try to optimize for it in such a manner that our bodies, relationships, and life in general suffer. Especially in university, the idea of the hyperproductive individual is being touted as the ideal to strive towards. Although, as a student, I would have considered myself productive, I think that as I move forward in my academic career, I become less and less enamoured by this idea of being productive.
What is the problem with productivity?
Many topics spring to mind when we consider productivity, all of which have value and merit to discuss. However, I think the three main points that I struggle with are: the focus on the individual, the focus on time spent, and the focus on linear progress.
The focus on the individual
In academic culture, we often regard the individual as the productive person. It is the individual who creates, produces, and makes the scientific work happen. However, what is often forgotten is that behind this individual is a whole team that helps facilitate the work. During my time as a researcher, I have worked in quite a few labs. I would say that my working style has not changed that much in the last few years. However, my output has waxed and waned. Although I could not recognize it at the time, this reduction in my output was often correlated with the number of resources around me.
For example, when I worked in a smaller lab in Japan, we did not have a technician to help with the devices, which meant that I spent quite a few hours each day fixing small errors within the devices. Whereas, when I worked in the Netherlands, we actually had a dedicated IT team. This meant that my time there could be more fully dedicated to writing papers, coding, etc. Therefore, when we think of the productive individual, we often blame a lack of productivity on the individual when output is not being created at the “speed” it should, even though it is often a community effort to create output.
The focus on time spend
Another factor that is often attributed to a productive individual is the ability to dedicate long hours to one singular task. We imagine someone studying 12-hour days in the library and hacking away at scientific problems with singular focus. Setting aside, again, this focus on the individual in the narrative, I also find the emphasis on spending long periods of time on a singular task constricting. Although there is, of course, importance in sitting down with difficult problems and not immediately giving up. I believe, within science, it is not often the hard grind that gives you the insight that you need.
Oftentimes, small chats with colleagues can get us unstuck from a difficult problem that has been plaguing us much faster than the mechanistic, solitary grind. The idea that one has to seclude oneself for 12 hours to get meaningful work done is not only silly but also an almost robotic approach to progress. Instead, think of science more as a way of spending time in contemplation, with colleagues, and in life, where you keep coming back to certain problems, spend some time with them, and then let them go until the next day, when the process repeats again.
The Focus on Linear Progress
Lastly, within productivity culture there is this idea of linear progress, where if you work hard enough on a certain problem, you will always reach a solution. However, within science — and I think, to some extent, also life — this almost never proves to be true. The work or problem you dedicate your time to may never have a solution. Furthermore, it could be that the solution you found gets disproven next week or next year. This does not mean that the time you spent on this problem was unproductive. Inherently, science itself cannot truly be measured by linear progress or the standards of productivity culture in our society. There is probably no such thing as a productive scientist, just a scientist trying to find answers to the problems that plague them. Thus, letting go of some of these notions of productivity is something that I have been working on for the last few months. I try to see the time I spend on certain problems not as inherently productive or unproductive, but simply as part of the journey that might bring me closer to some of the solutions I am seeking.
📚 Something to read
📚 Paper - Heterogeneity and Classification of Recent Onset Psychosis and Depression - Currently, I am working through some of the material in the field of machine learning for the prediction of psychosis and schizophrenia. This is one paper that started this search and looks at the differences between psychosis and depression. In general, within psychiatry, it has proven hard to find stable neurobiological features that help us predict the current presence of mental conditions or the future risk of developing them. Most conditions seem to overlap in their behavioural variables, as well as in their neurobiological fingerprints. This paper looks at this comorbidity and general prediction performance based on brain imaging, as well as other factors. I would say that this field is still relatively young and has a lot of progress to make; for example, we do not yet know which brain features are most predictive, why certain neurobiological covariates are so hard to identify, or even whether the categories we use for the classification of mental health conditions are correct. I find this research personally very exciting and hope you enjoy reading about it too.
🧠 NeuroSnips Community
P.S. One thing I want to do more of this year is have conversations with people in the NeuroSnips community about learning, growth, and the kind of person they’re trying to become.
I’m especially curious about:
- what you’re currently trying to learn or master
- where you feel stuck or inconsistent
- what would help you think more clearly, learn more deeply, or grow more intentionally
So I’ve opened a few 1:1 deep dive sessions over the next few weeks.
These are relaxed 30-minute conversations, and mostly a chance for me to better understand what curious people are struggling with and what kind of support/resources would genuinely help.
If that sounds interesting, you can book a session here: