This post presents an important, highly relevant message from Azim Shariff, Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Let us condense some of the key findings into the following paragraph:
We value activity more than productivity. Hard work is valued more than purpose and what it is supposed to produce. We work hard to signal to others that we are hardworking. We see work as moral and as something that makes us good people. This is not an argument against hard work, but a question: how much hard work is directed only at building or defending our reputation, our status? This time could be spent on ourselves, on relationships, on rest, on purpose. We have created a culture that demands (or values) the wrong thing. If we value hard work and effort, we will get a world full of hard work and effort. If we value purpose, we will get a world full of purpose.
“People who work hard are good people”
The talk is set in the context of a TED Platform event. The key question he asks is: does hard work make us good people? Secondly, a key distinction is offered: between a culture of work and a culture of meaning and purpose – between activity and productivity.
In general, we see a person who works hard as more moral; even if the work itself does not add value. That is, if a person chooses to work and to be hard-working, regardless of an assessment of the necessity, the reasonableness or even the appropriate path chosen in carrying out that work. The simple rule is: “people who work hard are (perceived as) good people”.
Work is good (in itself, regardless of what it is for or what it produces). So if we place value on activity rather than productivity, we start to pay more attention to the fact that a person is working hard than to what that work is supposed to achieve or produce. This comes with a high human cost. Instead of devoting time to rest, to nurture our health, to do other things that matter, we devote ourselves to signalling our activity and industriousness to others (workaholism is thus a matter of pride, but it is often intended to reassure others that we are good persons).
Paradim 