Speed Is Killing Us

I am sure that everyone knows of the saying Less is More, but in reality, what does that really mean. We all equate “Less” to simply materialistic items, such as less clothes, less shoes, and less possessions. However I do not believe that the material items are at the core of this issue, I believe it is all the intangible things that add to the stress of the modern-day. These intangible things can be meetings, hobbies, work, projects, relationships, and status. We are all trying to decrease our material possessions but don’t look at decreasing our intangible commitments. We are all trying to do so much more than we can handle, and who can blame us. There is so much more in the world to try, to experience, to commit to, but this is also a problem as there is so much to try, to experience, and to commit to. This is a blessing and curse. Many of the issues that I see, is that people are committing themselves to many things, and are not committing to themselves. We are obsessed with Speed and living life to the fullest. We sign up for that extra class, we tell our friends that we can see that movie, we tell our boss we can handle one more project, we tell our group mates we can do one more task, we tell our partners we can visit that new boba shop, and we tell ourselves that by doing all this we will increase our status in our social circles. 

After a while, we start realizing that we cannot meet all these commitments, but instead of turning them down, we look to other solutions to make us faster. Unfortunately, we cannot say NO to these commitments, because if we do we are not following the “Hustler Mindset” that modern society puts on a pedestal and will fall behind. This starts with us taking away time from core activities, such as sleep and time for ourselves. These two times are very easy to neglect because they are stretchable times. Meaning that these two activities compress and extend to our liking. If we have work to do we can cut down on our sleep, and we won’t see a consequence right away, same goes for cutting down on time for ourselves. We cut down these times because we cannot cut down studying or work, as cutting down on those activities have greater consequences. We also may neglect our diet, and rely on ordering takeout or eating fast food because we no longer have the time to cook for ourselves. As we go faster and try to follow the trend of overextending ourselves, we can start seeing some real negative consequences within our health. And the solutions to our problems are simple, commit less and focus on ourselves, but honestly who got time for that.

Now since we cannot cut back on our commitments, due to our ego and pride, we look for other solutions that make us faster. Since slowing down is not an option, the only thing left to do is speed up. We do this by looking for shortcuts in our solutions and ignore the simple solutions. This can lead us into falling into the trap of Artificial Complexity, credit to Nat Eliason for the idea. This idea is that basically, we think the problem is more complex than it actually is, and thus the solution to the problem has to be just as complex. For example, there is an entire industry that is devoted to helping people deal with their lack of sleep: Caffeine. This industry profits on Hustle Culture and the trend of over-committing ourselves for the sake of our egos. With Caffeine, people can get away with getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night, and still be able to perform at a decent level. However, even though caffeine is not bad for you, sleep deprivation definitely is. After a month of this lifestyle, the amount of caffeine intake will start reaching unhealthy levels. You may start consuming 4-5 cups of coffee or 2-3 energy drinks a day and needing more and more caffeine due to your increasing caffeine tolerance. Soon enough, the withdrawals will become too painful to bear, and you’ll start needing caffeine as soon as you get up. However, this lack of sleep will eventually get to you and soon your productivity will drop and so will your health with it. And this problem could have been completely avoided if you just made fewer commitments and followed the simple solution of sleeping 7-8 hours a day. A quote by Molly Conway sums it up best:

“It’s easier to stomach needing three jobs to make ends meet if we rebrand ourselves as hustlers. So we pour ourselves another cup of coffee, post an inspirational meme and abide by the national motto of Rise and Grind, ever on the search for a new “hack” that will help us get more done in less time. But if we choose to capitalize on all of our resources, when do we get to choose ourselves?”

This can also be applied to many other problems that we face, such as diet, exercise, and random appliances/devices. Such as a new diet pill/supplement, a new exercise fad, or a Nespresso machine (Don’t worry I also enjoy coffee). Capitalism profits greatly out of creating and enforcing artificial complexity and our addiction to speed is only propagating this issue. 

Due to our addiction to speed, we see burnout and mental health issues becoming more prevalent. We are no longer putting our needs first, but purely our egos. We are trying to achieve peak performance in everything we do while neglecting the foundations. I have dealt with this during the fall of 2020. I was overcommitting myself and relying on substances and shortcuts to keep up while neglecting my sleep, my diet, and my mental health. This led to me having health issues and required me to rethink how I approached my studies, work, and other commitments. I was forced to take a step back and I am glad I did. I was able to reflect and grow in directions that I found meaningful. I hope that this piece gently pushes you to reflect and ask yourself are you living a life for yourself or your ego.