The ancient hunters and gatherers worked three hours a day, and we don’t always get everything done in even ten. What went wrong and what to do now?
Have you had time to more realistically review your to-do list and plans for 2022? If you had to do this and now you are unhappy with yourself – do not worry. LinkedIn researched over 6 respondents worldwide and found that 89% of them can’t even manage their daily to-do lists. And if we are not able to make a feasible plan for the day, then what about the whole year?
There is also good news. You can achieve more if you learn a few useful tricks: set goals correctly and work on productivity.
However, before doing all this, it is worthwhile, armed with a scientific approach, to figure out: why are we doing this at all? And when did the pursuit of personal achievement and productivity become mainstream?
The evolution of labor
Observations of hunter-gatherer tribes that have survived to this day show that on average people work 3-5 hours a day in them. And it doesn’t occur to them to start a diary to fit a couple more meetings between antelope hunting and dancing around the fire.
Scientists suggest that this is how our ancestors lived tens of thousands of years ago. And then people switched to agriculture, and society was divided into those who worked from dawn to dusk, and those who could afford free time. For example, a peasant in ancient Israel worked eight hours a day, 296 days a year.
However, the idea that, if you work hard, you can achieve anything, in the ancient world would have caused bewilderment. The place of each person in society was determined from birth, and hard work was not considered something noble. So, the ancient philosophers, led by Plato and Aristotle, believed that labor takes away a person’s time, which he could spend on more important things – for example, discussing ideas. Aristotle generally believed that people who are engaged in manual labor and do not have free time should not be recognized as full-fledged citizens or allowed to govern the state.
During the Middle Ages in Europe, the church supported the idea that people should not seek profit and excess wealth. At the same time, idleness was considered a sin, but the daily labor efforts of the majority were aimed simply at maintaining life. And one of the most important privileges of the aristocracy was, again, free time, the presence of which was customarily flaunted. For example, complex and lengthy knightly rituals were invented for this as well.
Success is not the same as happiness
The concept changed around the New Age. Protestants emerged who put labor on a pedestal and “allowed” themselves to profit from work. This idea was well described by Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Its approximate essence is that, according to Protestant ethics, if God has given you a calling – the ability to work well in some area – then you should not resist it. And honestly earned through calling profit shows that you are on the right path. The main thing is not to elevate material wealth to the forefront, and here among the Protestants “approved” wealth is wonderfully combined with asceticism. Weber’s theory has its critics, but they also acknowledge that Protestantism played a role in changing the mentality in Christian countries – at least through the spread of literacy.
With the development of capitalism, the gradual destruction of the estate society and the emergence of the mechanisms of “social lift” began. And the industrial revolution of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries severed the connection of work with natural cycles and brought the idea of productivity: in the late XNUMXth century, Frederick Taylor showed that a worker on an assembly line would work faster – and bring more profit to the factory owner – if you remove unnecessary movements and waste of time . Since then, various ways to increase productivity in the workplace have appeared in both Western and Eastern countries (for example, Japanese kaizen).
In the 1990th century, the Western world was taken over by the “American Dream”—the idea that everyone can (if they try hard enough and stay on track) to succeed, rise to a higher position in society, and make a lot of money. It came to Russia in the XNUMXs and quickly took root: one need only remember how many managers and economists graduated from universities in the first decade after the collapse of the USSR.
By the 30st century, we have dragged the ideas of “achievement” and personal effectiveness into our personal lives – we are constantly improving ourselves, taking more and more courses, learning exotic languages in XNUMX days, sitting on the splits in two weeks and filling out endless to-do lists. We have become accustomed to feel guilty for the minutes “pointlessly” spent watching the series.
It is clear that it is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick. However, back in 1993, a group of scientists from the United States analyzed three studies related to the negative consequences of the “American Dream”. It turned out that the desire for financial well-being and success increases the risk of depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders.
What to do with it? Look for goals that are truly important to you. Another study shows that we feel happier when we spend money not on ourselves, but on others. And realistically assess their capabilities. According to scientists, it is this ability – not to expect more from life than it can give – that allows the Danes to become the happiest nation in Europe year after year.