I have this weird conspiracy theory based on absolutely nothing that all the procrastination hype is sponsored by state actors of the western world who are worried we are falling behind the east in terms of productivity per capita.
I mean I'm sure some people suffer from real procrastination, but these cases are quite easily identified: horrible junk filled houses, terrible hygiene and health, no job, things of the sort.
Except these extreme cases, yeah, everybody could do more of everything and be more productive. But think about it, no organism wants to burn energy unless absolutely necessary. Any effort you undertake costs you something. A broken back and a broken mind are not exactly rare for heavy workers. If you have your needs covered why would go with "more is better"? There's no undertaking without risk or cost.
I’m not sure you’re talking about the type of procrastination people complain about.
It seems more like you’re saying ‘you don’t need to be working on that second side gig’. Which, sure (Assuming someone isn’t on the edge of insolvency due to lack of income, anyway and has tried cutting back on expenses.).
But what typically causes people to complain are things like - procrastinating looking for a job because the market is tight and scary. Or procrastinating on doing the taxes because ugh, or procrastinating on finding that weird production data corruption bug that is going to suck.
Which have consequences, and cause a lot of stress avoiding them, and realistically aren’t actually optional.
Like ADHD meds, the tools can help someone go in the wrong direction ‘harder’ if used without thinking about it or if someone has a bad plan.
A shitty environment and unrealistic workload isn’t going to NOT result in burnout if it doesn’t get better, no matter how much Adderall someone takes, or how good they get at tackling procrastination.
But if taking care of something (like looking for a better job!) will produce a better outcome, but someone is procrastinating, then the tools can help.
Procrastination feels absolutely terrible, just like binge eating. You know it's wrong but you keep doing it because you are not in a good place mentally.
Even if ending procrastination led to no increase in productivity it would still be a good achievement for mental wellness
For someone like me, it's not productivity that's the problem. It's that procrastination causes me to not do the things I enjoy, either because I'm procrastinating on something else and not able to avoid it, or because I'm literally not getting started on leaving the house or planning the camping trip or getting the motorcycle ready, whatever. Maybe productivity porn has the underlying conspiracy you mention, but ADHD doesn't really.
I mean I'm sure some people suffer from real procrastination, but these cases are quite easily identified: horrible junk filled houses, terrible hygiene and health, no job, things of the sort.
Except these extreme cases, yeah, everybody could do more of everything and be more productive. But think about it, no organism wants to burn energy unless absolutely necessary. Any effort you undertake costs you something. A broken back and a broken mind are not exactly rare for heavy workers. If you have your needs covered why would go with "more is better"? There's no undertaking without risk or cost.