Productivity is a CULT - Healing Diaries (Ep3)

still trying to find the balance between being creative and creating but not putting pressure on being productive and producing, it’s an incredibly fine line that I think a lot of us struggle with

I wrote in my personal journal that “I am okay with being mediocre as long as I make meaningful connections”. I am working towards grad school and I am okay with being accepted in the lower rank of the class. I don’t want to be notable and the best influence. I just want to be sure I can connect with my loved ones and care for my mental health.

This is so true about toxic productivity from personal experience I remember if the day past like a weekend and haven’t done anything I would feel so guilty and even when it was 4pm I would start panicking I haven’t done anything. I started doing hobbies so I would be productive and not waste my time. Then this year in June we went Spain on holiday and it hit me that I don’t need to productive 24/7

I spent whole summer with studying. Now it's time to go back to school, I don't feel any good at all. I pushed myself so hard to study now I just can't do it anymore, I am sitting but when I look at my books I just wanna puke and never ever do this again. I gave myself a break but since its full with guilt I can't even properly enjoy it. Hope this video is gonna clear my head

i was in bed trying to sleep but the guilt of not doing any work today on my dissertation kept me up and i felt like crying. so i opened youtube in hopes of feeling better and saw this video. thank you so much because i’m on my way to dreamland now

It's hard when you're not someone that loves or even cares at all about productivity to try to interact with a world that tries to push that on you. I will always make time for a walk or a meal or to spend time with someone, but so many of my friends go straight into listing everything they have to do when you ask if they want to go on a 15 minute run tomorrow. like for me, no matter how busy i am, i'm not too busy to take 15 minutes to run around the block. I got a "good" career job earlier this year but asked for fewer than 40 hours a week for health reasons (aka mental health bc i go into panic mode when i have to spend a majority of my time working) and was really relieved when they were willing to accommodate that. But right off the bat, they didn't offer me health benefits even though i legally met the threshold for "full time" according to their company policy and I got comments multiple times a week about "when you go full time..." and "how long do you think before you can work full time?" i ended up quitting not even 3 months in because it was clear they weren't actually okay with my schedule, and it bothers me so much that i have the skills to work a well paid position, but only if i work 40 hours or more. The only reason I would want more pay is so I can work less, like i have no need for a bunch of extra money but no free time to do anything enjoyable.

Breaks are so important when it comes to productivity. Society normalizes bending our health to the point of burnt-out. It really should be about balance and not overexertion.

If you listen to a lot of successful and happy people they will tell you that a big part of being productive is finding the right balance between work and rest. That’s where a lot of people go wrong.

The thing about reading fictional books and reading a book about “life lessons “ is such an annoying thing a lot of people have judged me like “ you still read stories that aren’t even real , instead read some autobiography or history books “ I hate it so much , like look your own business , thank you so much Zoe for covering yet another important topic that needs to be discussed you deserves millions of subscribers for giving free therapy ❤❤ I remember subscribing to this channel when it had below 100k and I’m so proud of Zoe growing so fast

Shit, I needed that. I'm struggling with my mental health while simultaneously trying to make a career as an English teacher. And this summer I lost all my students except for one. I was ao devastated by that, started learning different selling techniques, beating myself up for not being smart enough, for not running my socials the way I should, for being week and blah, blah, blah. But it turned out, the Universe took those students away from me so I could break down, burn out and finally fucking rest. And I rested, and now I'm slowly getting back on track. I don't want to run anymore, I don't want to push anymore. I want to enjoy every minute of my job, every minute of my rest, every minute of my me-time. I don't want to hustle, I don't want to push, I don't want to sabotage myself. I just want to live and enjoy it.

Nobody states facts like her …she’s so straight forward 😃❤️and I like that

1:53 this hit me hard, cos I always seem to breakdown in the days leading to something important and then I get mad at myself cos I’m “wasting time” which makes me cry more which is just so counter-productive :/

this reminds me my experience while I was studying in the art school, everybody was pulling allnighters and was being proud of this. People were extremely competitive, and I can see it is getting worse for young people every year. I was sick mentally and physically, but fortunately I live in Europe and when I started working I got my 30 days of vacations every year(+ free days for special occasions like wedding, funerals, job seeking etc), unlimited paid health leave, free health care, and one year for maternity leave. I probably don't and never will make as much money as a lot of those hustlers in US, but I don't really care. I don't miss stress pooping, feeling exhausted and restless, depressed, and the feeling of being chased by tigers all the time :D

thank you for being so honest with your journey cuz not a lot of ppl show this side of “productivity”, rest is so important and I’m trying to remember that as I start college this semester:)

As a fellow Asian, Asian parents are BRUTAL. my mom is the same exact way, but I have to remember that it does come from a place of love no matter how harsh they may be. Sometimes, you just gotta ignore them and do your thang. Old school Asian parents don't understand the modern world. They don't understand content creator as a career.

This series has been helping me a lot. Seeing you share your journey has been so healing and inspiring to me. Thank you so much, Zoe❤️

"This is not helping, I've been crying every single day now..." Never have I ever felt so seen... And I didn't even cry

Can we talk about her video editing skills and how she delivers such quality content? Her dedication to content creation is apparent in both of these things ❤️

How did you pass all 4 test in one testing window? It took me about a year to pass all 4 and I failed AUD and REG once... you're obviously a very intelligent individual. Smart people usually don't appreciate their inner world because of how fast they can process information. You have a gift, but gifts can be curses if you conditionally tie it to your self-worth. Stay strong and happy!

I was listening to a podcast that said, “it’s important to live life by design rather than emotion. Basically, sticking to a routine is what allows us to be the healthiest version of ourselves (especially when you're fighting these demons ex. OCD for me). I was in the corporate world and I burned out HARD. In order to facilitate peace I overhauled how I approach work/habits by practising mediocre consistency. Now I try to put in consistent 50-60% effort into my habits (ex. journaling/studying/movement etc) - to make sure I do it I began recording it and posting it on my youtube channel. Because historically I have a habit of going too hard, not being able to sustain the Herculean effort, giving up and hating myself. So now I’m trying to give a small, consistent mediocre effort everyday. And its crazy how it adds up, and its crazy how much better I’m able to handle the bad days when anxiety is trying to take over. I feel like I’m finally have a solid foundation and I feel ready to figure out connection.