What If Productivity Is the New Superstition?

Welcome to the final episode of the week from Train of Thought — your five-minute philosophical layover between one obligation and the next. Today’s question cuts especially deep in our era of color-coded calendars and guilt-ridden “rest”: What if productivity is the new superstition?

It might sound odd at first, but think about it. We track our days like ancient augurs watched the stars — hoping that just the right combination of tasks, tools, and time blocks will keep chaos at bay. We light our candles in the form of Pomodoro timers, swear by morning routines like mantras, and sacrifice our evenings on the altar of “getting ahead.”

And if we stop? If we dare to do nothing, what are we afraid of?

In this gently radical episode, our host invites you to step back and examine the rituals of hustle that have quietly become our modern religion. From inbox zero to “productive leisure,” we’ve been trained to see every moment as an opportunity for output. Even joy must justify itself. Even rest must be earned.

But what if motion isn’t meaning?
What if efficiency isn’t the highest good?

This isn’t an anti-effort rant. It’s a reclaiming. A reminder that you are more than your calendar, more than your to-do list, more than your ability to optimize time. You are allowed to be useless. And in that so-called “uselessness” — in the aimless walk, the slow lunch, the window-staring pause — something vital often appears: creativity, clarity, even presence.

Listen now for a permission slip to be gloriously inefficient — and maybe even happier for it.

Thanks for riding with us this week. Until next time, stay curious — and don’t let your worth be measured in checkboxes.