19. F*ck Optimisation, I Want to Live (The Case Against Being the Best Version of Yourself)

Episode 19: F*ck Optimisation, I Want to Live(The Case Against Being the Best Version of Yourself)

We've turned rest into a deliverable. This week: why busyness became a status symbol, what the research actually says about time, money, and happiness, and why lying on the couch doing absolutely nothing might be the most radical thing you do all week.

What we cover:

🌿 "Productivity orientation" — why even our leisure time is getting optimised

🌿 The research on busyness as the new status symbol

🌿 What actually predicts life satisfaction (hint: it's not your habit tracker)

🌿 Performative exhaustion vs. actual exhaustion, and what breaking the cycle looked like for me

🌿 NEW: Burnout Book Club — bell hooks' The Will to Change, patriarchy, and Australia's current DV crisis

🌿 A shout-out to Kyla de Clifford's work building safer spaces for women in the cannabis industry

🌿 One small, deliberately unproductive homework assignment

SHOW NOTES — Citations:

• Bellezza, S., Paharia, N., & Keinan, A. (2017). "Conspicuous Consumption of Time: When Busyness and Lack of Leisure Time Become a Status Symbol." Journal of Consumer Research, 44(1), 118–138. — Multi-study research finding that a busy, overworked lifestyle has replaced a leisurely one as the aspirational status symbol, because busyness signals competence, ambition, and being "in demand." Moderated by culture (North America vs. Europe) and perceived social mobility.
• Whillans, A. V., Dunn, E. W., Smeets, P., Bekkers, R., & Norton, M. I. (2017). "Buying Time Promotes Happiness." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(32), 8523–8527. — Large cross-country survey (US, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands; n=6,271) plus a field experiment showing that spending money on time-saving purchases increases life satisfaction more than spending on material goods; benefits were largest for the least financially well-off participants.
• Keinan, A., & Kivetz, R. — origin of the "productivity orientation" concept (leisure time itself becoming something to maximise/optimise), referenced via Keinan's later review "The Symbolic Value of Time," Current Opinion in Psychology (2019).
• hooks, b. (2004). The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Washington Square Press.
• hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.
• hooks, b. (2003). Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. Routledge.
• Australian Bureau of Statistics (2026), Australian Institute of Health and Welfare FDSV Summary (2026), and Counting Dead Women Australia — current data on family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia, referenced as of the episode's recording date. Figures update regularly; check these sources directly for the latest numbers.
• If this segment raised anything for you: 1800RESPECT, 1800 737 732, available 24/7.

Disclaimer: This episode is educational commentary and personal reflection only and does not constitute medical advice. Medicinal cannabis is a prescription medication in Australia. Please speak with your GP or a qualified healthcare professional about your own circumstances.

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