I Tried Silicon Valley’s Productivity Hacks — Here’s What They Broke in Me

Why Hustle Culture Is Quietly Rewiring Your Brain

Images from Unsplash

For years ago, I bought into the productivity hype.

I read the bestsellers. Listened to the podcasts. And took the advice to heart.

Tried the morning routines that promised to turn me into a high-performing machine. (They didn’t)

I even tracked my sleep like it was a stock portfolio. If my productivity wasn’t surging, I was failing or at least falling short.

Photo by Brad Starkey on Unsplash

Silicon Valley’s productivity culture didn’t just wiggle its way into my calendar. It went straight for my brain and rewired it.

And I’m not the only one who bears the scars of trying to be impossibly efficient.

We live in a world where “doing more” is a moral virtue, not a sin.

Where waking up at 4:30 a.m. to meditate, journal, cold plunge, and knock out three hours of deep work before breakfast is somehow aspirational.