On Burnout, Hustle Culture, and the Tyranny of Positivity [Recs]

Why You Should Read: Byung-Chul Han

Aug 01, 2024

Hey, it’s Devansh 👋👋

Recs is a series where I will dive into the work of a particular creator to explore the major themes in their work. The goal is to provide a good overview of the compelling ideas, that might help you explore the creator in more-depth

I put a lot of effort into creating work that is informative, useful, and independent from undue influence. If you’d like to support my writing, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Doing so helps me put more effort into writing/research, reach more people, and supports my crippling chocolate milk addiction. Help me democratize the most important ideas in AI Research and Engineering to over 100K readers weekly.

Help me buy chocolate milk

PS- We follow a “pay what you can” model, which allows you to support within your means. Check out this post for more details and to find a plan that works for you.

The violence of positivity does not deprive, it saturates; it does not exclude, it exhausts. That is why it proves inaccessible to unmediated perception.

I’ll be at the Substack Writers meetup in NYC (on 1st August). If you’re there, come say hi.

Executive Highlights (TL;DR of the article)

Recently, I came across the book “Burnout Society” by German-Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han. I thought his post-mortem on how modern society primes us for burnout was pretty unique and mirrored some of my experiences. Although I don’t agree with a lot of Han’s conclusions, I think there is something to be gained by engaging with his premises. Especially in a world where burnout is hitting so many people all over the world-

“Burnt out employees are less likely to respond to survey requests about said burnout, and the most burned-out employees may already have left the workforce. Of those employees who did respond to our survey, nearly half are experiencing burnout symptoms at work.” Source

So, in this article, you and I are going to have a lot of fun playing with these ideas-

How we have moved from a Discipline to an Achievement Society- To understand how we become our own nightmares, it’s first important to understand how society has transitioned from a discipline-based society to an achievement-based one. A discipline society controls individuals through external forces (the taskmaster is outside us). In contrast, an achievement society is driven by internal pressures, where we voluntarily push ourselves to achieve success by internalizing a taskmaster who’s always telling us to accomplish more. This leads to the birth of a tyrant, far more insidious than any that you find in a history book or a Netflix TV Series.

The Tyranny of Positivity and the Achievement Subject:

In the achievement society, positivity becomes a dominant force, dictating that individuals can (and thus should) constantly strive for more, be happier, and achieve greater success. The “achievement subject” internalizes this pressure, always looking for new ways to be productive and successful. This drive digs deeper and deeper, ultimately hijacking the psyche. At this stage, this overwhelming drive to acquire and accomplish leads to the loss of something profound.

Depression — which often culminates in burnout — follows from overexcited, overdriven, excessive self-reference that has assumed destructive traits. The exhausted, depressive achievement-subject grinds itself down, so to speak. It is tired, exhausted by itself, and at war with itself. Entirely incapable of stepping outward, of standing outside itself, of relying on the Other, on the world, it locks its jaws on itself; paradoxically, this leads the self to hollow and empty out. It wears itself out in a rat race it runs against itself.”
― Byung-Chul Han, Müdigkeitsgesellschaft

The Loss of “the other”- As people become consumed by the pursuit of achievement, all values and connections become subservient to this goal. Friends become a “high-value circle”, rest becomes recovery, and all things that don’t bring tangible benefits. In doing so, you can only analyze the external world as an extension of your potential ability, losing the ability to perceive “The Other”- something outside yourself.

Imagine a world where you can’t appreciate the rants of your date complaining about their coworkers, Petr Yan’s overwhelming mastery of Catch Counters, the emotional rawness of Berserk, or the awe-inspiring beauty of a meteor shower without injecting yourself. You no longer see the joy in the purity of puppies, the whimsical thrill of a spontaneous adventure, or the breathtaking brilliance of a certain chocolate milk addict. You are condemned to a world where you can no longer let go and be in the moment because you can’t quiet the voice in your head.

How can you not love the way Yan reads and counters? Absolute art. Source

You’ve lost the right to appreciate the world as it is, and that is torture beyond compare.

And where can we go once to rest when we no longer have anywhere to hide from our taskmaster? That’s right, back to the hypnotic trance of the “grind,” because at least our inner voice can be drowned inside our work. It might not be fun, but at least it’s quiet.

And it is at this stage that we complete our own subjugation. We completely surrender to our productivity until we completely burn out. At this stage, we have nothing left to give and nowhere to go.

So what can we do to prevent ourselves from falling here? Han provides one clear answer- nothing.

The importance of boredom and idleness: As with many other cultural critics, I felt that Han over-indexed on the problems and was fairly light on the solutions. However, there’s no denying his emphasis on the importance of idle work, things done without worrying about the results. In doing so, we can cast off the yokes of productivity and regain our right to become “Human Beings” not “Human Doings”, if only briefly.

And that my friends is Byung-Chul Han. Some of his analysis is spot-on, especially given what I’ve heard from the people who have expressed their tiredness, burnout, or general malaise to me. However, I think his solutions around escaping burnout are too reductive. While idleness is super important, I think Han completely ignores the joy you can attain with a single-minded obsession on craftsmanship.

The builder trio from Dr. Stone is a great example of people obsessed with a craft. Their joy is motivating.

I’ve experienced things on various ends of the spectrum, and personally, I find myself most peaceful when I center my life on one thing. I’ve had this twice- once when I was competing in MMA (this was easy b/c fights/sparring is my favorite experience ever), and now- when I’ve decided to push the limits of my knowledge/articulation ability with every article (much harder since I don’t really enjoy AI or writing the same way, but writing does have some degree of fulfillment). While I’ve been happy throughout my life, cage fighting and my more recent writing are the only times I’ve ever “felt close to God” (I’m an atheist, so I use this figuratively). Han completely ignores this side of happiness and a few other things.

In other words, Han paints the achievement subject as Sissyphus but forgets to imagine a world where Sissyphus is happy. And I think that more a reflection of Han than it is of the world.

That being said, no writer is perfect, but Han is interesting. And that is good enough for me. If that’s good enough for you, let’s explore the philosophy of the Burnout Society. Chama!

I provide various consulting and advisory services. If you‘d like to explore how we can work together, reach out to me through any of my socials over here or reply to this email.

The Rise of the Achievement Society

The acceleration of contemporary life also plays a role in this lack of being. The society of laboring and achievement is not a free society. It generates new constraints. Ultimately, the dialectic of master and slave does not yield a society where everyone is free and capable of leisure, too. Rather, it leads to a society of work in which the master himself has become a laboring slave. In this society of compulsion, everyone carries a work camp inside. This labor camp is defined by the fact that one is simultaneously prisoner and guard, victim and perpetrator. One exploits oneself. It means that exploitation is possible even without domination.

In past generations, society operated under a disciplinary model, where external forces dictated behavior and kept individuals in line. Think of factories with strict schedules, schools with rigid rules, and the looming threat of punishment for disobedience. In this world, your nightmare was the Eye of Sauron, always monitoring and critiquing from above.

This is a scary world, yes, but it still has some respite. Sneaking in breaks when the boss isn’t looking, scrolling social media on your phone when on an MS Teams Call, and unloading cargo much slower when the boss isn’t around were all risky but possible (note to my boss—I have never done any of these things; I speak purely hypothetically). Unfortunately, that is no longer possible.

We have transitioned into an achievement society, a world where the pursuit of success, productivity, and self-improvement has taken center stage. We no longer seek to minimize failure (which has a lower limit). We now seek to maximize success (something without any upper bounds). We have internalized the taskmaster, transforming it into an inner voice that constantly reminds us that we can do more, try something else, or study the newest developments.

We build our own panopticon- a prison where people can be controlled when they believe themselves to be under constant surveillance even if no one is watching. Image Source

This internalized taskmaster is far more insidious than any external authority figure. It understands our insecurities and anxieties and what promises of success and happiness move us most. It tells us that Shangri-La is possible if only we push ourselves harder, using words that resonate deeply. It beats us into working harder, using a hammer wrapped in velvet.

Worst of all, it does so with a smile on its face and a pep in its step. It does so with a charisma that makes you want to believe because its message is always that we can. Yes, you can read that extra book, get the 6 pack, study that new language in 2 months, and maximize shareholder value at the same time. Maybe that extra hour of scrolling TikTok, your weekly appreciation of high-tier cinema like Khoon Ki Pyaasi Dayaan, or those 30 minutes you spent lazing around in your bed after you woke up can all be skipped to make way for your ambition.

You want to believe in this task-master because the alternative is to admit that it is wrong- that you can’t accomplish something. And what does that make you? Ineffective, broken, simply not good enough. This is reflected in the following quote-

“Disciplinary society is still governed by no. Its negativity produces madmen and criminals. In contrast, achievement society creates depressives and losers.”

The restrictions of the discipline society (the negatives/ “no you can’t do x”) are replaced by the forced optionality of the achievement society (the positive or “look at all you can do”). We are expected to comprehend and act optimally in the Infinite Void; to transcend the finiteness of our existence.

This fuels a never-ending cycle of self-improvement, where even the smallest setback is seen as a personal failure (what else could it be, except for your inability to thrive in this free world?). And so we surrender to this taskmaster, bending the knee to a tyrant par comparison.

The Rule of the Tyrant of Positivity

“For the world is Hell, and men are on the one hand the tormented souls and on the other the devils in it.”
—Arthur Schopenhauer

As we’ve discussed, the achievement society morphs positivity into an insidious force, dictating that individuals should constantly strive for more, be happier, and achieve greater success. This pressure is internalized, turning us into “achievement subjects” who relentlessly seek new ways to be productive and successful.

At this stage, we happily cut off pieces of ourselves in honor of efficiency. We will “attack our weakness,” little by little transforming ourselves into a machine. We mechanize our existence to hit peak performance with pride, with chants about “being built differently” and “Lambos making noise” playing in our heads. We wage war against our flaws, our humanity, and do so with enthusiasm-

The complaint of the depressive individual, “Nothing is possible,” can only occur in a society that thinks, “Nothing is impossible.” No-longer-being-able-to-be-able leads to destructive self-reproach and auto-aggression. The achievement-subject finds itself fighting with itself. The depressive has been wounded by internalized war. Depression is the sickness of a society that suffers from excessive positivity. It reflects a humanity waging war on itself.
-I found this quote interesting, but afaik neither Han nor I are doctors, so don’t take this literally

Now, I’m about to drop some serious life-changing wisdom here, so take a second to prepare for my genius. Maybe wear a helmet to support your skull because your brain is about to rapidly balloon. Ready?

Waging war against ourselves is not a pleasant experience. Self-improvement is cool, but you never want to forgo self-love.

You’re welcome.

A lot of you have asked me how I scaled the heights of Substack fame this quickly. World-shaking wisdom, like what I’ve just shared, is my secret sauce. I’ll be releasing my course on why I am so wise soon (priced at only USD 599!!), right after I finish a special seminar on the dangers of commercializing everything. More details on that to come soon.

Back to the article. We have won the war against our human weakness. We are machines, sigma wolves, and other manner of accomplishment monsters. So what’s left? Giddy up soldier, you have a world to conquer.

Losing the Other Through Enframing

“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (yes, I quotes this book a lot).

German philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote extensively about an idea called “enframing,” which describes a way of seeing the world where everything is viewed solely as a means to an end. For example, you know longer look at a forest as an ecosystem, but only as a source of wood, paper, oxygen etc.

This concept resonates strongly within the achievement society, where the relentless pursuit of success can lead to a distorted view of life. A good example of this are the various motivational pages on Instagram, which talk about how you should be willing to drop your friends if they are “upping your value”. This seems a bit backwards given how important friends are for your health-

More friend stats are in our piece on Epicurius

This extends beyond just human relationships. The same mentality can be applied everywhere. Creating disastrous consequences. Think about the different ways you enjoy spending your time. Especially when relaxing, chances are these activities are so pleasurable because you can turn a part of yourself off. By constantly looking at things through the lens of productivity and cost-benefit, you kill the mental muscles required to appreciate things for what they are and roid up the muscles that want to change everything to meet your needs. Great for success, terrible for mental clarity.

Series- Durrara. GOAT stuff (just don’t ask me to spell the name).

Once your “change the world” muscles reach a certain size, it’ll be hard for you to see anything without that lens. And then, you have no respite from the inner tyrant, which will continue to paint pictures of a world just beyond your grasp. All you can do is to keep trying more, taking action after action in hopes that you will some-day reach the promised land, as you mechanically proceed through life’s side quests without engaging with them-

The terror of the same, affects all areas of life today. One travels anywhere but does not experience anything. One catches sight of everything. Yet reaches no insight. One accumulates information and data. Yet does not attain any knowledge. One lusts over adventures and stimulation. But always remains the same. One accumulates online friends and followers. Yet never encounters another person.

So how do we overcome this? How do we protect ourselves from Burnout?

According to Han, the answer is simple- unproductiveness.

Escaping the Burnout Society

There isn’t much more for me to add to the tl;dr, so here are 2 cool quotes I came across while researching Han-

We owe true happiness to the useless and purposeless, to what is intentionally convoluted, what is unproductive, indirect, exuberant, superfluous, to beautiful forms and gestures that have no use and serve no purpose. Unlike walking to a destination, running somewhere or marching, taking a leisurely stroll is a luxury. Ceremonious inactivity means: we do something, but to no end. This ‘to-no-end’, this freedom from purpose and usefulness, is the essential core of inactivity. It is the basic formula for happiness.”
— Byung-Chul Han: Vita Contemplativa

And-

“If sleep represents the high point of bodily relaxation, deep boredom is the peak of mental relaxation. A purely hectic rush produces nothing new. It reproduces and accelerates what is already available.”

And that is my overview of Byung-Chul Han. I personally found him to be an interesting read and found myself agreeing with a lot of his premises (the world turns you into an entrepreneur of yourself…). However, I’m personally skeptical of his conclusions from said premises, given that I find myself resonating more with ideas like Thus Spoke Zarathustra (“ And then life revealed it’s secrets to me thus, I am that which must overcome itself” or “What is loveable about man is that he is not a destination but a bridge”), Kierkegaard’s Knight of Faith, and Camus’s Absurd Hero. But as they say, different strokes for different folks. Maybe Han’s work will hit you deeply the way it has so many others. His books are pretty small, so check them out and let me know what you think, and if I should keep Han in my back pocket in case I do end up with burnout.

For now, I’m out and I’ll catch you soon. Peace.

If you liked this article and wish to share it, please refer to the following guidelines.

That is it for this piece. I appreciate your time. As always, if you’re interested in working with me or checking out my other work, my links will be at the end of this email/post. And if you found value in this write-up, I would appreciate you sharing it with more people. It is word-of-mouth referrals like yours that help me grow.