The tyranny of purpose

Yesterday, Alexey Tkachuk released a video where he reflects on workaholism and the FOMO effect.

In short, the idea is that freelancers (especially those with their own projects) constantly feel like they’re wasting time when they’re not working. Because they create their own tasks and goals, manage their own time — and as a result, they have no “free time”.

I know this feeling very well. I’m a freelancer with tons of personal projects, and my schedule is 90% dependent on my motivation. And procrastination doesn’t really fit into this system.

I’ve come up with a bunch of psychological tricks to deal with this. For example, when I watch anime, I tell myself it’s for work — gathering content for my podcast. Or when I play console games, it’s to write a review post for my personal channel. Not just because I’m having fun.

I have to trick my brain and create a purpose or meaning for any kind of rest (beyond resting itself). Even though rationally, I understand that the emotions from a great video game are no worse than the emotions from a successful project.

Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff calls this “the tyranny of purpose” — the oppressive idea that the activities we fill our days with must lead to some final result or meaning. Because we want to be sure we’re not “wasting time.”

But in reality, this is just an illusion of control. We have no control over the amount of time we’re given or the outcomes of our efforts. The only thing we can control is how we feel — about a day, a year, or life itself.

In the end, the tyranny of purpose leads to nothing but meaningless anxiety (just like FOMO and workaholism, no matter how you name it).

So, we need to learn to do things more often not for some grand result, but simply because… why not?