I just read another one of those “how I overcame writing anxiety and became a more productive writer” threads on #AcademicTwitter. They are a frighteningly frequent thing. A few thoughts. #StockholmSyndrome /1

This latest thread was full of very reasonable advice on how to boost your writing productivity by a researcher who published something like a dozen and a half articles and book chapters over the past year. The implicit claim is that this made them a better writer. /2

But why would you want to optimise your output like this in the first place? What kind of system makes you think this is a good thing? This cult of productivity is driving us insane & it’s also driving academic research into a corner, the corner of the low-hanging fruit. /3

Who is supposed to read your dozen-and-a-half articles a year? And was it really necessary to publish that many? Certainly it helps your career. But do you really have that much to say? I don’t. And from reading the scientific literature, I think very, very few people do. /4

Anyway, what are you doing to your mind if you attempt to optimise your productivity? You’re putting it into a cage. Creativity requires leisure. Time wasting. The best thoughts come to you under the shower. Don’t treat your mind as if it is a machine to be optimised. /5

This cult of productivity will make you focus only on what’s right in front of you. Put your blinders on. If you can’t get your thoughts straight, you won’t write them down. It destroys playful exploration. It kills our ability to fail in productive ways. And it kills all joy. /6

The cult of productivity is the single biggest disease in academia today. By becoming a more productive writer you're playing along in the destruction of everything that basic research is about. Think twice before you go that way. /7

I became a better writer when I stopped caring about deadlines (early on in my career) & when I dropped out of the awful rat race that is modern science. I now have the leisure I need. I don’t need to publish 15 papers a year. I feel better, and I write better as a result. /8

If you play along with the cult of productivity you will succeed within the current system. When that runs against the wall (and it will) you will stand on a pedestal among the ruins, your potential wasted, your energy burnt out. Think about it. Don’t play along. /9

Fuck productivity! It’s one of the worst diseases of the mind in these late modern times. Change will come. But not through being productive. Through being original & courageous.

If you still need convincing, please read @melgregg’s “Counterproductive.” At your leisure. /10