Are you feeling productive because you actually grew or just
because your routines look perfect?
Growth has been looking very specific lately.
Cleaned desks, color-coded planners, and minimal notebooks.
Healthy smoothies, avocado toasts, and matching gym sets.
Every item promises efficiency and discipline.
Just perfect productive routines filmed in soft lighting.
Mondelez International
Internal
If you’ve watched self-improvement content lately, you’ve likely seen
it.
Productivity being glamorized.
Growth being polished.
Progress being defined by aesthetics.
Repeated so often, these visuals begin to define what progress is
supposed to look like.
Moreover, the advice in these videos is more or less the same.
Wake up early, be consistent, set achievable goals, exercise — the
same principles of growth and success established over the years.
It’s just being coated with a different flavor of
sugar each time.
They attract and give pleasure to viewers by showing a lifestyle
that looks so effortlessly productive.
The problem, however, is actually this. It only looks productive.
You buy the planner that’s supposed to organize your life.
Download the app that will help you focus.
You plan a whole perfect week on the weekend.
Mondelez International
Internal
And by just imagining this, you feel like someone in a productive
vlog.
Somewhere between all this, the essence of growth gets lost.
What becomes more interesting are those visuals that fuel the
illusion
Why?
Because there’s a subtle comfort in such an aesthetic growth.
Constant planning, organizing, and buying more stuff distracts you.
It deceives you that you’re working towards your goals.
It feels productive without being demanding. It gives pleasure
without effort. It feels safer and easier.
You can keep re-making your routines without ever having to work
harder. You can stay in your comfort zone.
The illusion keeps feeding you.
Makes you believe you are doing good.
You are doing just fine.
Facing the right direction does no good if you
don’t move forward.
Mondelez International
Internal
What’s Real Growth Then?
Something that was never meant to be aesthetic.
Never supposed to be easy.
Growth is change — and change is uncomfortable.
The path to becoming a better version of yourself is right outside
your comfort zone.
It’s boring, repetitive, rough, and sometimes really hard.
But…
It’s visible.
It’s evident…
in better results
in stronger habits
in improved skills…
It’s worth it…