2026 needs Humanist Productivity

We need to reject the toxic productivity norms that undermine our relationships and make us ill. It's time for Humanist Productivity

Productivity advice often pretends to be neutral. It frames itself as common sense. Better habits. Better planning. Better you. It shows up as “just tips,” but it carries a bigger message about what good looks like - efficient and consistent. But the dominant model is not neutral.

It quietly centres three beliefs: perfectionism, individualism, constant output.

Perfectionism looks like high standards, but it often becomes self surveillance. The sense that you must be flawless to be safe. That you must be consistently excellent to be credible. That you must prove your worth through performance.

Individualism turns everything into a solo mission. Your goals. Your habits. Your optimisation. Your responsibility to fix yourself. It downplays the fact that most work happens in teams and systems, and that your outcomes depend on other people, policies, and power.

Constant output treats assumes your body will cooperate, your life will stay stable, and your time belongs to you. With consistent output expected, rest if framed as a reward only to be accessed when absolutely necessary.

This approach is bad for everyone, because sooner or later real life shows up. But it’s a disaster for changemakers trying to change their world.

Changemaking is slow. It’s political. It’s emotionally demanding. It’s relationship heavy. It involves setbacks you cannot control and timelines you cannot shrink. And if your productivity model is built on perfection, individual effort, and endless output, you’ll burn out.

Humanist productivity starts somewhere else.

It honours the way people work best. It takes seriously that capacity is shaped by health, identity, and lived experience. It rejects the idea that productivity is a moral measure of your worth.

It asks a more humane question:

How do I do meaningful work without abandoning myself or the people I care about?

For me, a Humanist Productivity comes down to three pillars:

Pillar 1: Authenticity - Integration over perfection.

Authenticity means your approach fits the actual shape of your life. Not your fantasy life. Not the life implied by someone else’s morning routine. Your real life.

This pillar matters because perfectionism is not evenly enforced. It is shaped by social norms and identity. Some people get to be average without consequence. Some people feel they must be exceptional just to be treated as competent.

Pillar 2: Community: Connection over individualism.

Community centres care, collaboration, and interdependence. It rejects the myth of the lone changemaker.

Mainstream productivity culture often treats relationships as distractions. Collaboration is framed as compromise. Asking for help is framed as weakness.

But purposeful lives of meaning include other people - loneliness is literally bad for our health. Changemaking without community is a fast path to isolation.

Pillar 3: Resilience: Sustainability over burnout.

Resilience is the part productivity culture tries to skip. It acknowledges natural cycles of energy, care, and capacity. It treats recovery as part of the system, not a luxury. It plans for disruption instead of pretending we have perfect control. Grind culture ignores this and calls it discipline. Humanist productivity sees it and calls it reality.

It also reframes rest. Not as a reward for perfect performance, but as something only useful to recover. Something that makes long work possible. Something that protects you from becoming another talented person who disappears from the work they care about.

Humanist productivity is not about doing less. It’s about doing what matters in ways that let you stay well enough to keep going. If 2026 needs anything, it is a productivity model that accepts that people are human.

This is vital as we look ahead to our work year. Humanist productivity is a decision to build your working life around what matters most, your health, your values, and your relationships. Not perfect. Not solo. Not nonstop. Just meaningful work, done in a way you can sustain. So we can change the world - one day at a time.

Want to learn more?

“Bethcast: Periodically Productitve” is a podcast that reflects on big hitting productivity books under the lens of a humanist productivity.

Interested in what Humanist Productivity might look like for you?

Why not reflect on these questions:

Integration asks: Who taught me what “good” looks like? Who benefits from my perfectionism?

Community asks: Who are my people in this season? What support do I need?

Resilience asks: What are my warning signs? What helps me recover before I crash?

Interested in what Humanist Productivity themes? I’ve used this term to bring together powerful insights from multiple sources but particularly:

Women Who Work Too Much: Tamu Thomas

The PLAN: Kendra Adatchi

Slow Productivity: Cal Newport

Positive Productivity: Ali Abdaal

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