Apparently, a Nobel Prize Would Help
My dad texted me today about the latest Nobel Prize announcement in medicine, joking that perhaps I would win one someday. I told him I would first need to get into a PhD program, a goal I have spent years working toward, slowly adding experiences and achievements to my CV. Then I reconsidered: “Maybe I’ll get the Nobel Prize first. Then they might accept me into a PhD.”
I was joking, of course, but there was some truth behind my response. After years of preparing for the next step in my career, it still feels impossibly far away. Whatever I achieve, there seems to be someone, somewhere, who has done more: another publication, another qualification, another experience I have yet to acquire. Each accomplishment gives me a short-lived sense of progress before my mind tells me I should have reached it earlier, or that it hardly counts because everyone else has already done it. And the questions return: Is this enough? Am I enough?
I want to become a psychology researcher because I care about the impact our work can have, but I also notice how easily that desire becomes a demand to keep proving myself. An evening off sometimes feels like time wasted; exhaustion feels reassuring, as though being tired enough means I have tried hard enough. These feelings have made me wonder how the world around me shapes the pressure I place on myself and what happens when productivity becomes a measure of our worth.
The Pressure to Keep Up
I recognize this pressure in how easily I begin evaluating my choices by what they will add to my CV. Another course, internship, or building another connection can feel like an investment in becoming someone a program will want to accept. This is why anthropologist Ilana Gershon’s (2011) description of the self as a business to be managed, with skills to develop and market, resonates with me. When we approach ourselves this way, even time away from work can be judged by whether it makes us more competitive.
Yet becoming more qualified does not necessarily resolve that pressure. Analyzing data from 28 countries, sociologist Thijs Bol (2015) found that education became more positional: its value depended more on how someone’s qualifications compared with those of others. This suggests why progress can seem insufficient. Other applicants are gaining qualifications too, so another achievement may feel necessary simply to keep up.
Alongside this pressure to remain competitive comes a social reward for appearing constantly occupied. Bellezza and colleagues (2017) found that busyness could signal competence, ambition, and being in demand, although these judgments varied across cultures. Being overworked can therefore earn admiration even before our efforts produce a recognizable achievement. We may be uncertain about where we are going, but being busy offers something visible to show for our ambition.
I value the experiences I have gained while preparing for a PhD, but I find it increasingly difficult to separate what I want to pursue from what I feel I must pursue. Would I accept another commitment because it matters to me, or because I am afraid to pass it up? When working more promises both a competitive advantage and social approval, stopping can begin to feel like a failure.
The Psychological Cost of Constant Productivity
Crocker and Park (2004) offer a framework for understanding why the pressure that we have to do more can persist even after an accomplishment. They argue that when people invest their self-worth in achievement, success becomes a way to validate themselves, with temporary emotional benefits and potential long-term costs. This helps me understand the shift from “Is this enough?” to “Am I enough?” because each achievement carries the burden of answering a question about myself.
Research on perfectionism also suggests that expectations have intensified. Curran and colleagues (2026) analyzed 35 years of college student data from the United States, Canada, and Britain, and found increasing demands on the self and an increase in socially prescribed perfectionism (the perception that others expect perfection). These trends do not establish any social causes, but they give context to the feeling that we must continually do more. The demand to do more can also influence how we experience time away from work. Tonietto and colleagues (2021) found that people who viewed leisure as wasteful enjoyed it less and that encouraging this belief reduced enjoyment even further. Making time to rest may offer little relief if we spend that time judging ourselves for being unproductive.
It is important to note that compulsive working may take a toll on our mental health. Clark and colleagues’ (2016) meta-analysis associated workaholism with burnout, work–life conflict, and poorer mental and physical health. These findings make me reconsider the reassurance I sometimes find in exhaustion. Feeling that I have tried hard enough may bring temporary relief, but what is that reassurance costing me?
Competition and admiration for busyness can make consistent achievement feel necessary, while linking our worth to our achievements makes resting very difficult. I still want to pursue a PhD because the work I do matters to me greatly, but I want to recognize my progress without asking each accomplishment to prove my worth. Looking back at my joke to my dad, I wonder how many of us feel we must already be extraordinary before we deserve the chance to take the next step. Perhaps we can give ourselves room to learn and grow without making our worth depend on how far ahead we are.
Kaynakça
- Bellezza, S., Paharia, N., & Keinan, A. (2017). Conspicuous consumption of time: When busyness and lack of leisure time become a status symbol. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(1), 118–138.
- Bol, T. (2015). Has education become more positional? Educational expansion and labour market outcomes, 1985–2007. Acta Sociologica, 58(2), 105–120.
- Clark, M. A., Michel, J. S., Zhdanova, L., Pui, S. Y., & Baltes, B. B. (2016). All work and no play? A meta-analytic examination of the correlates and outcomes of workaholism. Journal of Management, 42(7), 1836–1873.
- Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130(3), 392–414.
- Curran, T., Hill, A. P., & Pose, P. M. (2026). Perfectionism is accelerating over time: A cross-temporal meta-analytic review of 35 years of college student data. Psychological Bulletin, 152(3), 255–287.
- Gershon, I. (2011). Neoliberal agency. Current Anthropology, 52(4), 537–555.
- Tonietto, G. N., Malkoc, S. A., Reczek, R. W., & Norton, M. I. (2021). Viewing leisure as wasteful undermines enjoyment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 97, Article 104198.