Lifehacks are great. We all want faster/cheaper/easier/smarter ways of doing things. I can appreciate a good hack here and there.

 

Sometimes, however, we want to implement those hacks for their own sake. And that’s stupid. It is. Shut up. It’s stupid. I’m seeing too many e-newsletter and blog article subject lines that cater to and reinforce the harmful idea that you can “win Thanksgiving” and some shit.

 

Win your next feature release. Crush your workout. Balance your damn checkbook like a boss. Awesome.

 

But Thanksgiving? You need to chill out.

 

The Performativity Trap

When life becomes governed by how well we perform any given task, from the casual coolness of our Instagram feeds and Stepford-esque table settings, to the moisture balance of giant bird muscle for optimum chewing pleasure, meaning is lost. Thanksgiving, and every day for that matter, is about much more than how you performed.

 

To mix that up is to make a sacrifice: placing greater value on something less worthy of your time and attention, and displacing something important in the process.

 

Hacks, tips, tricks, social updates and gadgets should exist to make your most important priorities possible. You should not make it a priority to have a gadget or learn a hack for it’s own sake.

 

How well you do anything yields diminishing returns, especially if your standard for meaning, authenticity and enjoyment comes down to whether you “won” or “failed” to celebrate with friends and family in the most flawless, expertly executed methods possible.