I strongly dislike the productivity-maximizing ethos that drives people to quantify and optimize every aspect of their lives. The author acknowledges that POV. But at its worst, it’s both pernicious and privileged.
"Indulgent" might better capture what I think OP is describing than "privileged." There is a certain navel-gazing quality to endlessly pushing for higher personal records past the point where they particularly even benefit you, especially when some of that attention might be spent helping other people.
And while that can be true, I think it only applies once you do really have your life together. Most of us, growing up, had lots of areas where we really struggled, hurting both ourselves and others, and it WAS important for us to reflect on those areas and consciously try to improve. I think it's only indulgent when done well past the point of need.
Privilege is partly about autonomy. If most of my problems are outside my near-term control—my family, my neighborhood, my medical situation—I have low autonomy, at least in the moment. And that makes everything much harder. If you want to see a ruthless maximizer, go watch a poor person feed their kid for the last three days of the month.
If all of that is sorted, I can now turn to applying my maximizing attention to my inbox or my personal health score or my friend-influence index or my standing deadlift or whatever else.
