Welcome back to “Serve & Survey.” In honor of midterms season, when Tisch Library is at its fullest and everyone suddenly becomes best friends with their Google Calendar, I wanted to ask about something related to our drive throughout all of this: our futures. Given that Tufts is a very academically rigorous institution, we’re all working hard to pass our classes. But why is there so much pressure? So this week’s question is: If productivity had no impact on your future, would you still try as hard as you do now?
I took this question around campus dining halls and asked 70 students. 19 students (27%) said yes, they would still try just as hard — but an overwhelming majority of 51 students (73%) said no. Nearly three-quarters of students admitted that if their effort didn’t lead to something concrete such as a grade, a job or a stable future, they wouldn’t push themselves the same way.
But do these numbers simply mean that we as humans are lazy? Not exactly…
“Reward is a big driver in people’s lives,” one student told me very matter-of-factly. Another added, “It does also make me feel like I’m doing something, like I’m working towards something.” Both answers point to the same theme of humans being very outcome-driven. Effort for most of us is not about the process, but instead about the payoff it gives us. We study because there is a test and we grind because there is a GPA. Therefore, we push because there is a future attached to it. Remove the outcome, and 73% of students say the intensity fades.
This connects to how we have learned over the years to tie motivation to ambition.
Motivation is built around deadlines and expectations (or even comparison with others around us). As a result, it creates competition and fear of falling behind or disappointing someone if we aren’t ‘smart’ or ‘successful.’ Productivity becomes less about curiosity and more about protection — we don’t just want success, we feel like we need it.
In that way, productivity has quietly become survival.
It’s no longer about doing well, but instead just staying afloat. We want to be at the same level as or above our peers and come out on top. Securing something stable in an unstable world is the most important thing. Midterms season makes that especially clear, considering tests are designed to be a make-or-break assessment of our ‘intelligence’ and a predictor of how well we would do in the field we are studying. No one is studying chapters at 11 p.m. because it’s thrilling; they’re studying because the cost of not studying feels heavier.
And as for the 27% who are sticking true to their productivity?
“I would still work as hard as I do now for myself and my own satisfaction,” one student said. This suggests a different relationship with productivity, one that is internal rather than transactional. For some students, discipline is followed because effort feels good on its own. The reward is self-respect, so students are trusting the journey rather than looking for an outcome. It should feel satisfying, regardless of a grade or a resume line. Maybe that’s the balance we’re all trying to figure out during weeks like this one. But these students are still the minority.
The larger takeaway from this week’s survey is not that students lack drive; it’s that our drive is conditional. We have learned to attach our effort to outcomes so tightly that without a visible return, it feels almost irrational to try. Somewhere along the way, working hard stopped being about self-fulfillment and started being about proving something. If productivity had no impact on our future, most of us would loosen our grip — not because we don’t care and are lazy, but because we’ve been taught that caring only makes sense when it leads somewhere.
We are motivated people, deeply so, but largely by consequence. We don’t just want to succeed — we feel like we need to. Maybe that’s the most telling answer of all.
This was this week’s survey. You’ve officially been served. Until next time on “Serve & Survey.”
