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Changing your appearance to become more attractive? "Looksmaxxing." Make sure that the whites of your eyes and your teeth are super white. Eating more fiber? That's "fibermaxxing." Almost 25g of fiber in one meal. That's almost my daily requirement. Adding more books to your reading list this year? You're "booksmaxxing." Welcome to bookmaxxing 101. Across social media, it seems like just about everything can be "maxxed" these days.
Whatever your hobby, habit, or goal, the objective is not just to do it, but to maximize it to its full potential. There are also industries betting on the phenomenon. The global wellness market is expected to approach $10 trillion by 2030, and as consumers look for new ways to improve themselves, more companies are paying attention. As "fibermaxxing" and "sleepmaxxing" take off, brands are rushing to capitalize with everything from high fiber popcorn and soda, to supplements, sleep masks and skincare promising better rest.
Whatever you're trying to maximize, there's probably a product being marketed toward you. So why has this trend become so popular? Mental health experts I spoke with say the answer may lie in the world around us. We're living in very uncertain times in the world, and when that happens, what people tend to do is they tend to double down on things that they believe are in their sphere of control and the things that they have agency to change or to augment or hone for themselves. After years of economic uncertainty, political division, and concerns about
everything from the cost of living to climate change, many people are simply searching for things they can actually control. You may not be able to control inflation or the job market, but you can control what you eat, how you work out, and how much sleep you get every night. So that coupled with social media and sometimes deeply comparison anxiety that comes with social media and capitalism, of course. These trends are a really good way for brands to sell us products, you know, because most of the maxxing trends do have sort of things that people have to buy in order to take part in them, whether that's gadgets or clothing.
According to experts, achieving a healthy version of maxxing is all about approaching it with the right mindset. I think that maxxing in its sort of most literal definition is inherently bad, because it basically means to do something to an extreme, to do something obsessively, and that tends to have negative consequences. So if people can hold the term maxxing quite lightly, I think that's a healthier way to kind of look at it. Tips, I would suggest is basically, a flexible mind is a healthy mind. So psychological flexibility is a real cornerstone of well-being. So for anyone who wants to try maxxing, it's really important to know the difference between being committed where possible and then being too
rigid. So that's why it's helpful to be realistic, to sort of maybe push your comfort zone, but not too much. And if you write the kind of list that you're very unlikely to achieve, you're not likely to keep the habit going. So we have to think about sustainability as well. Like, is this sustainable? I don't know, going to the gym seven times a week. It's probably not sustainable for most people. And there's research to show that going four times, three times is also great. Self-improvement isn't going anywhere, and neither is the business built around it. As companies continue finding new ways to sell us better sleep, healthier diets, and more productive mornings, the pressure to optimize every corner of our lives
will probably only grow. Which makes one question worth asking before you buy into the next marketing trend. Am I improving my life or just buying into the idea that I always need improving?
