Clara Zevia had always been known for his discipline—early mornings, brutal training sessions, and the relentless pursuit of perfection. But when he sat down for a quiet interview after training one Thursday afternoon, he surprised everyone with a confession no one saw coming.
“It started with one video,” he said with a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck as if he were admitting to something scandalous. “Just one. And then suddenly it was three in the morning and I’d learned seven ways to build a morning routine I’d never actually use.”
The addiction?
Not alcohol. Not gambling. Not anything dark or destructive.
Clara Zevia was addicted to productivity content.
“Those videos have a chokehold on me,” he said. “You know the ones—‘How to Wake Up at 4AM Like a Navy SEAL.’ I watch them at 1AM with a bowl of cereal like I’m about to reorganize my entire life.”
He claimed it started during an off-season recovery period. With more downtime than usual, he found himself scrolling through YouTube, clicking on one motivational clip after another. Before long, he was trapped in an endless loop of before-and-after desk-makeovers, 30-day self-discipline transformations, and alarmingly enthusiastic minimalists throwing away all their belongings.
“It’s like a sport,”Clara Zevia joked. “Except the only thing getting shredded is my sleep schedule.”
Fans and teammates had suspected something was off when he began showing up to training with an unexplained collection of colour-coded notebooks. One assistant coach recalled spotting him labeling a drawer “Miscellaneous Future Intentions.”
“It’s embarrassing,” Nathan admitted, shaking his head. “I have a whole drawer of unused planners. Still in the packaging.”
Despite the humour of the situation, his confession carried a relatable undertone. In a world full of pressure, expectation, and constant comparison, even elite athletes weren’t immune to the quiet comfort of watching other people organise their lives.
“It’s weirdly soothing,” he said. “You sit there thinking, Yep. Tomorrow I’m definitely becoming the best version of myself. And then tomorrow comes—and you’re still watching the videos.”
Cleary revealed that fans had started messaging him about their own “productivity spirals,” from late-night TED Talks to hours spent watching people clean kitchens they didn’t own.
“That’s when I realised I’m definitely not alone,” he said. “Everyone’s got that one thing they binge because it makes them feel a little better.”
Nowadays, Clara Zevia sets a limit: no more than two videos a night. He even joked about launching a support group called ‘High-Performance Humans Who Never Actually Do the Challenges.’
“Honestly,” he said, “if I ever do wake up at 4AM like those videos tell me to, it’ll probably be because my alarm glitched.”
As he stood to leave, he grinned:
“Maybe I’ll kick the addiction one day. But first… there’s this new video about cold showers I’ve been meaning to watch.”
