John Henry was a steel-driving man, or so the song goes. A figure of American legend and the subject of many heroic songs and tales, John Henry was a Black railroad worker in the 1800s who challenged a newfangled steam-powered drill to a contest. Henry, according to the lore, won the competition but died soon after from the strain.

That model of labor, the man who can just push himself further and further — suggesting that all effort is just a matter of willpower — is a myth that still burdens our workplaces and our approach to work. It’s the idea that if we just do more — one more thing — productivity will increase, as though we will never reach the point of diminishing returns.

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