The real challenge is how to force yourself to be productive (or "productive"?) in ways necessary to prosper in such an environment if you're condemned to it, as increasing numbers of people are.

Since I can't double-upvote this I'll just add my agreement. Figuring out a way out of this trap has been one of my dominant top-level goals for at least a year and something I've been thinking a lot about for longer than that but it is a difficult problem. I know quite a few intelligent and 'successful' (by most conventional measures) individuals who are deeply unsatisfied with their careers but have great difficulty breaking out of the cycle.