@@SurpriseMeJT Honestly, I don’t think they can. There’s an imbalance of power by design. Capital controls the rules of game via rulings such as “Citizens United”. Labor has to do their bidding since it can’t compete with the money spent buying legislators. Anti-union rhetoric has crippled us. A fundamental flaw in our economy that may ultimately be its downfall. My 2-cents.
I wish management understood this. I’m considered a “slow” developer…but when my work gets done it almost never needs revisited. My bug count is in the single digits vs in the hundreds that my “faster” coworkers have, and unlike my “faster” coworkers none of my projects ever had to be rewritten due to being built on delicate code (rewriting software is an enormous cost by the way). The technical debt of my projects is so minimal I have applications I’ve written over a decade ago that still run just fine and never had to be part of the yearly maintenance parade. As this video states, often times slower is better.
The problem is everyone wants quick results for profits. Companies don’t want a slow rollout with fewer bugs, they want the product/solution yesterday so they can check the box and make their investors happy. Management doesn’t care about quality - they care about quantity
its not managments fault.. ITS YOUR FAULT. you fear what you think management is thinking. if you just think for yourself you will gravitate to where you supposed to be.
This is exactly what I've been doing since I was a kid, and I was treated like a slow minded idiot for doing it despite me having the most consistient and high quality results versus my peers. Thank you for proving that my childhood self had it right the whole time.
@@bigsaltyballerI've developed some methods to do well around my Coworkers and People in general, if you're really interested then discuss some points
Shool before, and now College made me realize how institutions teach us maximizing productivity to the point people start having anxiety to perform well, stress over all the work and grades. It's been normalized for so long, and I'm glad we're realizing more and more how tiring this is.
The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves. - Alan Watts
@@jiggersotoole7823 nice. But be careful that this does not mean losing your appetite for a good lunch. It all means, avoid the "stickiness" of it all and you'll be free.
This works great as long as I can be sure that nobody will force me out of my shelter or refuse to give me food and water or cancel my utilities. Alan Watts gave tons of public speaking talks and wrote books from which he earned the money that gave him the freedom to be sure that noone would force him out of his home and he would have utilities, food and water for the rest of his life.
@@markusheimerlyeah I feel like sometimes, or very often, upper class people forget that others have to work their ass off to just afford somewhere to live and have something to eat everyday… I mean I wish that the housing and food prices would get affordable so I could think deeply and walk the meadows all day, but I feel like that’s not going to happen. The best we can hope for is that employers sees this video and think that it seems like a great idea to implement at their companies. I think that’s what this video is for mostly.
Praise to God Almighty!!!! I'm favoured $150k every 4weeks! I can now give back to the locals in my community and also support God's work and the church. God bless America 🇺🇲💗💓💗💞 Thanks to Maksim konstan
except that's the problem. He's really just talking about productivity. But he's framing it as mental health. Computer scientists are not psychologists. He has good advice about being more productive. But that's for your boss's benefit, not yours. The advice is very bad advice for dealing with burnout. Listen to psychologists on matters of mental health, not computer scientists.
This is brilliant! We need more understanding in productivity of knowledge work. Now the management is pushing with metrics that are just counter effective
@@neildutoit5177 I'm a software engineer, or was as I sort of retired, software engineers know about about burnouts we have experienced first hand over and over, mental health professionals on the other hand probably never burn out, plus they make their fortune from your sickness, I would listen to the computer scientists
Or the way that many children already do things... before they're conditioned out of them... only to be told by "scientific breakthroughs" that their natural way was right and most productive all along xD Are you fucking kidding me
That's because our society always needs a leader or an expert to tell them something that is either obvious or just makes sense. Some of us aren't taught certain things and that can cause problems too, but in my experience the vast majority of people lean towards conventional wisdom and tribal thinking. It causes those who do things differently to be seen as outsiders and untrustworthy in some way. I've dealt with this my whole life to the point where I just don't share a lot of what I know anymore.
@@sp123 technology not even close. Finally getting the flying cars and I just read about a super powerful magnetic fusion reactor that wont be ready until 2030
A tip from me: *”Learn strategic negligence”* If I have 60 hours work a week, I will prioritise, and neglect the stuff at the bottom. So ok I couldn’t do everything- but all the important stuff is done well. Learn and know what you can get away with doing a ‘quick and dirty’ version, but keep your best quality for the high value / high profile tasks, that everyone will see.
The concept of slow productivity aligns perfectly with what many of us feel - that constant busyness doesn't always lead to real accomplishments. Quality over quantity, always.
Exactly. Until the corporate machine realizes their profits would skyrocket following this they won’t be swayed. They’re too blind and foolish to see beyond their greed.
I was hoping there would be perhaps something more on the "what you'll find going slow productive" [meaning my Planner/Wunderlist/Todoist list doesn't go down quite as 'quickly' initially] and handling management's view on that
@Lockewoodmedia it's not greed, it's their ego. If it were greed, they'd be able to see that improving the quality of life for employees would yield higher profits
Correct, he's selling the idea of the individual should self-regulate in a culture and context that still requires and asks them to do the opposite. Top-level regulation would be more beneficial and conducive to regressing burnout, family issues, and mental health issues which the author purports to care about and be tackling.
I have left and lost so many jobs, and what I tried to make a career once, because I naturally followed the 3 principals outlined in this video. The one that NO employer will allow is working at a "natural pace" ! I have burned out and broken my body to work at the pace they deemed acceptable because some other idiot raised the bar by doing it faster. Or the guy that had been doing it longer was faster. If you're not as fast as them after learning the job in a couple weeks, you're done, or scolded until you rage quit because you can't stand being nagged by supervisors or customers. Nobody cares about quality. They just want it done NOW! Employers, from my experience, will always put their bottom line above your mental health!
@@michigandersea3485 That advice is why suddenly everyone is "overqualified" and the actual essential jobs are falling under while the "elite" jobs that don't actually help people are exploding. This turns a problem into another problem. The solution is to just solve the problem. Reasonable managers can go extremely fucking far in solving this dilemma.
@@ncedwards1234 it’s a constantly changing flux, unfortunately. Many just can’t afford to do this, but you have to keep reinventing yourself and keep trying to find a place. You can’t just get education and training and then sit on your hands and say “I tried” when it doesn’t pan out. You have to do your research using employment and salary data, projections of future employment in the area, and what people say about the actual job (and about getting the actual job) before you pick an area of study. Many certificates and training programs are quite cheap and educational content is available for free. People have to conform what they study to what there’s actual demand for.
Why did you ragequit? Just tell them the reason why you can't do something (as quickly). They either accept it, help you or fire you. IMHO all of those are better than quitting yourself.
I love the ideas behind “Deep Work / Slow Productivity,” but I have some concerns about its practicality and accessibility for most people. Here are a few thoughts: 1. Only for the privileged: slow productivity seems like a luxury that only the wealthy or upper-middle class can enjoy. People with stable jobs or their own businesses might have the flexibility to adopt this lifestyle, but for the average worker, it’s often out of reach. 2. Not for middle-class workers: Middle-class employees, like those in enterprises, nurses, or supermarket cashiers, can’t really apply Slow Productivity. Their jobs demand constant, high-paced work with little room to slow down. 3. Academic privilege: It’s easier to come up with these concepts when you’re a MIT professor and have income from books and speaking gigs. Most people don’t have that kind of financial security or freedom in their jobs. 4. Systemic pressure: The pressure to be highly productive usually comes from business owners and upper management, not individual workers. Suggesting that people should feel responsible for being too busy or not achieving slow productivity can make them feel guilty and even more stressed, overlooking the bigger systemic issues.
I think the ideas behind "Deep work / slow productivity" is more targetted into people that works in the creative industry and less on the labor industry
I spent many years as a college professor. Every year the university hired more administrators who pushed busywork on the faculty. Some faculty members, especially those who went into administration themselves, also bought into this idea. Serving on pointless committees and filling out forms that nobody read became the main purpose of my job. As a result tuition skyrocketed and I was actually scolded for spending time meeting with students.
Be it healthcare or higher education. Most of the money the client pays goes to "administrative costs". I worked in a consultancy project trying to reduce the cost of American healthcare. The medical people don't get paid jack shit compared to the "administrative costs".
This is exactly why I left a tenured academic career. I even went INTO administration to try and make things better for the faculty and students and all it did was suck the living life out of my soul. I work in private industry now. My overall stress is lower and my pay MUCH higher but I miss the students and the act of discovery and sharing knowledge. Maybe I’ll figure it out before I die. Until then I’d like to figure out how to get out of some of the pointless administriva and spend more time doing important work.
I was an accountant, worked solo to keep mistakes at a minimum, i wouldn't open more than one book if I didn't have to. What i found is that if i got stuck , being able to take a break from it it would help me find the numbers to balance it. Its not always my fault, usually the data was in correct so i had to clarify. I would usually finish my work before lunch and dedicate the rest to help my coworkers to finish.
Good advice for many jobs, wouldn’t work as a nurse. We are constantly and consistently juggling many different tasks at once, and we do it for 12 to 16 hours straight, minus one 30 minute lunch break that we can sometimes take and sometimes not.
I'm a specialist nurse in elder care, working both clinically and with educational projects. I find these ideas and those on Deep work quite useful to juggle my tasks and do quality work, but I realise not all nurses have a job with the amount of control that I have.
This advice is fantastic if you are self employed or applying it to other aspects of life like a hobby. Applying this in a modern day workplace is a sure fire way to get yourself on an “improvement plan” and very swiftly removed from their roster. Maybe it’ll motivate you maybe it’ll make you homeless. But this method cannot work in a practical setting until pseudo-productivity culture is turned on its head. Hopefully this guy can help accomplish that.
Praise to God Almighty!!!! I'm favoured $150k every 4weeks! I can now give back to the locals in my community and also support God's work and the church. God bless America 🇺🇲💗💓💗💞 Thanks to Maksim konstan
@@juliacolson5040 I did my job and got paid for it. It was fair. Anything more than that if I don’t want, it’s my decision, not because of others’ expectation or others’ norm. Live your own life, not other ppl’s life.
I FREAKING LOVE THIS! As a full-time short-form Content Creator, oftentimes you hear that you need to post x5 times a day which can work for certain niches. But what's worked the best for me, personally, is to take my time to make a video I'm really proud of and perhaps post once a week if not once every two weeks. I've noticed that those videos would do way better because their quality was better so thank you for emphasizing this!
Great stuff. It's reassuring that we're _finally_ starting to move beyond 'Taylorism' management methods. Humans are not machines and we yield better outcomes when we aren't treated as such.
I am a network engineer and has been in the IT industry for a decade. One of the main time consumers is meetings. Especially ones which are just the management's idea of making something look very important. Something which can be resolved over a chat easily is blown out of proportion just because the manager wants to highlight himself infront of leadership. Second one is not delegating tasks as per a employee's capability. Delegating works magic if done properly
I agree that meetings are big time wasters. Many times, people want to talk to talk or vent and treat it like group therapy. Meetings should be timed and kept at a minimum to respect people’s work day.
Man I am so happy I work for myself. I don't know how you guys in corporate america do it. I can not stand all of the ass kissing and manipulation to get promoted that goes on.
I have been implementing seasons into my workflow, and it seems to be working very well. Work hard during the spring when the flowers are blooming and in the fall when it’s time to get ready for hibernation. Work slow and enjoy the summer and the winter holiday season, reap the benefits of the hard work in the seasons prior, and spend time with family.
As a retiree that help me a lot. It is difficult to pass from a ‘measured’ workload to a unmeasured workload. I wanted to be creative but I have a lot of old tools (think fabric, yarns, ink) accumulated over the year. Many of them is just ill adapted and uninspiring for me. I recently realize that all that is just keeping me down. I will go through all and donate. Just keeping what inspire me.
People who work for someone else and people who work for themselves ... are two completely different things. I work for myself. I work 7 days a week and have done so for 20 years ... I love it. I'm a 40 year old millionaire. I can't wait to get up and start kicking ass. This is how most self employeed people feel. If you work for someone else, it sucks. Most of your time at work is a total waste of your time. You have every incentive to work the least amount possible and usually little incentive to actually work hard. The point is... dont make someone else rich. Work for yourself and you'll enjoy work, make more money and feel much better about life in general
You hit the nail on the head! If you enjoy what you do and you're fulfilled by it, you wake up excited to take on the days challenges. But that's true regardless of where your paycheck comes from. I was a professional web developer for over 17 years and owned 3 successful businesses. But some of my happiest years were not at my own businesses... They were at a great company surrounded by positive, supportive teammates. We celebrated each other's successes and growth.
This is the way my brain naturally works. I’ve had to learn to try and do both fast work and this but it’s challenging. Thanks for making me feel a little better about myself.
I am crippled by long covid. The silver lining is that my life is slower, calmer, and in many ways, much more peaceful. I use these techniques to great success. It’s nice to have the time, and patience for quality in my tasks.
Thank you so much. I have noticed that I am most productive in the warm summer months compared to the cooler months. Sometimes I struggle to get things done on rainy days. I learned to not fight it because I burn out easily and it takes me at least a week to get back to my normal self
Absent from this discussion (and the book, for those interested) is any discussion of external pressures, commitments with overoptimistic schedules, deadlines, etc... All of which fly in the face of the three principles: for once, you're not always in a position to do "fewer things" than what has been committed by external forces ; second, the seasonality is somehow arbitrary ("this needs to be ready for the demo at X") ; and finally, given a tension between scope, quality and schedule, and two of those things being unegocciatable - quality will take the toll. I wish cal would address those, but it seems to be one of this blind spot - understandable for someone with relatively large control over his deadlines (author + tenured professor.)
I love routines because I find them super relaxing. Also I never multitask , I like when things take the time they need and are the focus point of the day .
Very clear and noticeably argued, although my understanding of what you're talking about is Talent. One cannot teach others how to be talented. Talented people do exactly what you are talking about, and do that with ease. This takes me, at least, to think about inspiration; therefore the question that arises, to me at least, is: "Is what you do for a living inspiring you?" And as for "You" I mean each and everyone of us. If that's not the case, something easier to learn and apply in one's daily life (which can help finding inspiration) is Meditation. Meditation, when honestly and deeply performed, will always pull talent out of people, infact most of the times you could find yourself having more that just 1 talent. Whatever is you do for a living, wrost scenario would be you leave your job for another that suits your talent(s) better. Love and prosperity.
I'm quite naturally like this, and I kinda hate context-switching or pretending to be productive by looking busy. The problem with this way of working, in my experience, has been that people around you think you're not doing enough. Not being ambitious, not being grateful, not taking things seriously. As a solution, I've to constantly find a balance between being a calm composed creative person and a bumbling hotchpotch of a person (they are aplenty in bigger organizations, always running about without fully understanding the scope or objective of things).
The sole premise that by doing fewer things slower we can achieve more can be exhausting. We live in a world where all we want to do is achieve, we are goal oriented. There is incredible value in ripping yourself away from that. This can unfortunatley be a luxury to some where they do not have the luxury of looking past tomorrow. Achieving is the root of many psychological problems.
Don't do this. Stress isn't caused by number of tasks it's caused by needing to do too many tasks that you don't find meaningful or valuable. Too many "obligations". Don't rank your tasks by necessity. Rank them by how meaningful they are to you. You may even need to take on more work in order to be less stressed. The important thing is to spend most of your time doing things that are important to you. If you're spending all your time on "necessary" tasks an no time on "meaningful" tasks you will remain stressed no matter how much you cut back.
I do a lot of multi tasking. Sometimes it can be stressful but most of the time it isn’t,depending on the tasks. It keeps my productivity up, I achieve satisfaction, I get to enjoy tasks with different pace of completion & quality. Don’t do it to outperform someone else or competition. Just enjoy & be content with its completion. Trust me, the end work will be good.
This is great advice but only works if corporations/employers also take on this three principles. Otherwise you'll be seen as not being productive and not as profitable which, essentially, is only what companies care about.
I agree that definition of productivity has been more or less confused with activity, though in fast-paced jobs like sales or team leadership I am unsure as to how this will translate. Knowing about attention residue is one thing but trying to minimize it is another!
This is absolutely what many major companies do the OPPOSITE of; cheap out on tools and effective procedure; overload staff and/or let email+meetings be the glue that holds everything together, and, insisting on trying to do everything rather than making decisions and planning. I read one of Cals books and have a lot of time for his inisghts
The amazing thing about this video is that it was not unnecessarily streched... What it promised in title was delivered swiftly.. THe narrator was to the point with his bullet points as well as the explanation.... Awesome..... Just.... Awesome....
This is how I excelled in high school. I knew changing subjects every hour wasn’t good for deep learning, and since I homeschooled I had the flexibility to do only one subject each day. I would accomplish a week or two’s worth of that subject that day, and since I was in the zone it made it so much easier to retain what I was learning. I still finished the school year with as many credits as my public schooled peers, but overall I had a much better experience than I would have given my learning style.
Thank you for articulating this so well - we teach organisations to slow down and focus on value creation, yet something so logical feels scary to most management teams.
I can't help but feel business leaders would take your point about natural rate and the ebbs and flows of work as being, "So you can be hitting the red line some of the time, and then smashing the rev limiter so hard you're getting valve float the rest." Genuinely feels like everyone in industry is exhausted. Getting more blood from stone is the phrase that comes to mind.
Sadly, it has been my experience that just having the word "slow" in the title will cause most shareholders to reject the ideas outright without investigation. The term "delayed gratification", a central principle in this post, is unknown to them. They will not pause nor hesitate to leapfrog over ANY idea which might cause even a temporary loss of profits, which is a certainty here. Only the most forward thinking of companies would adopt such strategies, of which there are very few.
I believe if people discipline themselves to get outside to move/relax/contemplate once a day (at least) for an *absolute minimum* of 30 minutes (real minimum being 1 hour), that will legit help to prevent burnout. Allowing ourselves to rest seems to be the real discipline these days in our fast-paced, modern times.
Jerk off for years, already body is out of energy,when you work it drains your all energy Masterbation releases estrogen which promotes sleep And testosterone is energy which prevent sleep ,tiredness,burnout But it releases in small amount when we jerk off😢😢
I can relate to this. My sup tends to comment on my speed and keep on reminding me that it's better to mind the errors for later, but couldn't do away with me and my work because the articles and the plans I submit are more thorough, spot on, and even does a better approach than those of my "faster" colleagues.
Big ups to this. Makes my life much nicer and way better productivity to focus on key quality. Basic efficiency. It’s a purpose centered systems approach rather than an exhausting busy work focus.
I had direct reports once, and I never interpreted "looking busy all the time" as a sign of being productivity, actually, it was a sign of problems. I am Ok with my team watching Netflix or planning trip as long as all daily jobs are complete, and they support our customers wholeheartedly. It is the results that matters, not being busy.
the concept is lovely and idealistic Our society has not prepared us for this thought process or how to act upon it Certain people and what they aspire, will naturally escape to just 'being' and doing what they consider their gift I appreciate them....The TH-cam is very intersting and gives pause.....
This is insane. I opened the youtube app to look for “what to do against a burnout”. But thought nope, let me just scroll through my timeline, looking for something to distract me from it. First swip up: This video
As long as I love the message… the culture shift in a company that’s used to busyness is really difficult. There’s so much work. It’s not even about the direct bosses. There’s just too much to do (most times, client-derived) and we’re not manned enough to deal with the load.
On a Operational System class at college, more than 20 years ago, while teacher explain multi process with just one processor I asked: "But this context change between two or more process will add time at the end and take longer than process being made one after the end of the previous". Professor replys: "You are right, but the user wants longer time to accomplish since he has the feeling of things being made same time "
I follow this idea when learning and composing music. But the funny thing is I followed steps and got inspired from my workout. If you exercise you know how important the rest is. If you are exercising too much your body is going to get hurt. So u need rest. Also the diet. Diet is far more important than what u think. So if your diet and rest in gud u r going to see growth. Also I have seen people doing extremely good workouts then reach a certain point and eventually lose interest. Instead it's better to make it a lifestyle and see growth on a very minimum level. It's rewarding. You have a gud control over yourself also u ll feel gud. I follow exactly the same steps in every aspect of your whole life.
Without answering the question about when to do what, all this is subjective. Sometimes doing fewer higher quality things is better, but sometimes doing more things quickly is better. Sometimes attending those meetings is vital (or you are just assuming your knowledge is enough)
This is how I handled working and university. I did school part time. Sure it took longer to get my degree, but I was working part time getting experience in my field. I was able to spend time with friends , eat healthy, workout, travel and enjoy time with family. Balance out the workload and even the mundane tasks of life becomes enjoyable. Manage the workload. Rest is important too. When I graduated I actually got a better pay and position than my classmates because I had the degree and work experience.
I agree 💯, and have tried to keep that practice for decades, especially when it comes to quality. I want to be proud of the work I do, otherwise there’s no point. But not all organizations will appreciate your professional principles and will care more about boxes checked, even when not related to that organization business model, than ultimate quality. That has been my experience at a top tier US corporation.
Jag testade USA som yngre och deras läskiga kapitalism skrämde mig tillbaks till Sverige. Ingen amerikansk arbetsgivare skulle implementera strategin i videon. semester var det bara rika personer som hade där. Vanligt folk där har aldrig råd med ledighet. Däremot börjar mätningen av ”produktivitet” så sakta leta sig till Sverige också tyvärr.
02:08 Fewer Things at Once: 03:33 Natural Pace: 04:21 Obsess Over Quality: Fewer Things at Once: Focus on doing fewer things simultaneously. Attention residue from switching tasks reduces cognitive capacity. Completing commitments faster and with higher quality. Natural Pace: Embrace natural rhythms. Intense periods balanced with less busy times. Sustainable outcomes and better work quality. Obsess Over Quality: Identify high-value activities. Invest in better tools. Slow down, focus, and improve. by GPT Breeze
Funny how to me it just doesn't work to do less things, I have to learn multiple things daily (e.g, I dedicate time to my post-grad studies, language studies, drawing practice and 3D modeling. I also enjoy playing games whenever I can and watching some cozy shows). I do a bit of a lot of things everyday, which has been the solution to me for burnout instead of doing few things. I believe the cause for that is that it gives me less pressure to be perfect at something, it makes me have to think about different things through the day instead of worrying way too much about only one thing. I tried to listen to that advice of doing less and honestly, it made me get a burnout really fast. I do take breaks, but never for too long, otherwise I'll get lost on track. It's interesting how it's never a one-size-fits-all situation when it comes to productivity.
While I can appreciate the seemingly benevolent efforts but forth by individuals such as Cal Newport in his past 2 books and his promo tour for them on podcasts including Tim Ferriss-who himself has walked back his previous selling of productivity/efficiency with the changing of cultural tides-I think he and others gravely overlook a key issue in their attempt to capitalize off this pivot. That is that they're prescribing the same issue that begets the problem-placing the burden of self-regulation on the individual, while the individual's workplaces, employers, markets, macro-culture of work remain unchanged. It is akin to telling consumers to solve pollution by not buying plastic straws. It is easy to offer, and focuses on their locus of control. But it fails to address success rate under context. I don't assume this is intentional on Cal Newport's part, perhaps he's just insulated and/or aloof. It is, of course, easier for someone at his point of success, income, and career chapter to believe in and sell such ideas. And I recognize he cannot place regulatory legislation into law that would much more successfully alleviate these issues. However, this ultimately does come off as selling people the same neoliberal trick that helps dig this hole in the first place-the idea that the solution is self-regulation.
So what I get from this video is that everything I’ve been with doing intuitively with my adhd is correct. What is wrong is the other people in my life thinking they know what’s best for me. My next instinct is to listen to this video repeatedly and to argue with or ignore everyone else until I get my work done 😅
The people who's always trying to tell you what's best for you usually don't have their affairs in order. If they're not living a life that you want to live or inspire to be then weigh it carefully.
Great idea, yeah I would love to work in a place like that. The reality is we can not do fewer things at once, and working at a natural pace in today's world, to many organisations this is unrealistic, you will lose your job!
yeah I wouldve loved the 'do fewer things" to work at my old first job as a cadet in social housing. it instead got people, performance and culture to ask whether i was depressed and anxious and to get assessed and medicated, and the course managers I had for a qualification I was getting part of this program tell me to get assessed etc for adhd. it's workplaces that NEED to be slower for trainees and actually giving trainees time to do stuff... rather than giving them such an unworkable environment that they can NOT wait the get the fuck out of there.
My experience says it's a tricky point "Obsess over quality." Be very cautious. When you're doing something for the first time, aim to complete it or finish it. Once that's done, if you have time, space, or fewer things to do, then embrace the obsession with quality. Otherwise, it will have the opposite effect.
Every C suite in the world should watch this and espouse it. We work against our own biological rhythms by being output-centered and constant push to innovate and iterate. The macro of that is pushing us to our own untimely demise as a species. Nothing in nature is rushed or in a hurry, only human beings.
Lots of people as they age start looking for fulfilment in their days and work. I see the younger generation already seeking that. To me that indicates changes in society in a positive way. I hope this will lead to a reduced focus on capital accumulation and material acquisitions to a culture of quality of life, fulfilment and real common wealth and wellbeing. It is a long path for sure.
These three principles are very similar to what’s highlighted in Morten Hansen’s book “Great at Work”. Released in 2018. I first learned about these principles at a business forum.
I agree. The problem is trying to explain this to management. Some bosses get it, but then there are those terrorists who think leadership is interrupting and hovering over a team that can get things done just fine without a supervisor.
1. Do fewer things at once.
2. Work at natural pace.
3. Obsess over quality.
Thanks awfully.
4. Get fired 😞
@@Scott-sx1bf Oh man. I came here to make this exact joke.
@@Scott-sx1bf This is exactly the reality. We're being forced to do more with more quality. It's a joke. When will the people fight back?
@@SurpriseMeJT Honestly, I don’t think they can. There’s an imbalance of power by design. Capital controls the rules of game via rulings such as “Citizens United”. Labor has to do their bidding since it can’t compete with the money spent buying legislators. Anti-union rhetoric has crippled us. A fundamental flaw in our economy that may ultimately be its downfall. My 2-cents.
People often confuse activity for productivity. Just because you are busy does not mean you are productive.
Nice point
I wish management understood this. I’m considered a “slow” developer…but when my work gets done it almost never needs revisited. My bug count is in the single digits vs in the hundreds that my “faster” coworkers have, and unlike my “faster” coworkers none of my projects ever had to be rewritten due to being built on delicate code (rewriting software is an enormous cost by the way). The technical debt of my projects is so minimal I have applications I’ve written over a decade ago that still run just fine and never had to be part of the yearly maintenance parade.
As this video states, often times slower is better.
The problem is everyone wants quick results for profits. Companies don’t want a slow rollout with fewer bugs, they want the product/solution yesterday so they can check the box and make their investors happy.
Management doesn’t care about quality - they care about quantity
@@dude4173 Thus the problem with an overly capitalistic influenced society.
its not managments fault.. ITS YOUR FAULT. you fear what you think management is thinking. if you just think for yourself you will gravitate to where you supposed to be.
@@j.c.s5630 That is not how it works in real life. Ever.
@@s81n worked for me
This is exactly what I've been doing since I was a kid, and I was treated like a slow minded idiot for doing it despite me having the most consistient and high quality results versus my peers. Thank you for proving that my childhood self had it right the whole time.
How does your adult self have it?
Ahh give me a Hug! I'm here actually because I'm also that Idiot😂 plus I'm a perfectionist
@@bigsaltyballerI've developed some methods to do well around my Coworkers and People in general, if you're really interested then discuss some points
... I was the idiot that took schoolwork way too seriously. Hello there lamo
Shool before, and now College made me realize how institutions teach us maximizing productivity to the point people start having anxiety to perform well, stress over all the work and grades. It's been normalized for so long, and I'm glad we're realizing more and more how tiring this is.
The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.
- Alan Watts
Leave your job, ditch your car, cancel your gym membership, eat lentils, walk. Live.
@@jiggersotoole7823 nice. But be careful that this does not mean losing your appetite for a good lunch. It all means, avoid the "stickiness" of it all and you'll be free.
This works great as long as I can be sure that nobody will force me out of my shelter or refuse to give me food and water or cancel my utilities. Alan Watts gave tons of public speaking talks and wrote books from which he earned the money that gave him the freedom to be sure that noone would force him out of his home and he would have utilities, food and water for the rest of his life.
@@markusheimerl you'd be surprised how little money we need to live well.
@@markusheimerlyeah I feel like sometimes, or very often, upper class people forget that others have to work their ass off to just afford somewhere to live and have something to eat everyday… I mean I wish that the housing and food prices would get affordable so I could think deeply and walk the meadows all day, but I feel like that’s not going to happen. The best we can hope for is that employers sees this video and think that it seems like a great idea to implement at their companies. I think that’s what this video is for mostly.
The fact that a computer person advocates for doing fewer quality things at a natural pace is fascinating. Thank you sir for rescuing our humanity.
Praise to God Almighty!!!! I'm favoured $150k every 4weeks! I can now give back to the locals in my community and also support God's work and the church. God bless America 🇺🇲💗💓💗💞
Thanks to Maksim konstan
except that's the problem. He's really just talking about productivity. But he's framing it as mental health. Computer scientists are not psychologists. He has good advice about being more productive. But that's for your boss's benefit, not yours. The advice is very bad advice for dealing with burnout. Listen to psychologists on matters of mental health, not computer scientists.
This is brilliant! We need more understanding in productivity of knowledge work. Now the management is pushing with metrics that are just counter effective
@@neildutoit5177 How is this bad advice for dealing with burnout?
@@neildutoit5177 I'm a software engineer, or was as I sort of retired, software engineers know about about burnouts we have experienced first hand over and over, mental health professionals on the other hand probably never burn out, plus they make their fortune from your sickness, I would listen to the computer scientists
I love how the most progressive scientific breakthroughs are just regressing back to doing things the way our ancestors did them…
Or the way that many children already do things... before they're conditioned out of them... only to be told by "scientific breakthroughs" that their natural way was right and most productive all along xD Are you fucking kidding me
That's because our society always needs a leader or an expert to tell them something that is either obvious or just makes sense.
Some of us aren't taught certain things and that can cause problems too, but in my experience the vast majority of people lean towards conventional wisdom and tribal thinking.
It causes those who do things differently to be seen as outsiders and untrustworthy in some way.
I've dealt with this my whole life to the point where I just don't share a lot of what I know anymore.
"The good old days." Were they happy? Nostalgic thinking perhaps
Society/technology has peaked
@@sp123 technology not even close. Finally getting the flying cars and I just read about a super powerful magnetic fusion reactor that wont be ready until 2030
A tip from me:
*”Learn strategic negligence”*
If I have 60 hours work a week, I will prioritise, and neglect the stuff at the bottom. So ok I couldn’t do everything- but all the important stuff is done well. Learn and know what you can get away with doing a ‘quick and dirty’ version, but keep your best quality for the high value / high profile tasks, that everyone will see.
Thank you! That’s a good way of putting it
The concept of slow productivity aligns perfectly with what many of us feel - that constant busyness doesn't always lead to real accomplishments. Quality over quantity, always.
this viewpoint is good and healthy. but if corporate’s mindset doesn’t align with it then it is still wishful thinking.
Exactly. Until the corporate machine realizes their profits would skyrocket following this they won’t be swayed. They’re too blind and foolish to see beyond their greed.
I was hoping there would be perhaps something more on the "what you'll find going slow productive" [meaning my Planner/Wunderlist/Todoist list doesn't go down quite as 'quickly' initially] and handling management's view on that
@@jamesgrant9560 indeed, I also expect something more practical for business management
@Lockewoodmedia it's not greed, it's their ego. If it were greed, they'd be able to see that improving the quality of life for employees would yield higher profits
Correct, he's selling the idea of the individual should self-regulate in a culture and context that still requires and asks them to do the opposite. Top-level regulation would be more beneficial and conducive to regressing burnout, family issues, and mental health issues which the author purports to care about and be tackling.
I have left and lost so many jobs, and what I tried to make a career once, because I naturally followed the 3 principals outlined in this video. The one that NO employer will allow is working at a "natural pace" ! I have burned out and broken my body to work at the pace they deemed acceptable because some other idiot raised the bar by doing it faster. Or the guy that had been doing it longer was faster. If you're not as fast as them after learning the job in a couple weeks, you're done, or scolded until you rage quit because you can't stand being nagged by supervisors or customers. Nobody cares about quality. They just want it done NOW! Employers, from my experience, will always put their bottom line above your mental health!
Sound like your probably just slow af lol
You need more qualifications and education. You are given more leeway the more education/specific useful knowledge you have.
@@michigandersea3485
That advice is why suddenly everyone is "overqualified" and the actual essential jobs are falling under while the "elite" jobs that don't actually help people are exploding.
This turns a problem into another problem. The solution is to just solve the problem. Reasonable managers can go extremely fucking far in solving this dilemma.
@@ncedwards1234 it’s a constantly changing flux, unfortunately. Many just can’t afford to do this, but you have to keep reinventing yourself and keep trying to find a place. You can’t just get education and training and then sit on your hands and say “I tried” when it doesn’t pan out. You have to do your research using employment and salary data, projections of future employment in the area, and what people say about the actual job (and about getting the actual job) before you pick an area of study. Many certificates and training programs are quite cheap and educational content is available for free. People have to conform what they study to what there’s actual demand for.
Why did you ragequit?
Just tell them the reason why you can't do something (as quickly).
They either accept it, help you or fire you.
IMHO all of those are better than quitting yourself.
I love the ideas behind “Deep Work / Slow Productivity,” but I have some concerns about its practicality and accessibility for most people. Here are a few thoughts:
1. Only for the privileged: slow productivity seems like a luxury that only the wealthy or upper-middle class can enjoy. People with stable jobs or their own businesses might have the flexibility to adopt this lifestyle, but for the average worker, it’s often out of reach.
2. Not for middle-class workers: Middle-class employees, like those in enterprises, nurses, or supermarket cashiers, can’t really apply Slow Productivity. Their jobs demand constant, high-paced work with little room to slow down.
3. Academic privilege: It’s easier to come up with these concepts when you’re a MIT professor and have income from books and speaking gigs. Most people don’t have that kind of financial security or freedom in their jobs.
4. Systemic pressure: The pressure to be highly productive usually comes from business owners and upper management, not individual workers. Suggesting that people should feel responsible for being too busy or not achieving slow productivity can make them feel guilty and even more stressed, overlooking the bigger systemic issues.
I was thinking pretty much along the same lines.
I disagree. Give me a slow, steady, methodical (more expensive) plumber/dentist/window cleaner/whatever every time.
Read this book : Deep work rules for focused success in distracted world, it has answered your concerns.
I think the ideas behind "Deep work / slow productivity" is more targetted into people that works in the creative industry and less on the labor industry
👏👏👏
2:00 Do fewer things
3:30 Work at a natual pace
4:20 Obsess over quality
Get fired😔
I spent many years as a college professor. Every year the university hired more administrators who pushed busywork on the faculty. Some faculty members, especially those who went into administration themselves, also bought into this idea. Serving on pointless committees and filling out forms that nobody read became the main purpose of my job. As a result tuition skyrocketed and I was actually scolded for spending time meeting with students.
Be it healthcare or higher education. Most of the money the client pays goes to "administrative costs".
I worked in a consultancy project trying to reduce the cost of American healthcare. The medical people don't get paid jack shit compared to the "administrative costs".
It's even worse for staff........
Neoliberalism sucks indeed.
This is exactly why I left a tenured academic career. I even went INTO administration to try and make things better for the faculty and students and all it did was suck the living life out of my soul. I work in private industry now. My overall stress is lower and my pay MUCH higher but I miss the students and the act of discovery and sharing knowledge. Maybe I’ll figure it out before I die. Until then I’d like to figure out how to get out of some of the pointless administriva and spend more time doing important work.
I was similarly scolded for caring about the teaching part of my academic job. I left.
I was an accountant, worked solo to keep mistakes at a minimum, i wouldn't open more than one book if I didn't have to. What i found is that if i got stuck , being able to take a break from it it would help me find the numbers to balance it. Its not always my fault, usually the data was in correct so i had to clarify. I would usually finish my work before lunch and dedicate the rest to help my coworkers to finish.
Good advice for many jobs, wouldn’t work as a nurse. We are constantly and consistently juggling many different tasks at once, and we do it for 12 to 16 hours straight, minus one 30 minute lunch break that we can sometimes take and sometimes not.
Thank you for your service, we would truly be screwed wihout people like you. I wish your conditions were better 🙏
That is why robots will be taking over many nurse and doctor jobs in the future.
I'm a specialist nurse in elder care, working both clinically and with educational projects. I find these ideas and those on Deep work quite useful to juggle my tasks and do quality work, but I realise not all nurses have a job with the amount of control that I have.
This advice is fantastic if you are self employed or applying it to other aspects of life like a hobby.
Applying this in a modern day workplace is a sure fire way to get yourself on an “improvement plan” and very swiftly removed from their roster. Maybe it’ll motivate you maybe it’ll make you homeless. But this method cannot work in a practical setting until pseudo-productivity culture is turned on its head. Hopefully this guy can help accomplish that.
I wasn’t seeking promotion at work, content to be a rank and file. Now retired, I don’t feel guilty doing nothing all day.
how old are you?
Praise to God Almighty!!!! I'm favoured $150k every 4weeks! I can now give back to the locals in my community and also support God's work and the church. God bless America 🇺🇲💗💓💗💞
Thanks to Maksim konstan
I don't seek promotion either. Maybe some of us just want to clock in, do our job and clock out for 40 hours a week so we can live normal lives.
But then you get criticized for not seeking promotion...
@@juliacolson5040 I did my job and got paid for it. It was fair. Anything more than that if I don’t want, it’s my decision, not because of others’ expectation or others’ norm. Live your own life, not other ppl’s life.
I FREAKING LOVE THIS! As a full-time short-form Content Creator, oftentimes you hear that you need to post x5 times a day which can work for certain niches. But what's worked the best for me, personally, is to take my time to make a video I'm really proud of and perhaps post once a week if not once every two weeks.
I've noticed that those videos would do way better because their quality was better so thank you for emphasizing this!
Great stuff. It's reassuring that we're _finally_ starting to move beyond 'Taylorism' management methods. Humans are not machines and we yield better outcomes when we aren't treated as such.
Personally, I specialize in burnout without accomplishment.
hope youre okay
Burnout sucks. Let's give ourselves time.
I am a network engineer and has been in the IT industry for a decade. One of the main time consumers is meetings. Especially ones which are just the management's idea of making something look very important. Something which can be resolved over a chat easily is blown out of proportion just because the manager wants to highlight himself infront of leadership. Second one is not delegating tasks as per a employee's capability. Delegating works magic if done properly
setuju👍👍
I agree that meetings are big time wasters. Many times, people want to talk to talk or vent and treat it like group therapy. Meetings should be timed and kept at a minimum to respect people’s work day.
Man I am so happy I work for myself. I don't know how you guys in corporate america do it. I can not stand all of the ass kissing and manipulation to get promoted that goes on.
When i feel like rushing through my life, i try to remind myself that "slow and steady wins the race" 😊
I heard someone say "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast" - military thing apparently
@@wesleybarnes5376 mine came from the classic children's book: the tortoise and the hare lol
I have been implementing seasons into my workflow, and it seems to be working very well. Work hard during the spring when the flowers are blooming and in the fall when it’s time to get ready for hibernation.
Work slow and enjoy the summer and the winter holiday season, reap the benefits of the hard work in the seasons prior, and spend time with family.
0:34 where was that guy throwing that dart??
😂😂😂
Theres possibly multiple dart board on the wall
As a retiree that help me a lot. It is difficult to pass from a ‘measured’ workload to a unmeasured workload. I wanted to be creative but I have a lot of old tools (think fabric, yarns, ink) accumulated over the year. Many of them is just ill adapted and uninspiring for me. I recently realize that all that is just keeping me down. I will go through all and donate. Just keeping what inspire me.
Best book I've ever read! Really helped me deal with the shame and guilt feelings of not working 24/7
People who work for someone else and people who work for themselves ... are two completely different things.
I work for myself. I work 7 days a week and have done so for 20 years ... I love it. I'm a 40 year old millionaire. I can't wait to get up and start kicking ass. This is how most self employeed people feel.
If you work for someone else, it sucks. Most of your time at work is a total waste of your time. You have every incentive to work the least amount possible and usually little incentive to actually work hard.
The point is... dont make someone else rich. Work for yourself and you'll enjoy work, make more money and feel much better about life in general
You hit the nail on the head! If you enjoy what you do and you're fulfilled by it, you wake up excited to take on the days challenges. But that's true regardless of where your paycheck comes from. I was a professional web developer for over 17 years and owned 3 successful businesses. But some of my happiest years were not at my own businesses... They were at a great company surrounded by positive, supportive teammates. We celebrated each other's successes and growth.
I agree with you but not everyone can be a successful entrepreneur. Employees are necessary
This is the way my brain naturally works. I’ve had to learn to try and do both fast work and this but it’s challenging. Thanks for making me feel a little better about myself.
I am crippled by long covid. The silver lining is that my life is slower, calmer, and in many ways, much more peaceful. I use these techniques to great success. It’s nice to have the time, and patience for quality in my tasks.
OMG. This validates what I'm trying to do in my life right now. Less things, more quality. I'm glad this came up in my recommendations.
Thank you so much. I have noticed that I am most productive in the warm summer months compared to the cooler months. Sometimes I struggle to get things done on rainy days. I learned to not fight it because I burn out easily and it takes me at least a week to get back to my normal self
Cal is already so handsome, eloquent and explains everything very well, but in this video so much more. Thank you so much!
Absent from this discussion (and the book, for those interested) is any discussion of external pressures, commitments with overoptimistic schedules, deadlines, etc... All of which fly in the face of the three principles: for once, you're not always in a position to do "fewer things" than what has been committed by external forces ; second, the seasonality is somehow arbitrary ("this needs to be ready for the demo at X") ; and finally, given a tension between scope, quality and schedule, and two of those things being unegocciatable - quality will take the toll.
I wish cal would address those, but it seems to be one of this blind spot - understandable for someone with relatively large control over his deadlines (author + tenured professor.)
I love routines because I find them super relaxing. Also I never multitask , I like when things take the time they need and are the focus point of the day .
Very clear and noticeably argued, although my understanding of what you're talking about is Talent. One cannot teach others how to be talented. Talented people do exactly what you are talking about, and do that with ease.
This takes me, at least, to think about inspiration; therefore the question that arises, to me at least, is: "Is what you do for a living inspiring you?" And as for "You" I mean each and everyone of us. If that's not the case, something easier to learn and apply in one's daily life (which can help finding inspiration) is Meditation.
Meditation, when honestly and deeply performed, will always pull talent out of people, infact most of the times you could find yourself having more that just 1 talent.
Whatever is you do for a living, wrost scenario would be you leave your job for another that suits your talent(s) better.
Love and prosperity.
This concept is deeper than the “work life balance” mantra.
I'm quite naturally like this, and I kinda hate context-switching or pretending to be productive by looking busy. The problem with this way of working, in my experience, has been that people around you think you're not doing enough. Not being ambitious, not being grateful, not taking things seriously. As a solution, I've to constantly find a balance between being a calm composed creative person and a bumbling hotchpotch of a person (they are aplenty in bigger organizations, always running about without fully understanding the scope or objective of things).
The sole premise that by doing fewer things slower we can achieve more can be exhausting. We live in a world where all we want to do is achieve, we are goal oriented. There is incredible value in ripping yourself away from that. This can unfortunatley be a luxury to some where they do not have the luxury of looking past tomorrow. Achieving is the root of many psychological problems.
This is so important. I am trying to reduce my stress by focusing on single tasks and keep strict closing times and rank my tasks by necessity.
Don't do this. Stress isn't caused by number of tasks it's caused by needing to do too many tasks that you don't find meaningful or valuable. Too many "obligations". Don't rank your tasks by necessity. Rank them by how meaningful they are to you. You may even need to take on more work in order to be less stressed. The important thing is to spend most of your time doing things that are important to you. If you're spending all your time on "necessary" tasks an no time on "meaningful" tasks you will remain stressed no matter how much you cut back.
@@neildutoit5177 I do agree with you, but at work it's not always about what I like to do.
I do a lot of multi tasking. Sometimes it can be stressful but most of the time it isn’t,depending on the tasks. It keeps my productivity up, I achieve satisfaction, I get to enjoy tasks with different pace of completion & quality. Don’t do it to outperform someone else or competition. Just enjoy & be content with its completion. Trust me, the end work will be good.
This is great advice but only works if corporations/employers also take on this three principles. Otherwise you'll be seen as not being productive and not as profitable which, essentially, is only what companies care about.
I agree that definition of productivity has been more or less confused with activity, though in fast-paced jobs like sales or team leadership I am unsure as to how this will translate. Knowing about attention residue is one thing but trying to minimize it is another!
Thanks!
It’s surprising how people are only scratching the surface and don’t take the time to read Mareska Manipulation. Go out of the rabbit hole guys
This is absolutely what many major companies do the OPPOSITE of; cheap out on tools and effective procedure; overload staff and/or let email+meetings be the glue that holds everything together, and, insisting on trying to do everything rather than making decisions and planning.
I read one of Cals books and have a lot of time for his inisghts
The amazing thing about this video is that it was not unnecessarily streched... What it promised in title was delivered swiftly.. THe narrator was to the point with his bullet points as well as the explanation.... Awesome..... Just.... Awesome....
This is how I excelled in high school. I knew changing subjects every hour wasn’t good for deep learning, and since I homeschooled I had the flexibility to do only one subject each day. I would accomplish a week or two’s worth of that subject that day, and since I was in the zone it made it so much easier to retain what I was learning. I still finished the school year with as many credits as my public schooled peers, but overall I had a much better experience than I would have given my learning style.
Finally Cal Newport on Big think !!!
Thank you for articulating this so well - we teach organisations to slow down and focus on value creation, yet something so logical feels scary to most management teams.
I listened to all of it and listen from time to time as my morning routine. Thank you, you're awesome!
I can't help but feel business leaders would take your point about natural rate and the ebbs and flows of work as being, "So you can be hitting the red line some of the time, and then smashing the rev limiter so hard you're getting valve float the rest."
Genuinely feels like everyone in industry is exhausted. Getting more blood from stone is the phrase that comes to mind.
Sadly, it has been my experience that just having the word "slow" in the title will cause most shareholders to reject the ideas outright without investigation.
The term "delayed gratification", a central principle in this post, is unknown to them.
They will not pause nor hesitate to leapfrog over ANY idea which might cause even a temporary loss of profits, which is a certainty here.
Only the most forward thinking of companies would adopt such strategies, of which there are very few.
Thanks
I believe if people discipline themselves to get outside to move/relax/contemplate once a day (at least) for an *absolute minimum* of 30 minutes (real minimum being 1 hour), that will legit help to prevent burnout. Allowing ourselves to rest seems to be the real discipline these days in our fast-paced, modern times.
now show me a company that follows this.
whenever i do this as an employee i get punished. what boss wants to hear "slow productivity"?
Jerk off for years, already body is out of energy,when you work it drains your all energy
Masterbation releases estrogen which promotes sleep
And testosterone is energy which prevent sleep ,tiredness,burnout
But it releases in small amount when we jerk off😢😢
Change the company, or boss
@@drmisko007 Who isn't into crunch culture these days?
@@thomaskositzki9424 I agree, but it's counterproductive imo. is anyone thinking about tomorrow
@@drmisko007Good luck 😀
I can relate to this. My sup tends to comment on my speed and keep on reminding me that it's better to mind the errors for later, but couldn't do away with me and my work because the articles and the plans I submit are more thorough, spot on, and even does a better approach than those of my "faster" colleagues.
Seasons hella matter. We used to only work a sum of 6 months of the year. Now we’ve got work 12 months of the year. Even kids have 9 months or more.
Big ups to this. Makes my life much nicer and way better productivity to focus on key quality. Basic efficiency. It’s a purpose centered systems approach rather than an exhausting busy work focus.
I had direct reports once, and I never interpreted "looking busy all the time" as a sign of being productivity, actually, it was a sign of problems. I am Ok with my team watching Netflix or planning trip as long as all daily jobs are complete, and they support our customers wholeheartedly. It is the results that matters, not being busy.
We have to disassociate busyness with productivity. “I not busy, I’m just doing some really important work right now” should be a common phrase.
the concept is lovely and idealistic Our society has not prepared us for this thought process or how to act upon it Certain people and what they aspire, will naturally escape to just 'being' and doing what they consider their gift I appreciate them....The TH-cam is very intersting and gives pause.....
This is insane. I opened the youtube app to look for “what to do against a burnout”. But thought nope, let me just scroll through my timeline, looking for something to distract me from it.
First swip up:
This video
The algorithm is terrifying.
TH-cam heard you say keywords recently that would suggest a burnout clip
Love it. I’ve never heard it put that way but this is exactly the philosophy that I practice with my team.
As long as I love the message… the culture shift in a company that’s used to busyness is really difficult. There’s so much work. It’s not even about the direct bosses. There’s just too much to do (most times, client-derived) and we’re not manned enough to deal with the load.
This is a fantastic outlook, and great advice. Happy to hear this said out loud. Will be buying this book!
On a Operational System class at college, more than 20 years ago, while teacher explain multi process with just one processor I asked:
"But this context change between two or more process will add time at the end and take longer than process being made one after the end of the previous".
Professor replys:
"You are right, but the user wants longer time to accomplish since he has the feeling of things being made same time "
I've been following these principles for years. Can recommend wholly, 10/10 great work!
3 things I learned to Financial freedom are focus, bravery, and consistency. Stay Uncommon!
I follow this idea when learning and composing music.
But the funny thing is I followed steps and got inspired from my workout.
If you exercise you know how important the rest is.
If you are exercising too much your body is going to get hurt. So u need rest. Also the diet. Diet is far more important than what u think. So if your diet and rest in gud u r going to see growth.
Also I have seen people doing extremely good workouts then reach a certain point and eventually lose interest.
Instead it's better to make it a lifestyle and see growth on a very minimum level.
It's rewarding. You have a gud control over yourself also u ll feel gud.
I follow exactly the same steps in every aspect of your whole life.
This is a refreshing take on productivity in the modern workplace as a knowledge worker.
Without answering the question about when to do what, all this is subjective.
Sometimes doing fewer higher quality things is better, but sometimes doing more things quickly is better. Sometimes attending those meetings is vital (or you are just assuming your knowledge is enough)
This is what many corporate environments are lacking, it seems managers cannot comprehend these concepts
This is how I handled working and university. I did school part time. Sure it took longer to get my degree, but I was working part time getting experience in my field. I was able to spend time with friends , eat healthy, workout, travel and enjoy time with family.
Balance out the workload and even the mundane tasks of life becomes enjoyable. Manage the workload. Rest is important too. When I graduated I actually got a better pay and position than my classmates because I had the degree and work experience.
Im so glad I ran into this video. Thank you Cal Newport!
I agree 💯, and have tried to keep that practice for decades, especially when it comes to quality. I want to be proud of the work I do, otherwise there’s no point. But not all organizations will appreciate your professional principles and will care more about boxes checked, even when not related to that organization business model, than ultimate quality. That has been my experience at a top tier US corporation.
I love Cal's books. I really wish people paid more attention to his ideas as they address several of our current woes.
Så jäkla glad att jag inte behöver använda datorer och krångliga system, som kraschar. Att vi har 5 veckors betald semester är också ett stort plus.
Jag testade USA som yngre och deras läskiga kapitalism skrämde mig tillbaks till Sverige. Ingen amerikansk arbetsgivare skulle implementera strategin i videon. semester var det bara rika personer som hade där. Vanligt folk där har aldrig råd med ledighet. Däremot börjar mätningen av ”produktivitet” så sakta leta sig till Sverige också tyvärr.
I really love Big Think. They make sciences cool again.
I want to watch Cal's full video on this platform. Big Think please share the whole video. Thanks
It's a great book, many practical steps that can be applied to all aspects of life not just the workplace.
02:08 Fewer Things at Once:
03:33 Natural Pace:
04:21 Obsess Over Quality:
Fewer Things at Once:
Focus on doing fewer things simultaneously.
Attention residue from switching tasks reduces cognitive capacity.
Completing commitments faster and with higher quality.
Natural Pace:
Embrace natural rhythms.
Intense periods balanced with less busy times.
Sustainable outcomes and better work quality.
Obsess Over Quality:
Identify high-value activities.
Invest in better tools.
Slow down, focus, and improve.
by GPT Breeze
terima kasih😊😊
Funny how to me it just doesn't work to do less things, I have to learn multiple things daily (e.g, I dedicate time to my post-grad studies, language studies, drawing practice and 3D modeling. I also enjoy playing games whenever I can and watching some cozy shows). I do a bit of a lot of things everyday, which has been the solution to me for burnout instead of doing few things.
I believe the cause for that is that it gives me less pressure to be perfect at something, it makes me have to think about different things through the day instead of worrying way too much about only one thing.
I tried to listen to that advice of doing less and honestly, it made me get a burnout really fast. I do take breaks, but never for too long, otherwise I'll get lost on track. It's interesting how it's never a one-size-fits-all situation when it comes to productivity.
I have always tried to fly under the radar and do as little as possible at work. It’s been working for me👌🏻
While I can appreciate the seemingly benevolent efforts but forth by individuals such as Cal Newport in his past 2 books and his promo tour for them on podcasts including Tim Ferriss-who himself has walked back his previous selling of productivity/efficiency with the changing of cultural tides-I think he and others gravely overlook a key issue in their attempt to capitalize off this pivot.
That is that they're prescribing the same issue that begets the problem-placing the burden of self-regulation on the individual, while the individual's workplaces, employers, markets, macro-culture of work remain unchanged. It is akin to telling consumers to solve pollution by not buying plastic straws. It is easy to offer, and focuses on their locus of control. But it fails to address success rate under context.
I don't assume this is intentional on Cal Newport's part, perhaps he's just insulated and/or aloof. It is, of course, easier for someone at his point of success, income, and career chapter to believe in and sell such ideas. And I recognize he cannot place regulatory legislation into law that would much more successfully alleviate these issues. However, this ultimately does come off as selling people the same neoliberal trick that helps dig this hole in the first place-the idea that the solution is self-regulation.
I can relate to this.. But as I’ve grown up, I learned to not take life seriously.. Just need to take one step at a time..
Good video!
So what I get from this video is that everything I’ve been with doing intuitively with my adhd is correct. What is wrong is the other people in my life thinking they know what’s best for me. My next instinct is to listen to this video repeatedly and to argue with or ignore everyone else until I get my work done 😅
The people who's always trying to tell you what's best for you usually don't have their affairs in order. If they're not living a life that you want to live or inspire to be then weigh it carefully.
Great idea, yeah I would love to work in a place like that. The reality is we can not do fewer things at once, and working at a natural pace in today's world, to many organisations this is unrealistic, you will lose your job!
yeah I wouldve loved the 'do fewer things" to work at my old first job as a cadet in social housing. it instead got people, performance and culture to ask whether i was depressed and anxious and to get assessed and medicated, and the course managers I had for a qualification I was getting part of this program tell me to get assessed etc for adhd. it's workplaces that NEED to be slower for trainees and actually giving trainees time to do stuff... rather than giving them such an unworkable environment that they can NOT wait the get the fuck out of there.
need to understand this deeper
My experience says it's a tricky point "Obsess over quality." Be very cautious. When you're doing something for the first time, aim to complete it or finish it. Once that's done, if you have time, space, or fewer things to do, then embrace the obsession with quality. Otherwise, it will have the opposite effect.
Its what most employers in this new age we're into, must realize. About time someone started to talk about this!
Every C suite in the world should watch this and espouse it. We work against our own biological rhythms by being output-centered and constant push to innovate and iterate. The macro of that is pushing us to our own untimely demise as a species. Nothing in nature is rushed or in a hurry, only human beings.
No other species earn and pay money for a living either! This so called work/career illusion are a man made product.
a great piece of content that literally transform your life 360 degrees better
I see what you did there.
This was so perfectly explained. I have to buy your books now
Lots of people as they age start looking for fulfilment in their days and work. I see the younger generation already seeking that. To me that indicates changes in society in a positive way. I hope this will lead to a reduced focus on capital accumulation and material acquisitions to a culture of quality of life, fulfilment and real common wealth and wellbeing. It is a long path for sure.
Yet Amazon sales keep climbing.
These are good points for me. Thank You. 🙏
Cal Newport author to a couple of the most effective books I’ve ever read
These three principles are very similar to what’s highlighted in Morten Hansen’s book “Great at Work”. Released in 2018. I first learned about these principles at a business forum.
I agree. The problem is trying to explain this to management. Some bosses get it, but then there are those terrorists who think leadership is interrupting and hovering over a team that can get things done just fine without a supervisor.