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Productivity Is Hard To Define In Knowledge Work
Productivity is a well-defined concept in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing, where outputs and processes are concrete. But in knowledge work, which emerged as a major economic force in the mid-20th century, the nature of productivity is much more ambiguous.
Managers didn't know how to measure or improve productivity for these more cognitively-complex jobs. In response, they defaulted to using visible activity, like hours spent in the office or messages sent, as a proxy for productivity. The more activity you see, the more you assume an employee is contributing.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
Book: Slow Productivity
Author: Cal Newport
Quality Enables Autonomy
An obsession with quality isn't just about the nobility of doing good work. It's also a savvy business strategy. When your output is in high demand because of its excellence, you gain leverage to dictate the terms of your working life. Clients seek you out and are willing to pay a premium. Collaborators value your contributions and defer to your judgment.
With an exceptional track record, you can be more selective about what you take on and design a schedule that suits you. In this way, quality and autonomy become mutually reinforcing - doing excellent work earns you the freedom to keep doing excellent work on your own terms.
Section: 2, Chapter: 5
Book: Slow Productivity
Author: Cal Newport
Self-Regulation Keeps Knowledge Workers On The Edge Of Overload
For knowledge workers who have some autonomy over their workload, overcommitment often stems from a flawed strategy of self-regulation. We say yes to new requests until we feel so stressed and overwhelmed that we believe we have an unimpeachable excuse for saying no. This guarantees we'll be permanently teetering on the edge of being overscheduled.
A more sustainable approach is to proactively contain your commitments well before you hit a breaking point. Establish clear policies for what you will and won't take on, communicate these boundaries and defend your limited capacity so that you never end up with more on your plate than you can handle.
Section: 2, Chapter: 3
Book: Slow Productivity
Author: Cal Newport
Technology Supercharged Pseudo-Productivity
The rise of digital communication tools like email and instant messaging in the 1990s and 2000s turned the proxy of visible activity into an arms race of electronic busyness. Knowledge workers could now signal their "productivity" by sending messages at all hours, leading to an onslaught of low-value communication that left everyone feeling overwhelmed but still under pressure to keep up the charade of looking busy.
This state of affairs, which Newport terms "pseudo-productivity," is neither sustainable nor conducive to getting the right things done. But it remains the dominant way work is organized and evaluated in many organizations.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
Book: Slow Productivity
Author: Cal Newport
The Rise of Psuedo-Productivity
In the absence of more sophisticated measures of effectiveness, we also gravitate away from deeper efforts toward shallower, more concrete tasks that can be more easily checked off a to-do list.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
Book: Slow Productivity
Author: Cal Newport
Slow Productivity Focuses On Meaningful Accomplishment
Here's a key tenet of slow productivity - what matters is the ultimate result, not the appearance of staying busy. As you evaluate your own work habits, consider where you may be conflating the two. Are you spending time on things that look or feel productive but don't meaningfully advance your most important projects? See if you can shift more of your time and attention to the efforts that make the biggest difference, even if they unfold at a slower pace. Don't use busyness as a proxy for effectiveness.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
Book: Slow Productivity
Author: Cal Newport
Slow Productivity Doesn't Mean Low Productivity
A common misconception is that working slower means getting less done. But as the hunter-gatherer example shows, a fluctuating pace doesn't necessarily lower overall output. In fact, the intense bursts enable higher quality efforts that can produce outsized results, making up for any "lost" time spent resting or recharging.
As you experiment with slow productivity, embrace this underlying truth. Judge your success not by how constantly busy you are, but by the ultimate results you're able to generate by working at a more natural rhythm. You may be surprised by how much you're still able to achieve.
Section: 1, Chapter: 2
Book: Slow Productivity
Author: Cal Newport
