Introduction
How is it possible to do work that you’re proud of and not feel like your job is encroaching on all parts of your life? Cal Newport, author of ‘Slow Productivity,’ explains.
Script
Cal Newport, Computer Scientist and Author of ‘Slow Productivity: We’re increasingly facing burnout. How is it possible to do work that you’re proud of and not feel like your job is encroaching on all parts of your life? Because it’s no longer you just see me in my office looking vaguely busy. You can actually see every email I’m sending and how active I am in a Slack chat. I could do this on the way to work, on the way home from work, at home, on the weekends. Enough is enough. We’re increasingly exhausted. We have a faulty definition of productivity that we’ve been following and what we need to do instead is shift our focus onto outcomes. I’m Cal Newport. I’m a computer scientist and writer. My most recent book is “Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout.”
Slow productivity: So the knowledge sector emerges in the mid-twentieth century. When it emerges, our best understanding of productivity came from manufacturing. In manufacturing, this is something that we could measure very precisely. For example, how many Model Ts are we producing per labor hour going in as input? And we had a number we could look at.
Knowledge Work Emerges: These type of metrics don’t work anymore. Because in knowledge work, we’re not producing one thing. I might be working on seven or eight different things at the same time. This could be different than the seven or eight things that the person right next to me is working on. Our solution to this was to introduce a rough heuristic that I call pseudo-productivity that said we can use visible activity as a crude proxy for useful effort.
Pseudo-productivity: So if I see you doing things, that’s better than you not doing things. Come to an office and we watch you work. If we need to be more productive, come earlier, stay later. We’ll just use activity as our best marker that you’re probably doing something useful. More and more of our time is focused on performing this busyness, which means less of our time is spent actually doing things that matter.
So what’s the solution? Slow productivity is a way of measuring useful effort that is now much more focused on the quality things you produce over time as opposed to your visible activity in the moment, and I define it to be built on three main principles.
Principle 1 – Do Fewer Things: The first is to do fewer things. Now this idea scares a lot of people when they first hear it because they interpret do fewer things to mean accomplish fewer things. What I really mean is do fewer things at once.
We know this from neuroscience and organizational psychology that when you turn the target of your attention from one point to another, it takes a while for your brain to reorient. The things you’re thinking about over here leaves what’s known as attention residue. This is a self-imposed reduction of cognitive capacity, so you’re producing worse work. Even worse, it’s a psychological state that is exhausting and frustrating, so the experience of work itself just becomes subjectively very negative.
So what happens if I’m working on fewer things at once? More of my day can actually be spent trying to complete commitments, which means I’m gonna complete em’ faster. And probably the quality level is going to be higher as well because I can give them uninterrupted concentration.
Principle 2 – Work at a Natural Pace: The second principle is to work at a natural pace. One of the defining features of human economic activity for the last several hundred thousand years is that the seasons really matter. There was migration season when we were hunting. There were planting seasons when we were planting, and harvest seasons when we were harvesting, and seasons where neither of those activities were going on. We had a lot of variety throughout the year in terms of how hard we were working.
I think in knowledge work, if certain times of year are more intense than others, this will lead to overall better and more sustainable outcomes. So the principle of working at a natural pace says it’s okay to not redline it fifty weeks a year, five days a week. We can have busy days and less busy days. We can have busy seasons and less busy seasons.
Principle 3 – Obsess Over Quality: The third principle of slow productivity is to obsess over quality. And what this means is you should identify the things you do in your work that produce the most value and really care about getting better at that. Any quest towards obsessing over quality has to start with a, perhaps pretty thorough, investigation of your own job. And then once you figure that out, start giving that activity as much attention as you can.
For example, invest in better tools so that you can signal to yourself that you’re invested in doing this thing well. I did this myself as a postdoc. I was at MIT, didn’t have a ton of money at that time, but I bought a fifty-dollar lab notebook. And my idea was this is going to make me take the work I’m doing in this notebook more seriously, and it did. So something about having this more quality tool pushed me towards more quality thinking.
So this idea that you want to slow down, that you want to do fewer things, that you want to have a more natural pace, this
becomes very natural when you’re really focused on doing what you do well. You begin to see all of those meetings and the email and the overstuffed task list not as a mark of productivity, but obstacles to what you’re really trying to do.
If you are embracing these principles, a few things are going to happen. The pace at which important things are finished is going to go up. The quality of what you’re producing is going to go up, and the happiness is also going to go up. This is going to become a much more sustainable work environment and you’re going to be doing the work that’s going to make you better.
Vocabulary
1. Burnout: state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive stress. It is characterized by feelings of energy depletion, increased distance from one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.
Example: After working long hours for several weeks without a break, Sarah experienced burnout and found it difficult to motivate herself to complete her tasks.
2. Encroaching: gradually moving into another person’s area or territory, often without being noticed.
Example: The suburbs encroach further into the rural areas each year.
3. Vaguely: in an imprecise or uncertain way.
Example: Because Amy was heavily sedated, she only vaguely remembered her hospital stay.
4. Faulty: something that is not perfect, not working correctly, or contains mistakes.
Example: Ask for a refund if the goods are faulty.
5. Outcomes: final results or effects of an action, process, or situation.
Example: We are still awaiting the final outcome of the trial.
6. Model T: also known as the Ford Model T, was the first mass-produced automobile by the Ford Motor Company.
Example: The Model T revolutionized transportation and made cars accessible to the general public.
7. Metrics: quantifiable measures used to evaluate performance or track progress.
Example: The company uses various metrics to assess sales growth and customer satisfaction.
8. Heuristic: a practical problem-solving approach based on experience and intuition rather than strict rules.
Example: The programmer used a heuristic to optimize the code for faster execution.
9. Pseudo-Productivity: the illusion of being productive while actually accomplishing little of value.
Example: Constantly checking emails can lead to pseudo-productivity if it distracts from important tasks.
10. Crude: describes something in a raw, unrefined, or basic state.
Example: The artist’s early sketches were crude but showed great potential.
11. Proxy: someone or something that represents or acts on behalf of another person or thing. It can also refer to a document authorizing a person to vote on someone else’s behalf.
Example: “Since I wouldn’t be available to vote, I nominated him to act as my proxy.”
12. Marker: can refer to an object used to indicate a position, place, or route. It can also be a type of felt-tip pen that makes wide lines.
Example: “They erected a granite marker at the crash site.”
13. Self-imposed reduction: a voluntary decision to decrease or limit something, often related to personal goals or behaviors.
Example: “She decided on a self-imposed reduction in screen time to improve her focus.”
14. Cognitive capacity: the total amount of information the brain can retain at any particular moment. It’s different from cognitive ability, which is the potential to develop cognitive skills.
Example: “His cognitive capacity allowed him to handle complex tasks without feeling overwhelmed.”
15. Pace: can mean the rate of movement (walking, running), the speed at which something happens, or the manner of walking.
Example: “We walked at a leisurely pace along the shore.”
16. Redline it: perform a task or job with maximum effort for a sustained period of time.
Example: The budget report is due in two days, so we’ll have to redline it to get it done on time.
17. Thorough: complete, detailed, and comprehensive.
Example: “She conducted a thorough investigation to uncover all relevant facts.”
18. Figure that out: solve or understand something through analysis or deduction.
Example: “He spent hours trying to figure that out before finally solving the puzzle.”
19. Postdoc: (short for postdoctoral researcher) is a position held by someone who has completed their doctoral degree and is conducting research under the supervision of a senior scientist.
Example: “She secured a postdoc position at a prestigious research institution.”
20. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): a renowned university known for its cutting-edge research and innovation in science, engineering, and technology.
Example: “She received her PhD from MIT.”
21. Notebook: a bound book or electronic device used for writing notes, recording information, or organizing thoughts.
Example: “He always carries a small notebook to jot down ideas.”
22. Overstuffed: something that is filled or packed to excess, often referring to furniture or cushions.
Example: “The couch was so overstuffed that it was difficult to sit comfortably.”
Quiz
1. What is burnout?Discussion
- Have you ever felt like you were close to burning out?
- What strategies do you use to avoid becoming overwhelmed by your job?
- Have you ever considered the possibility that you might actually be able to accomplish more by doing less?
Resources
Ask Al-i
Now find out more by asking Al-i some questions :
- What have been the general trends towards burnout at work in the 21st century?
- What countries have the highest rate of burnout at work?
- What are five tips for helping to reduce stress and potential burnout at work?