My Highlights - Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
The Lost Art of Accomplishing without Burnout | Wisdom Letter 271
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”
- Stephen Covey
Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity is one my favorite books of the year.
These are my bullet notes from the book - my top lessons in short, bullet point lists.
Slow Productivity -
Do fewer things
Work at a natural pace
Obsess over quality
Varies and humane pace
Balance of hard periods and relaxation
NOT performative activity
Pseudo Productivity -
Visible activity ~ productive effort leads to pseudo productivity
Knowledge Work
Economic activity
Knowledge transformed into artifact with market value
Cognitive effort
Do Fewer Things
Reduce your obligations
Fewer projects that matter most, embraced fully
Say no proactively
If you wait till you feel exhausted, you will always have unsustainable workloads
Permanently exhausted
Almost at the tipping point of burn out
Apply Limits
At different scales -
Overarching missions
Ongoing projects
Daily goals Intentionally set limits at all these scales
Work at a Natural Pace
Don't rush most important work
Allow work to unfold along a sustainable timeline
Variation in intensity
Continuous Intensity is Artificial
Unceasing intensity is unsustainable
Its against our fundamental nature
Generates misery
Take Longer
Be comfortable taking longer
Trust yourself to NOT procrastinate
Make a 5 year plan
Double Your Timelines
Humans are bad at estimations
Especially non-physical projects
Most of our estimates are guesses or wishful thinking - best case scenarios
Grand achievement = Steady accumulation of modest results over time
The path is long, pace yourself
Simplify Your Workday
Reduce your task list by 50%
No more than half of working hours for meetings or calls
Declare certain "Protected Hours"
Forgive Yourself
Timing work is tricky
Its ok if you take longer
Its ok if you miss deadlines and opportunities
You're NOT lazy
Embrace Seasonality
Vary intensity and focus throughout the year
Work without change or rest is unnatural
Seasonality is deeply integrated into the human experience
Schedule Slow Seasons
Have an "off season" with no major projects
Slow down a few months throughout the year
Shorter work year
Have annual extended escapes from work
Its okay if you make less money because of it
Nothing terrible will happen if you work less
You can read the rest of it on this link -
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That’s it for today.
See you next week 👋
We’ll be back with more interesting notes, highlights and curations.
Cheers,
Ayush & Aditi