Rethinking Productivity in Knowledge Work

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This chapter explores the concept of slow productivity and its application to knowledge work jobs, highlighting the problems with the current way of working and the challenges of measuring productivity in this field. It discusses the concept of pseudo productivity and the issue with the invisible factory model, suggesting a shift towards smarter systems and eliminating unnecessary tasks. The chapter also emphasizes the importance of working less, taking breaks, and focusing on producing high-quality work in a shorter period of time.

A key step in cultivating a deep life is reflecting on what matters to you and the best strategies for pursuing it. This, in turn, requires that you engage in the consumption of some manner of self help. It’s here that many people sell themselves short, limiting this intake to short videos and the occasional advice guide. In today’s episode, Cal talks about cultivating a much richer approach to self-help in which you’re able to take in wisdom from a variety of sources of various levels of sophistication.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Deep Dive: Rethinking Self Help [3:21]

- How can I prevent hard tasks from derailing my productivity systems? [38:47]
- Should I get ahead in my career with a project that I hate? [47:54]
- How can I make progress on my novel when my day job drains me? [52:39]
- Is there such a thing as too much deep work? [59:32]
- CALL: Will short deep work sessions work to write effectively? [1:12:17]

CASE STUDY: Reducing stress with slow productivity [1:18:40]

The 5 Books Cal Read in January 2024 [1:30:22]

Links:
https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/preorder-slow-productivity/
FREE Download for “Slow Productivity”: www.calnewport.com/slow

Thanks to our Sponsors:

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This show is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/deepquestions

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.