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Dr. Cal Newport: How to Enhance Focus and Improve Productivity

Huberman Lab

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Demonstrating Effort in the Front Office IT Revolution

The integration of technology like computers, networks, email, and later tools like Slack revolutionized how productive effort was measured. The ability to demonstrate effort at a very fine grain level through email and messaging tools throughout the day, including from home with smartphones, led to a culture of constant labor demonstration. This shift in productivity dynamics, combined with the onset of knowledge worker burnout and exhaustion, was exacerbated by an increased expectation to constantly display productivity. The clash between traditional productivity measurements and the new tech-driven demonstration of effort led to a significant shift in the productivity landscape, as evidenced by the change in tone in productivity books from the early 90s to the early 2000s.

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