Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout

by Cal Newport

He didn’t resolve, in some generic fashion, to try to take on less; he instead put in place specific rules (e.g., no conferences), habits (e.g., work from home as much as possible), and even ploys (e.g., trickling out his already completed research)—all directed toward minimizing the number of big items tugging at his attention.

Who did his laundry

MAKE OTHER PEOPLE WORK MORE

...So only you can enjoy slow productivity? This heading is not inspiring a whole lot of confidence for the section's practicality.

Imagine everyone on your team puts aside one hour a day for completing small tasks and answering quick questions. Further imagine that they each post a shared document containing a sign-up sheet for a day’s block, including only a limited number of slots. If you want someone on your team to, say, give you his availability for an upcoming client visit, you must find a free slot in which to record this request. He’ll then see it and give you an answer during that day’s administrative block—freeing him from the burden of having to manage all of these obligations in a single, overwhelming pile of unstructured urgency.

Dear god this would be hell in nearly any office I've ever known of. I appreciate that it's intended to be outlandish, but holy hell I was not expecting just *how* outlandish. How about everyone just learns to read the damned office calendar.

SPEND MONEY

I mean, yeah, if I could outsource all household tasks to someone else I'd definitely gain a lot of time and energy and be way happier because I loathe housework. I can't afford a housekeeper/maid/private chef though. Almost no one can.

Don’t spend more than you can afford. But recognize that a practitioner of slow productivity cannot afford to spend nothing.

I repeat: who does your laundry

Interlude: What about Overwhelmed Parents?

Oh, hey, might actually answer the question

If you toil in a factory, and your employer wants you to put in twelve-hour days, this demand will be clearly specified in a labor contract, in black and white, in a form that can be pointed to and argued about. Your union can fight back.

Mate, what kinds of jobs do you think most of the working class has these days? Hint: it's not manufacturing. Most employees are in the retail/service sectors or part of the gig economy. There are no unions to be found.

more specifically moms, who often shoulder more of these household burdens than their partners do—to

Nice to know you're aware of this. How's your wife's schedule looking compared to yours?

It was crazy-making.

You know what else is crazy making? Seeing you acknowledge the demands of childrearing and housework without ever mentioning how they intersect and interfere with your idealised work day

What’s often left out of this narrative, however, is what happened between that initial performance and the show’s triumphant Broadway debut eight years later.

Something tells me you're not a musical person. Musical theatre fans by and large all know the story of how hard it was to get In The Heights to Broadway

But there’s a reason why MFA programs are so common among successful writers: they provide an effective training regimen for literary taste.

Alternatively: they introduce students to useful contacts that those without MFAs generally lack.