Slow Productivity
A "view quake" about productivity that shook my world view.
“The hyperactive digital workplace causes us to constantly shift context from one channel to another, which is productivity poison. Slow productivity is a better approach. It has three principles: do fewer things, work at a natural pace, and obsess over quality."
wrote approximately this in response to How Writing Helps You Build a Personal Social Hive Mind Supercomputer1
Hugh's right. Research studies show that you literally can't multitask;2 even minor context switches are poisonous to productivity. Simply put, you can’t simultaneously have your inbox open next to the memo you’re writing and talk on the phone. People working with interrupted conditions experience a higher workload, more stress, higher frustration, more time pressure, and exert more effort3.
While teaching a class about communicating with executives, I polled the audience with a simple slow productivity test: “how many hours did you spend creating your last presentation?” The responses varied from two to six. My answer: presentation expert Nancy Duarte recommends you take 36-90 hours to create an hour-long presentation with 30 slides, with only 1/3 of that time spent building slides4. This is Slow Productivity in practice.
The path to productivity is slow productivity. CONNECT-READ-WRITE is a system for slow productivity. It includes:
Do fewer things5,
be quiet6,
work a natural pace7,
obsess over quality8,
read actively9,
journal10,
sketch11,
use a note-taking system, like slip box12 or commonplace books,13
write morning pages,14
write in public15,
repeat.
Start by reading The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You Down by David Marchese in the New York Times and about Connect-Read-Write. Then, try the advice in the footnotes below.
Slowly :)
About the VIEW QUAKE Channel. This article in part of a series on "view quakes"—each short post contains an idea shook my world view. The term view quake was coined, as far as I know, by Tyler Cowen in an email to Ryan Holiday.
FOOTNOTES
This quote comes from
on Substack, who was referring to the David Marchese article in the New York Times (see below). Hugh is the co-author of The Unconventionals: How Rebel Companies are Changing Markets, Hearts, and Minds—And How You Can Too. This book is about the power of unconventional thought, which is deep thought. Written withThe Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress, Gloria Mark, Daniela Gudith, and Ulrich Klocke. “When people are constantly interrupted, they develop a mode of working faster (and writing less) to compensate for the time they know they will lose by being interrupted. Yet working faster with interruptions has its cost: people in the interrupted conditions experienced a higher workload, more stress, higher frustration, more time pressure, and effort.”
The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You Down, David Marchese in the New York Times. According to Cal Newport, research has shown that people who work on multiple things concurrently are less able to filter out irrelevancy, have poorer memory and are more easily distracted.
slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. Duarte’s breakdown of the 36-90 hours to create a presentation:
Meditate, journal without electronics, sketch. Just do it quietly, without distraction.
Ryan Holiday’s 3-Step System for Reading Like a Pro, Ryan Holiday. Ryan’s reading system is a one-stop-shop of reading for slow productivity, organizing notes in commonplace book, and interacting with content.
How I Journal and Take Notes | Brainstorming + Focusing + Reducing Anxiety, Tim Ferriss. Best-selling author and podcaster Tim Ferriss has “hyper-graphia,” which means he writes and journals ideas all the time. He shows great concrete examples and a great multi-pass note taking system.
Creative Acts for Curious People, Sarah Stein Greenberg & Michael Hirshon. “Drawing, sketching, making chicken scratches—whatever you call it, representing your ideas in a physical form is incredibly helpful for clearer communication. When you draw something, the idea moves out of your brain and into someone else’s with less chance for it to drastically mutate, helping you avoid misinterpretations and wasted time. As soon as you visualize something externally, you know what you’re working on together.”
How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking, by Sönke Ahrens. A "slip box" is a card file with small items of information stored on paper slips or cards linked to each other through subject headings or additional metadata such as numbers and tags. It forms a personal knowledge management system for research, study, and writing.
Ryan Holiday’s 3-Step System for Reading Like a Pro, Ryan Holiday.
The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron. "Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages–they are not high art. They are not even "writing." They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page... and then do three more pages tomorrow.”
The Practice, Seth Godin. “The Practice explains that what looks like a barrier is often a catalyst in disguise. Magic may not come from what we can see on the stage but from behind it, where the wood chopping happens.” - Peter Gabriel
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast!