Slow Productivity

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The Rise and Fall of Pseudo-Productivity

In the summer of 1995, Leslie Moonves, the newly appointed head of entertainment for CBS, was wandering the halls of the network's vast Television City headquarters. He was not happy with what he saw: it was 3:30 p.m. on a Friday, and the office was three quarters empty. As the media journalist Bill Carter reports in Desperate Networks, his 2006 book about the television industry during this period, a frustrated Moonves sent a heated memo about the empty office to his employees. "Unless anybody hasn't noticed, we're in third place [in the ratings]," he wrote. "My guess is that at ABC and NBC they're still working at 3:30 on Friday. This will no longer be tolerated."


On first encounter, this vignette provides a stereotypical case study about the various ways the knowledge sector came to think about productivity during the twentieth century: Work is a vague thing that employees do in an office. More work creates better results than less. It s a manager s job to ensure enough work is getting done, because without this pressure, lazy employees will attempt to get away with the bare minimum. The most successful companies have the hardest workers.

But how did we develop these beliefs? We've heard them enough times to convince ourselves that they're probably true, but a closer look reveals a more complicated story. It doesn't take much probing to discover that in the knowledge work environment, when it comes to the basic goal of getting things done, we actually know much less than we're letting on . . .

What Does "Productivity" Mean?

As the full extent of our culture's growing weariness with "productivity" became increasingly apparent in recent years, I decided to survey my readers about the topic. My goal was to nuance my understanding of what was driving this shift. Ultimately, close to seven hundred people, almost all knowledge workers, participated in my informal study. My first substantive question

Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University where he is also a founding member of the Center for Digital Ethics. In addition to his academic work, Newport is a New York Times bestselling author who writes for a general audience about the intersection of technology, productivity, and culture. His books have sold millions of copies and been translated into over forty languages. He is also on the contributor staff for The New Yorker and hosts the popular Deep Questions podcast. Newport lives with his wife and three sons in Takoma Park, Maryland.

"Intriguing and intelligent."
The Times

"[Cal's] ideas are not of the self-optimising wake-up-before-you-go-to-bed life-hack brigade but rather to encourage deep focus, away from the noise of social media and performative busyness."
Financial Times

"This brilliant and timely book is for all of us who've grown disillusioned with conventional productivity advice, yet still yearn to get meaningful things done. With his trademark blend of philosophical depth and realistic techniques, Newport outlines an approach that's more human and vastly more effective in the long run."
Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks
 
"If you are stretched thin and having trouble getting everything done, you need to speed up, right? Wrong. In Slow Productivity, Cal Newport does what he does best, delivering counterintuitive secrets that just might save your career and sanity."
Arthur C. Brooks, author of Build the Life You Want
 
"With profound insights backed by research, analysis, and examples from the lives of scientists and artists, Cal Newport explores a better way to work one that promises more calm, clarity, and creativity."
Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

"Cal's mix of storytelling and practical advice makes this a super engaging read that you'll want to revisit repeatedly."
Ali Abdaal, author of Feel-Good Productivity
 
"For anyone who wants individual advice on how to be more productive, there's nobody better than Cal Newport: calm, evidence-based, and inspiring."
Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus

"Slow Productivity is an opportunity to understand why we so often feel frustrated with the demands of the world we live in and what we can accomplish if we choose to turn inward, once again."
Meera Lee Patel, author of Start Where You Are

"Slow Productivity is a life-changing book! Newport shares an eye-opening new way to understand productivity