The lost art of accomplishment without burnout | Cal Newport for Big Think +

1. Do fewer things at once. 2. Work at natural pace. 3. Obsess over quality.

This is exactly what I've been doing since I was a kid, and I was treated like a slow minded idiot for doing it despite me having the most consistient and high quality results versus my peers. Thank you for proving that my childhood self had it right the whole time.

The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves. - Alan Watts

The fact that a computer person advocates for doing fewer quality things at a natural pace is fascinating. Thank you sir for rescuing our humanity.

I love how the most progressive scientific breakthroughs are just regressing back to doing things the way our ancestors did them…

I wish management understood this. I’m considered a “slow” developer…but when my work gets done it almost never needs revisited. My bug count is in the single digits vs in the hundreds that my “faster” coworkers have, and unlike my “faster” coworkers none of my projects ever had to be rewritten due to being built on delicate code (rewriting software is an enormous cost by the way). The technical debt of my projects is so minimal I have applications I’ve written over a decade ago that still run just fine and never had to be part of the yearly maintenance parade. As this video states, often times slower is better.

this viewpoint is good and healthy. but if corporate’s mindset doesn’t align with it then it is still wishful thinking.

I spent many years as a college professor. Every year the university hired more administrators who pushed busywork on the faculty. Some faculty members, especially those who went into administration themselves, also bought into this idea. Serving on pointless committees and filling out forms that nobody read became the main purpose of my job. As a result tuition skyrocketed and I was actually scolded for spending time meeting with students.

I have left and lost so many jobs, and what I tried to make a career once, because I naturally followed the 3 principals outlined in this video. The one that NO employer will allow is working at a "natural pace" ! I have burned out and broken my body to work at the pace they deemed acceptable because some other idiot raised the bar by doing it faster. Or the guy that had been doing it longer was faster. If you're not as fast as them after learning the job in a couple weeks, you're done, or scolded until you rage quit because you can't stand being nagged by supervisors or customers. Nobody cares about quality. They just want it done NOW! Employers, from my experience, will always put their bottom line above your mental health!

The concept of slow productivity aligns perfectly with what many of us feel - that constant busyness doesn't always lead to real accomplishments. Quality over quantity, always.

I wasn’t seeking promotion at work, content to be a rank and file. Now retired, I don’t feel guilty doing nothing all day.

This advice is fantastic if you are self employed or applying it to other aspects of life like a hobby. Applying this in a modern day workplace is a sure fire way to get yourself on an “improvement plan” and very swiftly removed from their roster. Maybe it’ll motivate you maybe it’ll make you homeless. But this method cannot work in a practical setting until pseudo-productivity culture is turned on its head. Hopefully this guy can help accomplish that.

I love the ideas behind “Deep Work / Slow Productivity,” but I have some concerns about its practicality and accessibility for most people. Here are a few thoughts: 1. Only for the privileged: slow productivity seems like a luxury that only the wealthy or upper-middle class can enjoy. People with stable jobs or their own businesses might have the flexibility to adopt this lifestyle, but for the average worker, it’s often out of reach. 2. Not for middle-class workers: Middle-class employees, like those in enterprises, nurses, or supermarket cashiers, can’t really apply Slow Productivity. Their jobs demand constant, high-paced work with little room to slow down. 3. Academic privilege: It’s easier to come up with these concepts when you’re a MIT professor and have income from books and speaking gigs. Most people don’t have that kind of financial security or freedom in their jobs. 4. Systemic pressure: The pressure to be highly productive usually comes from business owners and upper management, not individual workers. Suggesting that people should feel responsible for being too busy or not achieving slow productivity can make them feel guilty and even more stressed, overlooking the bigger systemic issues.

I was an accountant, worked solo to keep mistakes at a minimum, i wouldn't open more than one book if I didn't have to. What i found is that if i got stuck , being able to take a break from it it would help me find the numbers to balance it. Its not always my fault, usually the data was in correct so i had to clarify. I would usually finish my work before lunch and dedicate the rest to help my coworkers to finish.

I am a network engineer and has been in the IT industry for a decade. One of the main time consumers is meetings. Especially ones which are just the management's idea of making something look very important. Something which can be resolved over a chat easily is blown out of proportion just because the manager wants to highlight himself infront of leadership. Second one is not delegating tasks as per a employee's capability. Delegating works magic if done properly

Great stuff. It's reassuring that we're finally starting to move beyond 'Taylorism' management methods. Humans are not machines and we yield better outcomes when we aren't treated as such.

I FREAKING LOVE THIS! As a full-time short-form Content Creator, oftentimes you hear that you need to post x5 times a day which can work for certain niches. But what's worked the best for me, personally, is to take my time to make a video I'm really proud of and perhaps post once a week if not once every two weeks. I've noticed that those videos would do way better because their quality was better so thank you for emphasizing this!

This is great advice but only works if corporations/employers also take on this three principles. Otherwise you'll be seen as not being productive and not as profitable which, essentially, is only what companies care about.

When i feel like rushing through my life, i try to remind myself that "slow and steady wins the race" 😊

Hallelujah 🙌🏻!!!!! The daily jesus devotional has been a huge part of my transformation, God is good 🙌🏻🙌🏻. I was owing a loan of $49,000 to the bank for my son's brain surgery, Now I'm no longer in debt after I invested $11,000 and got my payout of $290,500 every month…God bless Mrs Susan Jane Christy ❤️