Hello you savages. Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - chriswillx.com/books/ Here's the timestamps: 00:00 Our Current Definition of Productivity 03:08 The Evolution of Productivity Advice 12:58 Most People’s Relationship With Productivity 20:31 Typical Days of Historical Figures 26:19 How to Work at a Natural Pace 37:00 Dealing With the Increased Workload of Success 43:41 The Insane Output of Brandon Sanderson 50:16 Creating a Productive Work Environment at Home 53:29 Getting Better At Saying No 1:02:55 The Benefit of Quotas & Templates 1:10:10 Being Busy Vs Producing Success 1:20:40 How to Optimise for Quality 1:25:59 Slowing Down the Rate of Communication 1:31:23 The Price You Need to Pay for Slow Productivity 1:36:29 Steps to Begin Unwinding Bad Work Habits 1:43:58 The Importance of Writing 1:49:51 Where to Find Cal
This idea of admin overheads has been a real lightbulb moment for me. I'm a chronic over-reacher, and a pathological volunteer. I generally take on too many things, and struggle to keep up with the workload. I do get it done, but it's honestly always been at the expense of my own passion projects. The last couple of years I've really worked on changing that, and it's settling in. This might have been the final Tetris piece that eliminates a bunch of obstacles I've put in my own way. If I do fewer things, then I'll do less admin, and I'll get more stuff done well, and will be more satisfied with my output. Thank you.
I see this in my work and on my team, the one who volunteers for all the extra tasks, and pathologically seeks to expand scope on everything, then complains about burnout. I find it chaotic. Gotta be self aware and mindful.
Interesting timing on this topic. I recently quit a job and the main reason I did was because I was burnt out with it. The days were over 10 hours long with no breaks in the elements. Before anyone mentions how that's illegal, it's not illegal when the union negotiates them away. Aside from that, the scheduling was widely inconsistent. You couldn't plan anything for your life outside of the job. Every week we would then get told we were working that Saturday. This went on for over 6 months straight. When a holiday came along, management would even talk about us having work extra days to make up for them. I had lost friendships and relationships because of this job because there was never time for anything else. So I got burnt out and finally quit. Since then, I've rekindled at least 1 friendship, I'm sleeping better, I'm eating better, and I just feel so much better now than I did while I was there. Overall, I feel great! Yet I know that at some point I'll have to get a job again and I just hope that it isn't one that's as draining as that one was.
I love Cal's work. His point about not making yourself the assistant applies heavily to women. Don't make yourself the assistant of your husband's life, let him do his own errands, buy cards and presents for his family members and remember to call them on their birthdays.
As someone that works for a massive Tech company, this resonates so well. So many calls, emails, and administrative overhead due to stretch tasks agreed to.
Yep. I see this so often with knowledge work. People complain of burnout and so much to do, then go about their day saying yes and continuously expanding scope from thin air and then wonder if you’re a good fit when you begin explaining boundaries and prioritization.
Dude it's a nightmare to your energy levels. One thing wrong anywhere on any of your projects and you are sol. Can't even slow down cause your manager wants those numbers up for constant growth and will cut you quick
These are exactly my thoughts too, up to a certain point I realize "oh this is only for people who make too much money already and can implement these strategies and not for people who have to do actual work".
Get more competent then. How much money you make just reflects the decisions you made in life. Also one could move to a place with cheaper costs of living.
I'm an architect and thus a "knowledge worker" he is talking about. There is a work overload, but it has nothing to do with superfluous meetings. Yes, if you work at a corporate office, the higher ups and project architects are spending most of their time on meetings, but that is their job. They aren't really expected to draw or produce much of anything. It just literally comes down to too much work, and not enough time.
with regards to the suggestion that you could just give longer timelines to your manager to the extent that is it possible... well... I don't see how this is even remotely possible when you are working for instance on a deal at a bank or preparing analysis for an impending financing transaction...it just not in the realm of possibilities😅 what do you think? how'd you manage the situation?
I just went through my second burnout, at 41, in 10 years. This one, I felt like my mind kinda died. I'm in a tough spot, as a freelance filmmaker with a not-so-great insurance and no close relatives. Very curious about this episode, hopefully I'll find useful stuff in it!
@@callmesyr I am a recovering notorious over-committer/people pleaser, so I quit ALL commitments (time and financial) that were not absolutely necessary. My credit took a hit, and I pissed some people off, but got my health and sanity back. I made peace with living on less and DOING less, and it actually feels better. I also deleted almost everything (app-wise) from my phone and started leaving it in the other room so I could just be present with my husband and kids. Started swimming and walking a lot more, and re-reading Cal's books. The most important thing I realized was that I had to DECIDE to save my mind. I really hope this helps in some way.
always interesting how people who don't use social media is so attractive. Like good for you having boundaries and have control not needing to post about yourself and see what others are doing.
Just finished Slow Productivity and I loved it. Love his point that the fruits of pursuing quality in our work can be harvested not just as higher income and increased responsibilities but in the form of a more sustainable lifestyle.
Very timely topic for me as I am about to turn 70 and I am pondering how I got to where I am and wondering if I am alone or part of a trend I am unaware of. Nice to get some historical and theoretical frameworks to bracket what has been a more intuitive life than a planned one. My resistance to productivity began back in the 1970s when everyone around me said the only path forward was hard work. That idea never appealed to me.
Brandon Sanderson is lovely and I think (from what he talks about) he’s doing it in a balanced way. He’s hiring people and delegating. He focuses on having time to write and be with family. His schedule is seems very unique but it seems balanced!
That’s how I naturally think. I work in fast food though so people don’t respect my work with their edgy micro actions making them look like they are working harder. While I focus on preparation and organization to save me all those edgy micro movements and anxiety.
For me Cal explains the concepts here better than in the book. I love Cal and his work, but was a little disappointed with the book. But this one is gold, so many things makes more sense now!
I'm about a third of the way through this and am reminded of stories of small business owners who end up hiring people to manage the major "running of things" decisions and return to the kitchen or whatever to do the grunt work. I think I need to remember when to quit, go brew a coffee, and do nothing but sip and let my mind wander for a bit. To hell with my phone and email too.
What about messaging and responding when ypu have completed your task rather than thec2 min zoom meeting except people started expecting immediate answer.
Productivity = overcoming executive function deficits, whether they be innate deficits or situational. A deep and meaningful study of our brains’ executive function and what affects it is the only place for productivity study to go at this point. Productivity in knowledge work starts and ends in the brain.
This seems like common sense. Perhaps overly competetive people need to hear this. My experience is that if you don't take adequate breaks you will experience burnout. But nipping it at the bud really helps . I prefer to try to keep enthused and know my limits... again more common sense
I really liked his book Deep Work, but he seems to keep writing the same book over and over. It’s difficult to implement some of this stuff if you’re not your own boss. Very much speaks to individual productivity.
It really depends on the kind of work you do - I’d really recommend his latest book if you have any sort of autonomy in your work. If you don’t have any autonomy though, it probably isn’t for you.
The question here is, was the fact that everything was done in a much, much slower pace during human history, humans almost did not advance at all until about a hundred and fifty years ago, and then the technological advancement accelerated exponentially cause people were in a fever creative productivity?
Advancements also made certain fixed things in live easier/quicker so people had more "free time". Ironically when things have gotten so efficient by now that humans are more often depressed because they "don't have enough to do". In future psychology, we will discover there is a limit to how much technology we need and how much rest and appreciation time is good for long-term mental health
~10:30 a great explanation for stickiness is that the simple processes became entrenched in corporate process over the first several decades. By the time 2000+ rolls around it is already entrenched, that't the stickiness we see.
I have tried to block my time and going my own pace but there’s a sense of urgence of new subjects that interrupts my plan and by the end of the week I feel overwhelmed. I think there’s a mindset shift to apply the theory and don’t feel guilty about it.
I’m trying to find the episode where Chris was talking about his friend who had someone living in their roof planning to kill his girlfriend.. I can’t remember what episode that was does anyone know? I want to show it to someone but I can’t find it it’s driving me crazy..
50:40 - In a small way we have similarly built out a podcast room, not an underground lair unfortunately but it is situated on the first floor with the library.
Lots great information! Personal experience: I spent 10 years in the big corporate world then went to law school. I have been self employed for 30+ years. I am the most tyrannical "boss" I have ever worked for (I have made myself do things that no prior would boss would dream of). I worked from home for the first year. My wife demanded I get an office as I seemed to have a hard time getting to work in the morning and had an even harder time coming home at night. My life work balance has been a 30 year struggle. Seven children really made that important. Your book should be mandatory reading for business school and law school students. Thank you.
One thing I really wish you would have asked Cal when he was talking about making your current goals transparent via shared doc or w/e, is how do you then keep other people from trying to influence your priorities? I suspect majority of people will hit one of the following problems: - Coworker wants you to do something for them because they're too tired, stressed, busy, erroneously think their work is predicated on something you need to do, etc. (all sounds like a them problem created out of their own incompetence) so they'll come in and try to tell you that your priorities are not as important as theirs (in which they're right in that their priorities _feel_ more important to them but isn't actually true) - Your manager/lead will come in and start telling you to de-prioritize things they think are not so important but from your perspective you're already stuck deep into it and you have an inner reason why it matters to you so your mental state is already primed to tackle the tasks swiftly and effectively. E.g. I've been working on some code that I pushed out early as a Minimum Viable Product to provide the value to people and examine bugs but then I keep working on it to tackle necessary QoL/bugs - MVP is not a full product! I'm already intimate with the code base and very well positioned to tackle a couple more updates that I planned for. - Your manager/lead will look at your "small" task list of 3 priorities and think that they have to reshuffle it all around based on what matters to them, and start adding in more items above your 3 item limit. And if you push back they will persist because some managers are just like that - they think their job is to manage their people at every step and if you don't follow their every single command then they're not doing their job right. In my mind, if I'm a manager and I never have to manage anything, it means I'm doing a great job because everything is already quite literally managed.
I’m halfway through Cal’s Deep Work. It’s brilliant and full of excellent insights on focus and work habits and especially human limits with complex tasks. He makes a solid argument for adjusting the definition of a “work week”
I solved the garage workout problem by heating and cooling it. Am I just going to waste all that electricity. And if I don’t need to use that, am I going to waste one of the few days a year where I can actually workout with the door open and the sunlight?
I love this interview so far. My one question would be, what is the market place value of a knowledge worker who only works 1-2 hours per day when teachers, truck drivers, etc actually have to work their full shift?
I honestly don't think a lot of this advice is applicable to the vast majority of people. This guy's advice is really for people who are self employed or entrepreneurs. And many people who are self employed are not "knowledge workers" but rather tradesmen, accountants, child care providers, cleaners, etc, etc. For instance, saying "no" is not really an option for most engineers, coders, designers or other knowledge workers. That's because clients will pick a competitor who say they can jump on a project right away, even if they can't. Telling them "no" is not in the best interest of the boss. The boss is often not the producer. Furthermore, working from home increases productivity for EMPLOYEES (not entrepreneurs) because if you view all the chores of your life as work then you can increase productivity of your life overall.
Slow productivity can apply to workers and entrepreneurs listed in your codependent rant. Cal wrote another book about how skill is more important than passion because once you are really good at a valuable skill then you can limit what you focus on to be that skill and executing it at a high quality level. Then employers can’t dictate what you do because you hold the strings. If you are forced to be a yes man to survive, check your skills.
@@Savvynomad225 Employers would much rather hire and work with someone who is agreeable than someone who is very skilled/talented but is not willing to go the extra mile when requested. I have been privy to hiring new employees and I've seen them pick the lesser skilled person for that reason exactly. I have also seen many people get fired for being disagreeable. Not immediately, but it creates a resentment that builds up. Most employees with high salaries work long hours, like 50-60 hours per week. Not only do you need to have skills, but you need to be flexible. You don't make 250k at a law firm telling a partner that you don't have time to help out on a case. Or 500k as a coder who can't fix a problem with their network because you're too busy.
Hey Chris, I am an expert Operator for Influencers. I scale their businesses behind the scene 🚀 I would love to help your growth. PS. Also recently moved to Austin and one of the key reasons is half the podcasts I listen to are Austin based 🤓❤️
Just dropping in to say that it seems almost impossible in my field atm. Too much work to do that Im responsible for on too little pay. Riding it out to get status and creds, but fleeing at the next best exit.
