If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
calnewport.com
If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
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Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#2I think it is another example of quality versus quantity. Often people use quantity of time rather than quality of time towards a particular task as a metric of effort and that is unfortunately wrong. Another big point in favor of telecommuting.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#3As much as I appreciate the fact that the original paper was linked in the article, I can't get over the nagging feeling that it may be a slight overreach to take three groups of ten people studying in the same academy, ask them to record their activities for a week, and then generalize the results to recommend certain behaviors to the entire human population.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#4The author has never worked on a farm; there is always something to do.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#5Creative work seems to happen in short bursts. Along with a lot of other writers, I like working in short, intense bursts, especially in the mornings.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#6I think it is another example of quality versus quantity . Often people use quantity of time rather than quality of time towards a particular task as a metric of effort and that is unfortunately wrong. Another big point in favor of telecommuting.
I'd say that's a big argument against telecommuting. Time spent directly interacting with your team is often much higher quality than time spent in isolation.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#7I don't get that difference between hard work and hard to do work. It says that the players who were spending time stretching their abilities were higher achieves than the ones who simply worked hard. Does that mean the average ones were working tirelessly to perfect their existing skills while the elite were going beyond that and testing their limits? So then were the elites simply satisfied with their current abilities so to speak and simply moving on to more challenging activities while the average ones wouldn't do that until their existing skills were absolutely perfect? I'm tired so maybe Im missing the obvious.
I love articles like this. It's just so hard to put the results into practice. I'm a programmer. I admit I focus on improving skills that are in my comfort zone most of the time. It has served me well and I see a lot of improvement in my work. I also spend some time working on things I'm not familiar with or not comfortable with but far less time that that which I already have at least a decent grasp of. I tend to improve by getting a passing knowledge of something new and building on it slowly by dissecting examples. Maybe I should spend more time on the skills I don't yet have a firm grasp of rather than perfecting my current skill set?
Interesting read for sure.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#8The author has never worked on a farm; there is always something to do.
I don't think he is addressing people who do physical labor.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#9I recently picked up a book in an airport called Talent is Overrated. It's all about this theory. There is a ton of evidence given to support it, how to improve your own performance, and that of your team, and how to apply the methods to promote innovation. It's a great book, if you're into this article you should definitely check it out.
Re: If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong
#10Cal Newport's articles are always interesting to read, but I find them to be less than encouraging. It's not that the advice isn't sound -- it's just that his recommendations generally require the reader to be extremely self-disciplined. I am constantly trying to practice this, but in truth I'm still all over the map. I do poorly in courses where I'm expected to be constantly involved in little incremental pieces (like the course I'm taking in Agile), and I tend to work rather well doing large chunks at once.
Most days I can't bring myself to do real, boring, challenging-but-in-a-sucky-way work. Then I'll realize I'm weeks behind and I'll hammer out everything I need to do in a couple of days. I had a twelve-week internship over the summer, and when it was almost over and I still wanted to get things done, I spent about sixteen hours a day in my office for a week. The reviews of the end result were fantastic.
I am somewhat under the impression that there are some people in the world who are great organizers, who have some record of everything they've committed to and planned for, and that I will never be one of those people.