What a great idea. I've been grappling with low productivity for 20 years, trying various solutions without success. I would love to emulate your approach, but don't have the means at present. Regardless, I'm eager to observe the outcome of your experiment, with hopes of replicating it in the future. Don't pay attention to detractors, as tackling productivity is a critical concern and worthy of pursuing with determination. Individuals who don't support or comprehend your experiment likely lack the same productivity challenges or are just mediocre.
I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
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Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#92I honestly cannot believe this. The porn part, the make me a smoothie request, dating dinners. This guy seriously paid people to sit behind him and didn't even think about them stealing his $1000 monitors until after the fact? He didn't try blocking any non productive sites? No productivity software? No pomadoro technique-esq focus methods? This guy should have paid $88/hour for therapy if we are being honest here
The scant photos in the blog post are not convincing enough for me. I'm calling it fake.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#93I hope this is satire. If it is not, then the author is a disgusting narcissist with no understanding of people or of human dignity. It's very depressing that HN readers are genuinely responding with approval and encouragement.
I looked into some other blog posts of the author - this is not satire. Something is seriously wrong with the guy. His parents have to convince him to seek medical attention.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#94Is there a saas/browser plugin where you enter a name and then it alerts you if this name shows up in any hiring emails/slack conversation/twitter browsing? Asking for a friend ;)
Maybe curate a list of such names? One that can only be viewed using dark mode?
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#95I honestly cannot believe this. The porn part, the make me a smoothie request, dating dinners. This guy seriously paid people to sit behind him and didn't even think about them stealing his $1000 monitors until after the fact? He didn't try blocking any non productive sites? No productivity software? No pomadoro technique-esq focus methods? This guy should have paid $88/hour for therapy if we are being honest here
Some people don't respond to any treatment. I am one of them. If I were rich, I'd be the one writing and posting about this topic.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#96I honestly cannot believe this. The porn part, the make me a smoothie request, dating dinners. This guy seriously paid people to sit behind him and didn't even think about them stealing his $1000 monitors until after the fact? He didn't try blocking any non productive sites? No productivity software? No pomadoro technique-esq focus methods? This guy should have paid $88/hour for therapy if we are being honest here
The scant photos in the blog post are not convincing enough for me. I'm calling it fake.
You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies? Smh, what a world.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#97Somewhat related: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/03/personal-best but quite a different idea to this one.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#98This and things like FocusMate seem symptomatic of much larger, more serious latent problems. It reminds of the younger generations having to put YouTube on to eat a meal. I can't quite put my finger on the connection, but paying a person sit behind you and ask how you're doing, and make you a smoothie... it feels like you're hiring someone to be your mother. This entire experiment left me feeling unclean.
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I’m not sure it’s that deep.
Can you imagine a way to hire a personal assistant of the opposite sex and catch them watching porn (or claiming to) and not have it be awkward?
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#99sincerely hoping this is satire
nah sorry that one is real
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#100> I have an endlessly growing list of projects I want to make, books I want to read, and skills I want to learn, so productivity means a lot to me! If it really meant a lot, it wouldn't be a challenge to actually do it. It sounds like the real problem is a lack of interest in the particular books, skills, etc.
I somewhat identify with this. I have dozens of things I want to do and if I get started on something, I can happily work on it until 2-3 in the morning, even though I usually go to bed at 11. It’s the getting started on something that takes so much effort.