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Executive Function Theft

hedgehoglibrarian.com

181–190 of 227 posts

Re: Executive Function Theft

#181
post #175
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty unfair. They never said it was evidence let alone weighty evidence, they offered examples of where they see this phenomenon in their life and in our culture. This is clearly a subjective interpretation/critique of another text ("I read this as"). That's perfectly reasonable to include in a blog post primarily about personal experience.

True, I can see how “weighty evidence” overstated the weak case presented by the author. In the examples of Newport and Ferriss, the author ironically cites the cure for EFT as the problem. At a high level, net value of any task is gross value - effort value. Newport’s point isn’t to not do small tasks but make time for big ones, and if less important tasks fall by the wayside, then better those than significant work…

> True, I can see how “weighty evidence” overstated the weak case presented by the author.

You're gloating and high fiving yourself for insulting someone on the internet, in the same breath you're asserting that person isn't well adjusted and needs to go to therapy. I'm not impressed.

> Not all tasks can be done with equal efficiency by different people, thus route tasks to where they are most efficiently performed.

The author is asserting some people "route" tasks that don't get them promoted to others. Your counter assertion is that those people are more efficient at not getting promoted?

> Irony aside, the essay could be categorized as reverse-CBT.

This is dangerously close to gaslighting. The author writes about personal experience, and you're asserting it's a product on insufficient therapy or is some kind of anti therapy.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#182
post #15

On a side note, the author's example is exactly why I have chosen to not use FSAs. Sure, it saves me 20% or so since it's pre-tax money, but is my stress, time, executive function, and sanity all worth that? Plus if I screw up and don't spend the money or file something wrong, I lose it or pay penalties.

I am the same way, after having royally screwed up one year (on a similar employer-provided benefit, not a health FSA). I donated several thousand of my pre-tax dollars to the state of California because I missed a deadline and the funds were use-it-or-lose-it. The ADHD tax is real, and this article calls out its mechanism exactly, though not by this name.

Same. I’ve learned to accept that discounts through coupon-clipping are not for me.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#183
post #43

> I will admit to never having been able to read Cal Newport’s Deep Work all the way through — I got too irritated — but I would point to his dismissive naming of the idea of “shallow work”, which he defines as logistical and often repetitive tasks, such as writing short emails. Newport recommends entirely stopping or poorly performing that work; I read this as encouraging readers to commit EFT against others around…

But getting rid of shallow work is the entire reason why people get executive assistants.

Getting rid of shallow work is why people hire people.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does seem a bit odd. 'home repairs' could easily be more then half of all real work done in a household per annum, if they don't hire contractors, depending on the age and size of the home.

I think the exclusion of car/home maintenance is based on the sexist belief that the people doing these tasks must enjoy them, and thus they are "hobbies" and not chores. I ran into this mentality with cooking and a previous partner: I like to cook as a hobby, so naturally the time I spend doing it because food needs to be produced must not count as a chore.

I love when people ask me if enjoy cooking. My response is that I like to eat.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#185

Oof, this hits close to home. during my tenure as a principal engineer at a certain startup, well known and loved in these parts. Anyway I was new to engineering leadership and this big initiative came down from above to migrate to k8s. team was excited to be done with the myriad adhoc scripts and duct tape infra. But it turned out the team was very junior, and I was green as a leader and manager. every day brought a…

Does this startup have a certain penchant for falafel and llamas? If not, then I suppose "top down k8s directive" has happened at least twice.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But getting rid of shallow work is the entire reason why people get executive assistants.

I don't either Cal or the author would have a problem with exec assistants - they're being paid for that. Where it can be a problem is when there are "attentive" people on a team and "inattentive" people who are ostensibly equals. Team members with higher conscientiousness tend to get lumped with an outsized share of undesirable, low impact busywork because others won't do it. This dynamic can cause problems in all s…

"Team members with higher conscientiousness tend to get lumped with an outsized share of undesirable, low impact busywork because others won't do it."

I agree. I get shit on at work and at home.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't either Cal or the author would have a problem with exec assistants - they're being paid for that. Where it can be a problem is when there are "attentive" people on a team and "inattentive" people who are ostensibly equals. Team members with higher conscientiousness tend to get lumped with an outsized share of undesirable, low impact busywork because others won't do it. This dynamic can cause problems in all s…

Exactly. Conscientiousness is a personality trait and those who are lucky enough (yes it is highly correlated with positive life outcomes) to have it in abundance would do well to calibrate their expectations of others accordingly.

Do you have some data on that? My experience is that conscientious people get rewarded with misery.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#188
post #94
post #23

i call it "choice-gas" and yes it does run low and is expressly frustrating when it's constantly taxed needlessly. a good example is microsoft outlook. meeting invites would pop a mandatory three way choice of "send the response now, send the response later or edit the response before sending" every time the accept button was pressed. a truly infuriating case of eft.

I’m confused. Do you mean that the choice between those three buttons is difficult? I always just chose “send response now” and didn’t concern myself any more about it. Is there some reason that doesn’t work for people who are short on choice-gas?

it is completely unnecessary and emblematic of a culture that does not respect the idea of finite prefrontal cortex energy and willy-nilly will choose to disrespectfully waste it on a frequent basis.

it's like when you have to deal with a smarmy individual. any given instance of smarminess is fine on its face, but the cumulative sum can be unbearable.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#189
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, I can see how “weighty evidence” overstated the weak case presented by the author. In the examples of Newport and Ferriss, the author ironically cites the cure for EFT as the problem. At a high level, net value of any task is gross value - effort value. Newport’s point isn’t to not do small tasks but make time for big ones, and if less important tasks fall by the wayside, then better those than significant work…

> True, I can see how “weighty evidence” overstated the weak case presented by the author. You're gloating and high fiving yourself for insulting someone on the internet, in the same breath you're asserting that person isn't well adjusted and needs to go to therapy. I'm not impressed. > Not all tasks can be done with equal efficiency by different people, thus route tasks to where they are most efficiently performed.…

> You're gloating and high fiving yourself for insulting someone on the internet, in the same breath you're asserting that person isn't well adjusted and needs to go to therapy. I'm not impressed.

I have insulted no person or thing. This statement appears to be mind-reading itself a straw man.

Don’t lie. I did not write that anyone “needs to go to therapy.” If you care to reply, please address the fact that you lied.

> The author is asserting some people "route" tasks that don't get them promoted to others. Your counter assertion is that those people are more efficient at not getting promoted?

No

>This is dangerously close to gaslighting. The author writes about personal experience, and you're asserting it's a product on insufficient therapy or is some kind of anti therapy.

Thank you for asserting my off hand comment isn’t some bad thing. Read the linked article describing reverse CBT. If you disagree that the EFT author’s mindset towards work isn’t that of reverse CBT, I look forward to rethinking it.

Re: Executive Function Theft

#190
This reminds me of a recent thing that was forced upon me. My brokerage was acquired by another brokerage and as a result I had to fill out some annoying paperwork. That acquisition did not benefit me in any way but a few people certainly made a ton of money because of it. I resent that, even though in the grand scheme I was not really that inconvenienced.

In retrospect I should have just spent the same amount of time transferring the contents of that account somewhere else (somewhere that is already set up). At the time I didn't realize how little work is required for such a change.

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