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Productivity porn

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Re: Productivity porn

#251

Post by tamrix »

jedberg wrote: post #161
epolanski wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't expanding your knowledge, but doing so when there's other priorities.

But priorities are just a personal preference and ever shifting. Sure sometimes there are external forces driving our priorities, like needing to finish a work project to get paid, bur once you've taken care of those, it's totally reasonable for "knowledge acquisition" to be at the top.

It's not knowledge acquisition. It's a false sense of accomplishment. You feel like you've learnt something that will help you be more productive. So your mind justifies the time you've spent learning it by thinking you've paid it back.

So mentally, you don't feel like your wasting time. Thus you consume more and more. Which for some, can create an addictive feedback loop similar but exaggerated as porn. Which ironically is wasting time.

Everything in life is in balance.

Re: Productivity porn

#252

Post by pacarvalho »

"Productivity porn is anything that after having been consumed makes you feel like you were productive when in reality you didn’t actually do anything." - Interesting definition.

Re: Productivity porn

#253

Post by pacarvalho »

TrackerFF wrote: post #32

Hustle and grind. Create 7 streams of income. Work 18 hour days - anything less and you're a loser destined for mediocrity. Read 5 books a week. Start trading stocks and crypto. Take cold showers, hit the gym. Optimize your schedule, log every minute spent. Ditch your loser friends and only hang out with likeminded - success breeds success. Sigma grindset. Moon or bust. If you're not worth $1 million liquid before 30…

It is quite tough. What are your thoughts on if it is worth it?

Re: Productivity porn

#254

Post by jarett-lee »

I recently watched a video that this article reminded me of: I Watch Your Videos But Never Change My Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj5lA7FfUkI

The premise is that there's a viewer that watches a bunch of self-improvement videos, but never enacts any of the suggestions. The presenter's argument is that change happens when you understand and digest the suggestions you've been given and it naturally comes to mind. In order to digest the changes, you need to avoid chain consuming content, reflect on what you read or watched, and to be patient.

The analogy that really stuck with me is you don't read the textbook over and over again to learn, you read the textbook and quiz yourself. Similarly, to change yourself, you don't read informational articles one after another, you need to sit down and think about what you read at least once right after you read it and ideally multiple times until it's ingrained in your brain. After the concept is ingrained in your brain, then you can start taking the advice. In some cases you can just start doing things differently, but often it's hard because you're not clear on what you need to do differently, you fail, then you become demotivated.

Re: Productivity porn

#255

Post by RealityVoid »

TedShiller wrote: post #209
justinator wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering tattooing "you are enough." on my inner wrist as a daily reminder.

Funny because if you NEED the tattoo, what does it imply...?

Change it to "You and this tatoo are enough." and you have closed the loop!

Re: Productivity porn

#256

Post by coliveira »

LordHeini wrote: post #31

I really don't get any of those "be more productive", book, video, course and so on. Every single person I know just wastes their time with that. Usualy they work long hours and still don't get much done. But hey, they have Zettelkasten with things the never read. A to do list with stuff they never do. And they go out in the morning at 5 for jogging, while gulping down a liter of coffe or energy drinks which results…

When I was just out of college I spent a couple of months reading that kind of literature. Then I started to realize that if I did everything they asked I wound't be myself anymore, I would be the image of an idealized "successful" person that these people write about. When I figured out that, I saw the whole think makes no sense.

Re: Productivity porn

#257

Post by jedberg »

tamrix wrote: post #251
jedberg wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But priorities are just a personal preference and ever shifting. Sure sometimes there are external forces driving our priorities, like needing to finish a work project to get paid, bur once you've taken care of those, it's totally reasonable for "knowledge acquisition" to be at the top.

It's not knowledge acquisition. It's a false sense of accomplishment. You feel like you've learnt something that will help you be more productive. So your mind justifies the time you've spent learning it by thinking you've paid it back. So mentally, you don't feel like your wasting time. Thus you consume more and more. Which for some, can create an addictive feedback loop similar but exaggerated as porn. Which ironic…

As I said in my original post, I couldn't disagree more. It is knowledge acquisition. I've solved problems because of things I learned on HN/reddit/Twitter.

I've come up with novel solutions to things by combining ideas that I read on each platform.

Not everything you learn will have immediate value. Sometimes it takes a while for it to become useful.

Re: Productivity porn

#258

Post by lbrito »

TrackerFF wrote: post #32

Hustle and grind. Create 7 streams of income. Work 18 hour days - anything less and you're a loser destined for mediocrity. Read 5 books a week. Start trading stocks and crypto. Take cold showers, hit the gym. Optimize your schedule, log every minute spent. Ditch your loser friends and only hang out with likeminded - success breeds success. Sigma grindset. Moon or bust. If you're not worth $1 million liquid before 30…

$1 million is for losers. Its just dos comas. Real success is tres comas.

https://www.russfest.net/home/tres-comas

Re: Productivity porn

#259

Post by the__alchemist »

Ensorceled wrote: post #27
the__alchemist wrote: post #13

Where's the line? Watching self-help content is described in the article as productivity porn. What about reading a self-help book? A (let's say good quality) non-fiction book? A scientific paper? A text book? Taking a class? Working on a project that is likely to fail? Writing code? Writing an article? Writing a book? > When I look for solutions to this problem I only come up with half-baked ideas and more questions…

If you are spending all your time "sharpening your saw" and no time "cutting wood" ... you are probable over the line.

Love that comparison. It also makes the distinction that this is a matter of degree; not kind.

Re: Productivity porn

#260

Post by hackerlight »

biztos wrote: post #182

One of the original, and most effective, competition hacks is to convince people that you sleep less than they do. When someone tells you they sleep 5 hours a night then run two miles and take a 15-minute cold shower then start their work day, 85% of the time they are lying, 10% of the time you will have already noticed the effects of chronic sleep deprivation, and 5% of the time it's drugs. But this has been a suref…

No, some people have a genetic mutation that allows them to sleep for 5 hours a day.
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