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Productivity porn

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Re: Productivity porn

#301

Post by Kosirich »

Ensorceled wrote: post #91
Kosirich wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing. I understand what you mean and I'm currently doing something similar...again. What I (often) lack is the steps needed to go from a more complex long term project to MVW/MVD tasks and then sustaining that in the long run. I'm currently looking into ways of hacking this, this being the dopamine cycle.

I've been doing SCRUM for a long time ... it's pretty natural for me to break down projects into smaller pieces that fit into a 1 week or 2 week cycle.

Yea, I've been thinking the same. I don't do so much scrum at work, but when I did and when I tried something similar on non-direct-work related projects it did something for me...In retrospect, I remember the pleasure of achieving certain amount of "points". When you break them down, do you try to "predict effort" in points or similar? I think it's perhaps time to try again.

Re: Productivity porn

#302

Post by iovrthoughtthis »

bribri wrote: post #296
radu_floricica wrote: post #294

There's an old joke I love. "Why do elephants have red eyes? So they can better hide in cherry trees." "But I've never heard of an elephant climbing a tree!" "See how well they hide?" It's a bit stereotypical by now to hear about influencers preaching 4am wakeup times. But the truth is that some of that stuff works. And more importantly, the general attitude of trying to improve your daily process sure as hell works.…

The attitude of dissing people trying to improve themselves is depressing.

it's just the pendulum of opinion swinging

the world needs yin and yang

we've had a good few years of self improvement being seen as good and noble. now for the return to mean

it will over swing the other way and productivity will return to the table in a different but similar form

like everything, this too shall pass

Re: Productivity porn

#303

Post by _the_inflator »

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…

Who gets really rich if you follow the "Buy all your personal Guru's stuff"? "Buy a new course if you struggle with task X" is a simple mantra.

The only way to boost productivity is to hire people. That's what these gurus usually do: hire stuff and let marketing (again: other people) spin it, like the single guy does all the work alone.

Re: Productivity porn

#304

Post by sakras »

lkschubert8 wrote: post #55
doix wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Especially in IT nothing will get you further than being smartly lazy. One day I'll finish my "self-help" book which is all about doing as little as possible and leaving everything until the last minute in case it resolves itself. Unfortunately, I listen to my own advise and will probably never finish the book.

The JIT Productivity Method. You'll have it written just as soon as someone goes to read it.

Instant cassettes! They're out in stores before the movie is finished!

Re: Productivity porn

#305

Post by verinus »

GuB-42 wrote: post #223
leokennis wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not qualified to comment on the health factor. In general striving to be healthy is good, no contest there. But regarding working those long and hard hours (which then cannot be spent on other things) maybe we should heed the advice of the dying: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-fiv... > 2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. > > "This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed th…

I don't believe in regrets. Regrets are a made up fiction. As an example, let's talk about the "I missed my children's youth". You imagine an alternative life where you would have spent more time with your children, most likely idealized. But in reality, maybe it wouldn't have been a better life. You did things when you weren't with your children, some of them good things or at least leading to good things, these wou…

Maybe you don't but as everybody is caught in his own world it doesn't matter...

What this thought expresses in my opinion is: I wish I lived a more balanced life!

what everybody seems to miss as it does not fit in the grand dream beeing sold: chance is the largest part of being successful. you can tip the scales marginally by working hard, but in truth the most important part is just luck...

Re: Productivity porn

#306

Post by Kosirich »

kstrauser wrote: post #137
Kosirich wrote: post #16

I wonder if people with (adult) ADD are more susceptible to this. Same as the author, I would like to hear the story of someone breaking the cycle for good.

I know I am. The catch is that I have to do at least a little bit of this if I want to not be homeless. I've settled on the Things app with something that looks vaguely like GTD if you squint: - I have an inbox. Everything I agree to do that I can't do in the next couple of minutes goes in there. "Buy dogfood". "Paint the house". "Do a thing for work". Everything. - I triage the inbox and put starting dates on everyt…

Thing is, without this system, I can't and won't remember to do any of the things I need to. It doesn't matter how important it is to me to make sure I buy an anniversary card for my wife: I'll forget until it's too late - this is exactly the sentence I have repeated over and over again to my wife...a bit scary.

I do have a similar approach like you. What I'm f..ing furious about it is, that I had to reach my middle 20s in order to realize I have to have something like this at all(!). Why personal time organization isn't taught at schools is beyond me. For me the system I try to keep in place is: - Daily task list (personal) - this absolutely has to be done today (or it needs to be replaned) - Daily task list (work) - has to be done today or I have to make a more long term plan - Weekly house(hold) tasks - (this one I started recently) - I go through major stuff I have to do around the house (fence, paint ect) - Long term work project list - this holds everything I need to do for work... again less interesting issues gets re-prioritized often based on "current interest" - Calendar reminders (double/triple alerts)- stuff not to forget

What I'm especially bad is tackling things that have a steep effort curve and don't produce a tangible "benefit (dopamine hit)" until further on. This I'm looking into hacking....perhaps the scrum point system is something that makes sense (and also recommended by comment above)

Re: Productivity porn

#307

Post by arcturus17 »

GuB-42 wrote: post #223
leokennis wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not qualified to comment on the health factor. In general striving to be healthy is good, no contest there. But regarding working those long and hard hours (which then cannot be spent on other things) maybe we should heed the advice of the dying: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-fiv... > 2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. > > "This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed th…

I don't believe in regrets. Regrets are a made up fiction. As an example, let's talk about the "I missed my children's youth". You imagine an alternative life where you would have spent more time with your children, most likely idealized. But in reality, maybe it wouldn't have been a better life. You did things when you weren't with your children, some of them good things or at least leading to good things, these wou…

Where I live, dads spend much more time with their kids than their dads ever did, thanks to a shifting culture.

I'll hear them nag occasionally about not being able to play enough golf (they're also very young dads, and that gets better with time). But I know them well and I do not feel a single one of them is miserable because they spend too much time with their kids - they are very deeply fulfilled.

I'm sure the opposite is still perfectly possible - men that would prefer a traditional model where they could focus their time in energy on work, while the woman or extended family takes care of the kids. But this is not what I'm observing around me, in my small universe.

You also may not believe in regret, but regret very much exists - it is a universal human emotion, of which deathbed regrets are a particular case. Projecting what we will think about our lives in our final moments is as old as the stoics, and a very valuable exercise for many people.

Indeed, maybe a dying man may never have had the makeup or propensities to live the alternative life he fantasises on his deathbed. But if you believe in free will at all, then their insight is no less valuable.

Re: Productivity porn

#309

Post by verinus »

_the_inflator wrote: post #303
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…

Who gets really rich if you follow the "Buy all your personal Guru's stuff"? "Buy a new course if you struggle with task X" is a simple mantra. The only way to boost productivity is to hire people. That's what these gurus usually do: hire stuff and let marketing (again: other people) spin it, like the single guy does all the work alone.

and what do you need for that?

right: money!

problem is: it's so much easier to get rich if you have money already...

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