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Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

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Re: Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

#81

Post by joeconway »

shostack wrote: post #53
Reedx wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strongly agree, though if you find yourself in that situation there are ways you can turn it into productive time. Especially if you otherwise don't have blocks of alone downtime. - Use the time to think. Driving the same commute every day becomes automatic and you can solve problems, practice a talk, iterate or come up with ideas and so on. Take notes via voice. - Podcasts. There's an endless amount of learning avai…

Audiobooks have been my savior since I switched to them from podcasts. I'm making my way through a backlog of must read sci-fi and fantasy classics I never would have read otherwise because I have little time to read a book as it is. I have to wait a bit and have a somewhat limited selection with my library card, but overall it's worth it.

You should try Scribd.com for audiobooks (disclaimer: I work there)

Re: Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

#84

Post by suprfnk »

Reedx wrote: post #42
CPLX wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Find someone who has to windsurf for a living and you'll find one who procrastinates.

If they are windsurfing for someone else, probably... But it doesn't seem like top pro athletes and olympians procrastinate. They are intrinsically driven.

> But it doesn't seem like top pro athletes and olympians procrastinate.

I don't think you can become a top pro athlete or olympian if you're not the fraction of a fraction of the world's population with immense intrinsic motivation, passion, ambition, and drive -- so this seems like survivorship bias.

Re: Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

#85

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #71
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you guys ever read the "War of Art"? It comes from a place that understands Procrastination as an emotional problem, and has a fully developed solution for dealing with it in that way. At the end it gets REALLY artsy and religious in a way that made me very uncomfortable. But its still the most helpful book I've ever read on productivity.

I really disliked that book, I found nothing actionable in it. I only read it to the end because it is recommended so often and I hoped to find something useful in it. Sadly I didn't.

The book is REALLY for a certain kind of person who has a deep seated fear of success that they don't really understand.

If you have ever written 3/4's of a novel that you all of a sudden couldn't finish, or always abandon projects just as you are about to be able to reap the rewards, the book is for you.

I'm hoping the book wasn't for you, because fear of success isn't really a problem for in your life.

Re: Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

#87

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

andreilys wrote: post #66
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you guys ever read the "War of Art"? It comes from a place that understands Procrastination as an emotional problem, and has a fully developed solution for dealing with it in that way. At the end it gets REALLY artsy and religious in a way that made me very uncomfortable. But its still the most helpful book I've ever read on productivity.

Also read the book and found it deeply inspiring, I’d recommend war of art to anyone that is pursuing creative endeavors. I’m curious though why did it make you uncomfortable?

I'm an overly skeptical and rigid atheist. I have problems getting value from religious stories even in the metaphorical sense because I know how many people interpret them as facts.

I'm working on it.

I have a close family member who was a TV Televangelist (retired now) but who still claims to have the ability to heal people with the laying on of hands. Seeing the after effects of this "healing" when I was very young sent me down a path extreme anti religiousness.

Re: Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

#88

Post by hammock »

frlnc_throwaway wrote: post #64
ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you guys ever read the "War of Art"? It comes from a place that understands Procrastination as an emotional problem, and has a fully developed solution for dealing with it in that way. At the end it gets REALLY artsy and religious in a way that made me very uncomfortable. But its still the most helpful book I've ever read on productivity.

Jean Moroney would say that War of Art is based on the "duty mentality" - a mentality where there are certain things that you simply need to do, that are considered intrinsically important, and that your own personal desires are irrelevant and should be squashed. This mentality leads to problems. It's not surprising that the author is religious. https://www.thinkingdirections.com/join-the-thinking-lab/ - ctrl-F "inef…

I can see how the symptoms listed could lead to the obstacles listed. However, as a religious person, I do regularly treat my desires as irrelevant to what I should do - and I do not exhibit the symptoms listed. So not sure what to make of that. Seems there is another way to have duty.

Re: Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

#89

Post by dahart »

toxik wrote: post #10

I would definitely recommend against having an hour’s commute to work. It is a really strong predictor for life dissatisfaction. Fifteen minutes is the number I heard to be a good balance.

Yep. I'll add though, personally I was happier doing a 90 minute train commute than a 45 minute drive by car. Seemed doubly productive because I spent the commute time working on a fun side project and not battling with my negative inner monologue about other drivers.

Re: Every productivity thought I've ever had, as concisely as possible

#90

Post by rgoulter »

thomas wrote: post #2

Serious question: Is anything less productive than reading other people's productivity thoughts? It's a combination of procrastination and finding out what works for someone who is presumably more productive than you (ie: guilt).

Not everyone who comes across this post will be spending more time reading about productivity than being productive.

The term I've heard for that is 'productivity porn'. (as in, getting the satisfaction from observing productivity, without actually putting in the effort yourself).

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