My posts about productivity techniques and methods often resonate with readers. That makes me happy, because I’m delivering something that’s actually useful. But it also makes me a little sad, because it shows how desperate we all are to find a way to get more done.
Want to be more productive? Do less work | Vantage with Palki Sharma
I’m no stranger to the rat race, but it’s still annoying to sit back and realize how stressed everyone is all the time. “Burnout” has been a cultural buzzword for a few years now, but the concept isn’t new: working too hard and too fast just isn’t sustainable, so while productivity techniques that advise you on how to prioritize multiple tasks in a single day are helpful in the short term, they can’t last forever for everyone. I love structured to-do lists and days where everything comes together just as much as you do, but in a world where work, school, personal well-being, family, and friends place endless demands on us, it’s not always possible to get everything done in a single morning, even with the most detailed, time-bound schedule.
If you find yourself getting burned out or want to adjust your routine before it gets to that point, consider the concept of “slow productivity,” the latest tenet from productivity guru Cal Newport.
Well, first of all, it’s the title of Newport’s latest book, Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout . He’s the man who gave us the idea of “deep work,” or getting into a position where you can focus completely on a single task without distraction. With this new framework, he advocates for people to do fewer things, work at a natural pace, and become “obsessed” with the quality of their work. That’s a contrast to how a typical day goes for most of us, where we’re trying to do a bunch of different things at warp speed, and tackle a huge number of completed tasks with varying degrees of quality.
