Slow Productivity

The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout

De: Cal Newport

Narrado por: Cal Newport

A New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and IndieBound bestseller


"Brilliant and timely" — Oliver Burkeman


~ Do Fewer Things. Work at a Natural Pace. Obsess over Quality. ~

From the New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and Deep Work, a groundbreaking philosophy for pursuing meaningful accomplishment while avoiding overload

Our current definition of “productivity” is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices?

Long before the arrival of pinging inboxes and clogged schedules, history’s most creative and impactful philosophers, scientists, artists, and writers mastered the art of producing valuable work with staying power. In this timely and provocative book, Cal Newport harnesses the wisdom of these traditional knowledge workers to radically transform our modern jobs. Drawing from deep research on the habits and mindsets of a varied cast of storied thinkers – from Galileo and Isaac Newton, to Jane Austen and Georgia O’Keefe – Newport lays out the key principles of “slow productivity,” a more sustainable alternative to the aimless overwhelm that defines our current moment. Combining cultural criticism with systematic pragmatism, Newport deconstructs the absurdities inherent in standard notions of productivity, and then provides step-by-step advice for cultivating a slower, more humane alternative.

From the aggressive rethinking of workload management, to introducing seasonal variation, to shifting your performance toward long-term quality, Slow Productivity provides a roadmap for escaping overload and arriving instead at a more timeless approach to pursuing meaningful accomplishment. The world of work is due for a new revolution. Slow productivity is exactly what we need.

Cal Needs Narration Training

I really wanted to love this after hearing Cal on the Sam Harris podcast. The topic is intriguing. But- Cal sounds like a middle schooler struggling to slowly and precisely read a text book. It’s so robotic my ears are bleeding. Every “a” and syllable are painfully articulated phonetically- not as spoken, normal, conversational dialogue. It’s tough and distracting.

Less about knowledge workers and more about creative workers

There are a couple good take away for the average knowledge worker to take away throughout the first half of the book. The second half of the book only used examples from creative pursuits to make the key points about how to achieve better productivity. This would be ok if they connect back with concrete methods for improving productivity in knowledge work settings but it never circles back. It goes on and on about musicians and writers and their tactics. IA few examples from business settings would have made the lessons more impactful.

Cal Newport always has powerful Novel ideas

There is a short list of books that challenge my deeply held beliefs, this is one of them. I don't like the idea of the principles, but then I realize how right Cal Newport is. I am very grateful for this book.

Good for Creatives - lacks diversity in examples

I really wanted to love this book and walk away with new inspiration and tactical ideas to improve my work day. However I found the examples relevant only to those who write for a living or produce content. I’m a manager of a services and technical sales organization and my deep work is more about strategy, systems development, and the execution of businesses processes. I didn’t find this book very diverse in examples outside of writing or academia.

Great overall concepts!

Overall, I loved the three concepts outlined in the book. At times, the storyline drug on too long. And it times it seem like the author was writing his own diary. Yes, I would recommend!

Another home run!

As usual, Cal Newport finds the sweet spot where philosophical observations and practical applications intersect.

Jewel

Had some good tips, but even as a knowledge worker that the book is geared toward, it’s hard to identify with artists that make millions on their outputs, compared to the rest of us. Monologue on Jewel is too long!

Life as Art

Refreshing. Reminder that we humans work best when we have the opportunity to do things well. Creating good works often includes times or cycles of study, deep reflection, play, and rest.

Not Much There

Kind of a nothing book. It’s a subject, sure, but pretty much everything he’s says on the subject isn’t memorable or of much real work use. I’ll summarize the entire book, cover-to-cover right here: Slow down and focus on quality rather than quantity. Do that for a whole career and you’ll end up with a record of productivity.

That’s it. Not exactly new advice…

Please stop apologizing

I’m listening to this book right after finishing Die With Zero so maybe my opinion is a little biased, but it feels like Cal spends too much time apologizing for his ideas and this concept of slow productivity. No, it won’t be for everyone. Chocolate strawberries are also not for everyone! Write for the people in your head that this IS for and stop apologizing to all the people you seem to hear yelling at you.

I found the first and second principles good, but the third - obsess about quality- a very bad suggestion. It’s also one Cal didn’t take himself while narrating this book. It is not an excellent performance, but it was good enough. Good enough is good enough.