Productive Reading: Slow Productivity, by Cal Newport – TPW496

In this latest episode of our recurring Productive Reading series, we look at Cal Newport's latest book, Slow Productivity.   Slow productivity - a more humane and sustainable approach to getting things done In the past, we’ve talked about the lessons and key takeaways I found in books about productivity-related topics that I’ve found helpful and thought-provoking, including books by authors like Gary Keller, Charles Duhigg, Brené Brown, Courtney Carver, Jeff Sanders, James Clear, Michael Hyatt, Maura Nevel Thomas, Joshua Becker, Greg McKeown, Cal Newport, Dominique Sachse, Laura Vanderkam, Nir Eyal, Dr. Anna Lembke, and most recently a fascinating book called Switch Craft, by Elaine Fox, Ph.D. This time I’m sharing some of my most important takeaways from Slow Productivity, by Cal Newport. Quotes below are from the book Who is Cal Newport?  The book cover flap copy says: “Cal Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University, where he is also a founding member of the Center for Digital Ethics. In addition to his academic work, Newport is a New York Times bestselling author who writes for the general audience about the intersection of technology, productivity, and culture. His books have sold millions of copies and been translated into over forty languages. He is also a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and hosts the popular Deep Questions podcast. Newport lives with his wife and three sons in Takoma Park, Maryland.” Why did I read this book?   I’ve read other books by Cal Newport and featured his prior book, Digital Minimalism, in an earlier Productive Reading episode, TPW366. In the last couple of years, I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about the ever-increasing pace of life and the stress and pressures many of us feel about being productive, so when I saw the announcement of this book’s release I pre-ordered it immediately. The book is subtitled: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout Newport says that our current definition of productivity--especially as it applies to knowledge workers--is “broken.” The book is aimed at redefining productivity for knowledge workers. Knowledge work is defined as “The economic activity in which knowledge is transformed into an artifact with market value through the application of cognitive effort.”  This includes office workers like computer programmers, accountants, and so on, as well as lawyers, artists, business owners and executives, marketing professionals, educators, and research scientists.   “The knowledge sector emerged as a major force in the mid-twentieth century . . . the old notions of productivity that worked so well in farming and manufacturing didn’t seem to apply to this new style of cognitive work.”   As a result, uncertainty about how to measure productivity led to “using visible activity as a crude proxy for actual productivity.” What that looks like, he says, is “If you can see me in my office--or, if I’m remote, see my email replies and chat messages arriving regularly--then, at the very least, you know I’m doing something.” In other words, the more I’m doing, the more evidence there is that I’m doing something, so busyness became the proxy for productivity. This is what he calls pseudo-productivity. His goal: “My goal is to offer a more humane and sustainable way to integrate professional efforts into a life well lived. To embrace slow productivity, in other words, to reorient your work to be a source of meaning instead of overwhelm,