Metadata
- Author: Deep Questions with Cal Newport
- Full Title:: Ep. 240 — Disciplined Laziness
- Category:: 🎙️Podcasts
- URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/659d6321-75e4-4015-ba31-561e42ad4156
- Finished date:: 2023-03-25
Highlights
The Relationship Between Productivity and Autonomy Transcript: Speaker 1 So instead of trying to define productivity, let’s define what it is to not have any organized thinking about productivity in your professional life. And what you’re going to end up with is what I call haphazard busyness. So if your life sub comes to haphazard busyness, which is where you will almost certainly end up if you, you know, like Giniodel, you say, I just want to enjoy the birds, right? If you’re saying I’m rejecting this idea that I want to think in an organized fashion about how I manage my obligations in time, you will probably end up with haphazard busyness where you have a uncontrolled influx of various obligations, a various urgency that you have a hard time keeping track of and tend to pull at your attention suddenly in an emergency type situations haphazard busyness reduces your options. It makes you feel stressed. It’s almost certainly going to lead to overload too much to do. And it tends to push people towards extreme solutions such as this is what work is. So I need to find a way to leave the workforce, for example. (Time 0:10:04)
There are more options on productivity than optimization Transcript: Speaker 1 That is the autonomy frame for productivity. A good productivity system allows you to take control. Once you’ve taken control of the obligations in your professional life, you have options. It’s up to you. What you do with those options, but the message I want you to know is that those options are much more broad than the productivity bros, nomenclature, I think would typically reveal. (Time 0:18:40)
Procrastination is paleolithic Transcript: Speaker 1 Our brain is very good at evaluating potential plans. Is this objective worth it? And do I have reason to believe this plan is going to work? Our brain asks and answers those two questions all the time. We’re very good at that. This is something that is bred into our Paleolithic path. Those mechanisms, when it doesn’t trust, you really know what you’re doing. When it doesn’t trust that there’s a plan here that makes sense, that’s going to lead to some sort of mastery or highly fulfilling outcome, it says, nope. And what does it feel like when your plan evaluation apparatus in your brain says, no, it feels like procrastination. (Time 0:36:07)
A framework for free time: three background routines and a major project Transcript: Speaker 1 The one way you might structure, more intentionally your life outside of work would be a four-part focus. I’ve talked about this before. Three routines in one project, one one time. So with the three routines that just figure out how to have going in the background would probably be some sort of fitness health routine. This is eating and exercise. This is foundational. Let’s get that going. Background. Some sort of reading routine. I’m reading on a regular basis. I’m moving away from just distraction. My mind is learning how to actually remain focused on complex thoughts. You’re going to develop as a human being. You’re going to develop as a thinker. We did a podcast episode a few weeks ago on how to become a reader. It was called The Joys of the Reading Life. It’s probably like 238. Yeah. Yeah. Episode 238. So go back and watch that. Your third routine I would say to put in place foundationally is some sort of community routine. These things you do on a regular basis that keep you connected and serving your friends, your family, other people in the communities that you’re involved with. Get background routines for those three things going. That’s just foundational. You can tweak those, but you should always on a regular basis, those things are just woven into the fabric of your life. Then one major project. Then do that major project until you get to a great milestone that you can swap in another major project. Just one major project at a time. Spend six months on it. Spend a year on it. (Time 0:37:30)