Counteracting Pseudo-Productivity: “Work on Fewer Things At Once”

By Moon Harper

Jun 05, 2024 06:38 AM EDT

To-do lists help us stay organized, but sometimes, they can make us feel guilty about the things we left unfinished.

Podcaster and academic Cal Newport argues that our understanding of productivity is broken. In his book "Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout," Newport suggests that it is essential to acknowledge our tendency to make overly optimistic predictions.

For example, when estimating our monthly productivity, we often set unrealistic expectations, leading to disappointment later on. Experiencing occasional disappointment is normal and can indicate ambitious goals and motivation to achieve them. However, assessing the everyday barriers hindering this progress is also essential.

Activity-Based Vs. Outcome-Based Productivity

Newport highlights humans' inability to estimate the time needed for cognitive tasks. To gauge your actual productivity within a specific timeframe, reflect on your accomplishments from the previous quarter or year. Consider what achievements you are proud of and which project outcomes had a significant impact. Assess whether you dedicated most of your time and energy to these goals. Then, evaluate if there is a misalignment between your daily tasks and your overarching objectives. For example, if you felt overwhelmed by meetings and emails last month but only achieved two out of four goals. You may focus too much on activity-based productivity, prioritizing small tasks that keep you busy throughout the day.

Newport suggests that shifting to an outcomes-based productivity mindset will reveal that many tasks are only obstacles to achieving meaningful results. This shift in perspective can completely alter how you perceive your day. For instance, a day filled with numerous meetings or communications may now seem bad. Engaging in this review process can alleviate guilt and disappointment while enabling you to readjust your expectations for the future. It can also inspire you to eliminate busy work and prioritize meaningful endeavors moving forward.

"Psuedo-Productivity"

"Pseudo productivity" is an activity that serves as our primary proxy for valuable efforts.

Newport explained to Afternoons that this approach only leads to burnout, with individuals working faster and faster but accomplishing very little value. Productivity in knowledge works is challenging compared to factory work, where output is straightforwardly quantifiable. Lacking a similar metric, knowledge workers often rely on a "pseudo productivity" proxy, equating busyness with productivity to avoid appearing idle.

How to Combat This "Pseudo-Productivty"

Consider streamlining administrative tasks such as meetings and project updates to reduce busy work. A helpful approach is maintaining a publicly accessible list of projects, prioritized with status updates and delivery timelines. Direct your manager and colleagues to this list for updates on project progress and expected timelines to reduce the need for meetings and emails.

Newport also suggests protecting more of your dedicated time, such as scheduling no-meeting days for yourself each week. You can also implement the "one for you, one for me" approach, where you block out an hour of uninterrupted work time for yourself for every hour-long meeting you schedule with someone else.

Another aspect of slow productivity involves focusing on doing less but maintaining high quality in the tasks you choose to pursue. Newport emphasizes the importance of this shift in mindset, prompting individuals to reflect on whether they prioritize the most essential tasks and allocate sufficient time to them amidst their workload.