Have you heard about "Slow Productivity"?

the new way of working is here

Author

Iwo Szapar
August 25, 2024

In partnership with

Aloha friends,

I've just returned from a fascinating trip to Istanbul, where I was invited by the 🇹🇷 government to explore their new Digital Nomad visa program. A heartfelt thanks to Mine for her super warm hospitality 🥰, and to Nina and Han for having so much fun in discovering Turkey's potential as a hub for location-independent professionals. Stay tuned for more insights from this trip!

Now, let's explore a concept that's reshaping how we think about work and accomplishment in the digital age: Slow Productivity.

Oh, and make sure to scroll down for some cool updates about the AI Maturity Index! 🦸‍♀️

Struggling to make more than $5k/month as a writer?

Stop “freelance writing.”

Here’s the truth about why you aren’t consistently landing high-paying clients:

❌ You’re writing “anything” for “anyone,” not focusing on 1 offer.
❌ You’re wasting hours on freelancer sites, not “creating” your own clients.
❌ You’re doing low-paying work (like blog posts), not delivering outcomes.

Want to escape the freelancer hamster wheel?

âś… Become a Premium Ghostwriter

Get a FREE, 5-step crash course below.

🤯 Slow productivity - is this the future of work?

In the relentless pursuit of productivity, we've found ourselves caught in a paradox: the more we try to do, the less we seem to accomplish. This conundrum has led me on a fascinating journey into the world of "slow productivity," a concept that's reshaping how we think about work and accomplishment in the digital age.

1. The Treadmill of Pseudo-Productivity

For decades, we've been running on a treadmill of pseudo-productivity, mistaking busyness for effectiveness. As knowledge workers, we've inherited productivity metrics from the industrial era that simply don't apply to our cognitive tasks. The result? A workforce drowning in emails, meetings, and to-do lists, yet struggling to produce meaningful outcomes.

Consider these alarming statistics:

- According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, 77% of respondents had experienced burnout at their current job, with 91% saying that unmanageable stress or frustration impacts the quality of their work. [1]

- A 2021 Indeed survey found that 52% of workers reported feeling burned out, up from 43% pre-COVID. [2]

These numbers aren't just statistics; they're a cry for a new approach to work.

2. Enter Slow Productivity

Slow productivity, a term popularized by productivity expert Cal Newport in his book "Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout," offers a refreshing alternative. At its core, slow productivity is about reorienting our work to be a source of meaning rather than overwhelm, while still maintaining valuable output.

Three Fundamental Principles

  • Do Fewer Things: Focus on what truly matters, reducing the cognitive overhead of juggling multiple tasks.

  • Work at a Natural Pace: Embrace the ebb and flow of human energy, rather than forcing constant high-intensity output.

  • Obsess Over Quality: Prioritize excellence over quantity, allowing time for deep thought and refinement.

To better understand the shift, let's compare pseudo-productivity with slow productivity:

Aspect

Pseudo-Productivity

Slow Productivity

Definition and Focus

Activity-based; more is better. Prioritizes constant activity and creating a facade of busyness.

Outcome-based; focuses on producing impactful, meaningful work that avoids burnout and isn't entirely consuming.

Time Frame

Emphasizes short-term gains and busyness.

Measures productivity over longer periods, such as months or even decades, focusing on quality and sustainable work.

Approach

Driven by immediate activity metrics and visible busyness.

Encourages doing fewer things at once, working at a natural pace, and obsessing over quality.

The Power of Doing Less

Counterintuitive as it may seem, doing less can lead to achieving more. Recent research supports the benefits of doing less:

- Reducing organizational multitasking can increase productivity by as much as 59.8% [3].

- Individuals lose between 5% to 15% of cognitive efficiency each time they switch between tasks [3].

- Managing multiple tasks simultaneously can diminish individual performance by 15% and potentially curtail overall productivity by up to 40% [4].

By focusing on fewer, more meaningful tasks, we not only produce better results but also experience less stress and greater satisfaction in our work.

Working with Our Natural Rhythms

Slow productivity acknowledges that humans aren't machines. We have natural cycles of energy and focus throughout the day, week, and year. By aligning our work with these rhythms, we can achieve a state of flow more easily and sustainably.

Tip: Try "No Meeting Mondays" or regular breaks to recharge your cognitive batteries.

The Quest for Quality

In a world of quick fixes and instant gratification, slow productivity champions the value of deep, quality work. It's about giving ourselves permission to take the time needed to produce our best work, rather than rushing to meet arbitrary deadlines.

3. Embracing Slow Productivity in the AI Era

As we navigate this shift towards slow productivity, we find an unlikely ally in artificial intelligence. AI tools, when used thoughtfully, can support each principle of slow productivity.

AI for Doing Fewer Things

- Intelligent Task Prioritization: AI algorithms can analyze your workload and help prioritize tasks based on importance, deadlines, and your personal work patterns.

- Smart Task Batching: AI can group similar tasks together, reducing context-switching and improving efficiency.

- Workload Analysis: AI can suggest which tasks to prioritize or eliminate, helping you focus on what truly matters.

AI for Working at a Natural Pace

- Adaptive Scheduling: AI-powered calendars can learn your productivity patterns and automatically schedule tasks at your most effective times.

- Break Reminders: AI assistants can monitor your work patterns and prompt you to take breaks, ensuring you maintain a sustainable pace.

- Personalized Energy Tracking: Wearable devices paired with AI can track your energy levels and suggest optimal times for different types of work.

AI for Obsessing Over Quality

- AI-Powered Research Assistants: AI can help gather and synthesize information, providing a solid foundation for high-quality work.

- Real-Time Feedback: AI can provide instant feedback and suggestions, improving your work quality.

- Automated Proofreading and Editing: AI offers sophisticated grammar and style suggestions.

The key is to use AI as a tool for augmentation, not replacement—enhancing our human capabilities rather than trying to mimic machine-like productivity.

4. Benefits of Slow Productivity

Improved Mental Health and Reduced Burnout

Slow productivity addresses burnout by promoting a sustainable work pace and emphasizing quality over quantity. By focusing on fewer tasks and allowing for natural variations in work intensity, employees can avoid the relentless pressure to always be busy.

Enhanced Quality of Work

Companies that have adopted slow productivity principles have seen significant improvements. For example, The Wanderlust Group doubled its revenue after implementing a 32-hour workweek, which allowed employees to focus more deeply on their tasks [5].

Creating a Sustainable Work Environment

Slow productivity aims to create a sustainable work environment where both work and home life can flourish. Companies like Basecamp have successfully implemented these principles, resulting in happier, more engaged employees and improved business outcomes [5].

5. Challenges and Considerations

Adopting slow productivity isn't without its challenges. In a fast-paced business world, how do we measure the value of slow, deep work? How do we balance the desire for immediate results with the benefits of a more measured approach?

These are questions we must grapple with as we reimagine productivity for the knowledge era. It requires a shift not just in our work habits, but in our organizational cultures and performance metrics.

6. A Call for a New Productivity Paradigm

Slow productivity offers a path to better work and better lives. It's an invitation to step off the treadmill of busyness and rediscover the joy of meaningful accomplishment.

Can we create work environments that value depth over speed, quality over quantity, and sustainability over burnout? I believe we can, and in doing so, we might just rediscover the art of accomplishment without sacrifice.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have you experimented with slow productivity? What challenges and benefits have you experienced?

🚀 AI Maturity Index (AIMI): Update #4

Things are going very well with AIMI. Here are some latest news.

  • Growing Partnerships: Catalant, one of the world’s largest marketplaces for consultants, has joined as a Community Partner. 🤝

  • 600+ user interviews: We just crossed 600 people who joined AIMI, which translates to over 43,000 messages (!!!) exchanged between our AI-Assistant and users! 🗨️

  • Beta for teams: We are still accepting teams who would like to run AIMI for free for their teams. DM on LinkedIn to learn more.

That’s all for this edition! Until next time 🙂 May your work be meaningful, your pace be natural, and your accomplishments be deeply satisfying.

Mahalo,

Iwo

References:

[2] Indeed Employee Burnout Report 2021: https://www.indeed.com/lead/preventing-employee-burnout-report

Reply

or to participate.