'Productivity Is Dangerous' (theoutline.com) 233
Vincent Bevins, writing for The Outline: So every morning, I get messages asking me to click through to articles like "How I Optimized My Morning Routine To Get More Done Than ever -- before 8 a.m.!" The people posting links like this have a sickness, and we need to stop it before it gets out of hand. Of course, if you actually click through to this trash, it's a bit shocking to see what they actually do. Some guy is proud that he set aside his social life so that he could unleash four extremely psychologically damaging apps on the world by the age of 30. Or it's like, "Congratulate Lisa on her new job as advertising director for Nestle in Africa." Here's a productivity idea: Just, fucking, don't make shitty apps, or do advertising for Nestle, or really for anything. I often see shit like, "Ten Habits I Have QUIT to Get More Done," and I think, "Maybe quit writing posts like this." If you're waking up at 4 a.m. to write 1,000 words about how you write 1,000 words every day, what are you actually getting done? Just stay in bed. Whenever I am back in the Protestant centers of modern capitalism (New York or London, basically), it's especially jarring to remember what it feels like to treat being busy as if it were a virtue.
Simple enough (Score:4, Funny)
"How I Optimized My Morning Routine To Get More Done Than ever -- before 8 a.m.!"
The people posting links like this have a sickness, and we need to stop it before it gets out of hand.
Just swap their morning joe with decaf. Epidemic averted.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe if the author had a hobby or something to occupy his free time, he wouldn't be worrying so much about how other people choose to spend theirs.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe if the author had a hobby or something to occupy his free time, he wouldn't be worrying so much about how other people choose to spend theirs.
I don't care how you run your life. If you want live a life like that, fine. It's not OK to have a system the imposes this lifestyle on everyone because people like you prefer it. That's forced coercion.
Re: (Score:2)
So, do *you* answer phone calls/emails/texts from work at any hour? Do you get overtime for that (hahahahahhahaha!)? Does your boss expect a response, every time the fart, day or night, and tell you "whatever it takes", who cares if you are trying to have a life?
Why the *fsck* do you need to be "SO PRODUCTIVE"? And it's people like you who jump on those of us who actually work to live, instead of living to work. That's why he's writing this, you freakin' Calvinist.
Re: (Score:2)
Also, I've known some self-help people. Most don't drink their own kool-aid.
Re:Simple enough (Score:5, Informative)
there is NOTHING wrong with trying to make your work life as productive as possible.
Extremes are bad for you. Moderation makes for a happier life.
But, really, TFA is using the wrong terminology. The proper rant is "stop confusing activity with productivity!" If you fill your life with some way to be busy at all time, I have to wonder what you're running from. Efficiency is a good thing, but continuous frantic activity is not, despite both being approaches to productivity.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
That being said, however.....there is NOTHING wrong with trying to make your work life as productive as possible. To do your best and to maximize your money making is a good thing to strive for!!!
Why?
What if I don't feel any drive to earn more money than I actually need to live an enjoyable life? What if I care a lot more about doing enjoyable things, than I do about raising some imaginary "productivity" stat on an imaginary character sheet.
Sure, go ahead and try to maximize your productivity, if that actually, genuinely and honestly increases your happiness. If you take a deep look inside yourself, I think you'll find that there are other things you would rather do with your life.
And no matter how
Re: (Score:2)
There's lots of thi
Re: (Score:3)
I don't know that I'll ever earn quite enough to say it is enough to make me truly enjoyable life.
In that case, you probably need to seriously re-evaluate your toxic materialistic outlook on life, or learn how to balance a budget.
Or you seriously need to change careers, if your current employment pays so little.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, I pretty much hate my job now, but I can't quit because I can't think of anything else that would ramp up quickly enough to be as lucrative.
While I like material things...and I DO....I pretty much have darned near everything I really want at this time, except for perhaps, a nicer
Re: (Score:2)
I hate to see ANY US citizen lose their job to a H1b.
But wow...I'm impressed that you've not only read but actually remembered some of my rants over the years.
I'd not have thought that anyone here really ever remembered much of what anyone said here, much less care about it.
Very interesting.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I hate to see ANY US citizen lose their job to a H1b.
My concern is whether we're creating enough jobs to keep up with population, thus avoiding unemployment growth; and if we're providing the social safety net to carry people through unemployment.
One way or another, people lose jobs. Trade (including H1B labor trade) and technology do that; they also improve our standard-of-living. We take these things away, we get poorer, and the poorest suffer the most. That means the guy at the bottom... we need grocery baggers and burger flippers; he deserves to be r
Re: Simple enough (Score:5, Interesting)
There is NO social "safety net" in America. Trust me - been there, done that, thank God I survived.
There are plenty of long-term welfare dependency programs, don't get me wrong. But there's basically NOTHING for a normal productive worker who's temporarily down on his luck.
Don't believe me? Try it sometime! You'll be unpleasantly surprised.
Re: (Score:2)
He hasn't come back with his usual "those jobs aren't intended for people to make a living at" response yet?
That explains it. He probably had an aneurysm when he read that.
Re: (Score:2)
He hasn't come back with his usual "those jobs aren't intended for people to make a living at" response yet?
Well, they're minimum-wage jobs.
Under these codes, in the industries covered, child labor has been eliminated. The work day and the work week have been shortened. Minimum wages have been established and other wages adjusted toward a rising standard of living.[...]
[...]Another question arises as to whether in fixing minimum wages on the basis of an hourly or weekly wage we have reached into the heart of the problem which is to provide such annual earnings for the lowest paid worker as will meet his minimum needs.
The minimum wage is intended to provide such annual earnings as for the lowest-paid worker to meet his minimum needs. That's what it was created for.
Re: (Score:2)
The minimum wage was created with the intent that one person working full-time could support a family in a decent style.
Re: (Score:2)
There are a few people who posts I enjoy reading. Yours is definitely one of them.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's too bad. It's better to come in late and leave late, even if it doesn't amount to more. Here are the scenarios:
1) Reboot comes in at 500. has lunch about 10, then goes home at three. Result: people think he slacking even though he has put in 10 hours.
2) Reboot comes in at 930 has lunch about noon, and then goes home and then goes home at 6pm after most managers and other coworkers start to go home. People think Reboot is diligent. Total hours worked: 8
So don't do it. We are trapped in the Matrix, a
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Just swap their morning joe with decaf. Epidemic averted.
That won't stop the depression, anxiety and eventual health consequences such as high blood pressure and eventual heart attack that will follow from attempting to meet ridiculously unreasonable demands. We have a system whereby many people are in a constant, unnatural state of fight or flight response. As of 2016, the United States has the highest use of anti-depressant medication [businessinsider.com] of any OECD country. That's solid evidence that we have a systemic cultural problem that is leading to large scale health pro
Take a nap. (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
It is the most productive use you will ever find for your time.
Nay, forget napping, it is a more productive use of your time to post on slashdot
Re: (Score:2)
well... (Score:5, Insightful)
well that was a waste of time!
Re:well... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: well... (Score:5, Insightful)
itâ(TM)s an oroborous of clickbait talking about clickbait /.
News for clicks
Stuff with referral links
Re: (Score:3)
The difference between this and most articles that superficially look like it, is that this one is honest. The author admits he's jerking off and thinks you should too.
Re: (Score:2)
Print it off and give it to your boss when they ask why you are browsing Slashdot again.
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously, is there a point to this article?
To make you less productive.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends, is Nestle run by Calvinists? If so then sure...
He certainly has a hard-on for the Calvinists...
Of course I always visualize Calvinists as folks who play http://www.picpak.net/calvin/calvinball [picpak.net]calvinball
Meta before it had a label (Score:2)
If you're waking up at 4 a.m. to write 1,000 words about how you write 1,000 words every day, what are you actually getting done? Just stay in bed.
Yet, there were movies starring real actors about fake actors making fake movies. There are stage-shows starring real actors about making fake stage shows. There are movies starring real actors about fake actors making fake shows. Same for television shows, etc. The point is, if they're being paid then who are they to not take the easy approach? Write or otherwise create content for what you know if they'll pay for for it.
Now, it's pretty stupid for everyone else (or anyone else) to pay good money for
Re: (Score:2)
Yet, there were movies starring real actors about fake actors making fake movies.
This sounds stupid on the face of it, and has certainly been used badly, but there are some great films based on this premise. Bowfinger and A Serbian Film both come to mind, as vastly different as they are, and I can't really imagine either one having chosen a better trope to start from.
Re: (Score:2)
And here I was thinking of Kiss Me Kate and Royal Wedding.
Have never thought of productivity as hours worked (Score:5, Insightful)
I have never really thought of productivity as how many hours of work I was able to fit into the day. It has always been how much output can I get for a given amount of input. Essentially how can I get more done with less effort. I'm not saying that is a better definition, but it is always how I have thought of it.
Re:Have never thought of productivity as hours wor (Score:5, Insightful)
The author is incorrectly using "productive" (i.e. getting work done) and "busy" (i.e. doing stuff) interchangeably, when the two actually have distinct meanings. Which is somewhat ironic, since he's basically trying to argue that there's an important distinction being lost...which is exactly the distinction he seems to be unaware of.
Once you swap out "productivity" for "busyness", you quickly realize what he's really getting at: the pursuit of busyness without productivity is a waste of time. Which is an obvious fact that most of us figured out early in our careers, but I guess kudos to him for coming to that realization?
Re:Have never thought of productivity as hours wor (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the early lessons in life I learned was, it wasn't how hard you worked, it was only important to work hard when the boss was looking. If you worked hard, and finished early, and the boss came around, you didn't do enough. If you didn't work at all when the boss wasn't looking but was busy when he showed up, you were okay.
That was 30 years ago, and it is still true today. Optics are the only thing that matters.
Re: (Score:2)
You know what works a million times better? Not slacking off when you're done. Go ask your boss for more work and pretty soon you'll be a favorite rather than just coasting along. That is, unless he's a terrible boss in which case you should find another job.
Your advice seems like a solid path towards mediocrity. Take some pride in your work.
Re: (Score:2)
You seem to think of work as something that's somehow "done" at some point.
Re: (Score:2)
Take some pride in your work
I learned that when I was fired from my very first job. The good job (pride) I was doing when the boss wasn't looking was immaterial. I was 15 when I learned that lesson. It sucked. Pride doesn't bring in a paycheck.
There is no failure if you learn something in the process. I learned how to never get fired again.
Re: (Score:2)
Your strategy have probably worked out fine towards your bosses. However, have you considered your team mates?
If I ask you for something, but get the fifth lousy excuse as to why you cannot and will not do anything, I'll just start working around you instead. And if I get to chance, I'll happily back-stab you to get rid of the drag on the team.
How many jobs and teams did you say you've been with over the last 30 years?
Re: (Score:2)
Your definition isn't quite correct, but it's better than that of the subject of the article. Yours is the definition of efficiency. Productivity would be the total output. The one in the article is something else... stupidity?
Re: (Score:2)
Wrong. Productivity [investopedia.com] is output per unit of input. Usually the input is labour hours.
Funnily enough there's a word for output. Can you guess what it is?
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly. In my field of academia, the only thing that really counts is number of publications. So you have a couple of people that sit at their desk from 9-5, but many that do 99% of their best work in the middle of the night and never show up at the office. Both get good work done.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly. In my field of academia, the only thing that really counts is number of publications.
Which isn't fundamentally much better than counting office hours. Both are ways of appearing busy.
What the hell is this? (Score:5, Interesting)
People are more productive because we live in an incredibly competitive world. There's 6 billion+ people out there are most are dirt poor and a good chunk of them can work 12 hr/day 7 days a week for 20 years before dying of a heart attack. That's your competition. And as productivity increases there's less work to go around and more competition for what's left.
Re:What the hell is this? (Score:4, Interesting)
The real trick is to *appear* competitive, while embracing being a "Loser" https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ [ribbonfarm.com] and producing enough that your clueless bosses are happy and staying off the sociopath's radar.
automation is a god-send in this case. Just automate as much of your job as possible and then execute said automation while doing something else that appears productive but is entertaining. E.g. everyone knows what FB looks like in a browser window, but /. just looks like a wall of text, and since you're typing it appears that you're working dutifully, even when the boss sits literally next to you in the open plan office. (use a small browser window, with minimal UI).
Just sayin...
I'm gone fishing (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm gone fishing
I got me a line
Nothing I do is gonna make the difference
So I'm taking the time
And you ain't never gonna be happy
Anyhow, anyway
So I'm gone fishing
And I'm going today
Paging Fox Butterfield (Score:3, Insightful)
"Without fail, it’s the most privileged people who feel the need to Do Something"
Yeah, maybe that's why they're "privileged".
How did this anti-capitalist bullshit rant make it to "news for nerds, stuff that matters"?
Re: (Score:3)
"Productivity" is probably the wrong word here. "Activity" might be better.
People often start doing *too* many things when they don't know *what* to do. You see this with entrepreneurs who are failing at that difficult transition from tiny early startup to something too big for one person. These people are in a high status position, but they don't know what to do with it. What they should do is make the transition from hands-on idea man to corporate leader, hire someone who can do that, or sell out. W
Re: (Score:2)
How did this anti-capitalist bullshit rant make it to "news for nerds, stuff that matters"?
From the top of the page:
Posted by msmash
I think you're misreading it (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, people who aren't privileged don't need to feel the need, they are shooed from one "do this" to the next "do that" anyway, no need to come up with things to occupy themselves with.
Re: (Score:2)
"Without fail, it’s the most privileged people who feel the need to Do Something"
Yeah, maybe that's why they're "privileged".
How did this anti-capitalist bullshit rant make it to "news for nerds, stuff that matters"?
Because historically illiterate dipshit fake nerds like you simply don't get the free market fairy is a myth. Real nerds want to know what is actually true and how reality works because society is always changing, so that means constantly reassessing and challenging sacred cows. Capitalists didn't just hand working people their rights they had to fight and die literally for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Protectionism for the rich and big business by state intervention, radical market interference.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, I like advertising. That's how sites like Slashdot exist without me having to pay for them. It actually costs money to run something like this, and that money has to come from somewhere.
Re: (Score:2)
So you're perfectly OK with poisoning your attention span, wasting bandwidth and creating a gigantic vector for malware?
Fuck no.
Easy (Score:5, Insightful)
"So every morning, I get messages asking me to click through to articles like "How I Optimized My Morning Routine To Get More Done Than ever -"
Well, just don't read these messages and you'll be amazed how much shit you can do during that time.
Re: (Score:2)
There is some logic behind the idea that the people who are all about productivity are probably more likely to be doing things like writing articles. You'd expect maybe a 5:1 or even 10:1 ratio between articles about productivity and articles about taking it easy and enjoying yourself.
I suspect the ratio isn't that high, because some of those compulsively productive people are probably writing articles about enjoyment (which they're either also feeling guilty about, or have planned out like a champ).
But the
Re: (Score:2)
Well, just don't read these messages and you'll be amazed how much shit you can do during that time.
I use the potty time to read these messages, you insensitive clod!
TLDNR (Score:2)
NT ;)
I award you no points... (Score:2)
200+ words to say...what, again?
Re: (Score:3)
Well, I'm safe. (Score:2)
Productivity Is Dangerous
That's why I spend my day reading /.
[ And to chill from reading the news, which, more often than not nowadays, makes me angry. ]
Working for the singularity... (Score:2)
Remember if you aren't using your time productively to bring about the singularity in the future the singularity may resurrect you and punish you for your frivolous waste of time (humbug advertising for Nestle indeed).
Data mining (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Depends on whether you lie or not. Facebook thinks I'm a senior citizen. Google is convinced I'm 13. The dissonance between ads I get is almost entertaining enough not to block them.
Obligatory quote (Score:2)
All the Internet did is to make it easier to find an exponentially greater number of suckers. Can you blame them, really?
Re: (Score:2)
This rant is a product of (Score:2)
If you let anyone say what they want in an attention-seeking environment, you get overloaded with garbage. To paraphrase, "A thousand bloggers, given infinite time, will eventually produce a collection of worthwhile and well-considered life hacks." These articles are distracting clickbait masquerading as productivity tips... wholly counterproductive.
Re: (Score:2)
But a thousand bloggers, given money for clicks, will just BLOW YOUR MIND!!!!
The non-product (Score:2)
I realized this in my 20s. I decided that there was something called "the non-product" that society produces to make up for the fact that we can produce necessary goods with so few people.
Another way I've put it here on Slashdot is that in our search for a better substitute, so far all we've come up with is "war and Facebook".
So. As obnoxious and pointless as their blog, or app, or whatever other "productivity" is, at least it's not raining actual fire down on you... yet.
Totally agree, and I'm not a lazy idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
My problem as I'm getting older (42 now...) is that I have a life outside of IT/technology. I've got a family, house and 2 children. That doesn't mean I'm some lazy middle manager or project manager clawing my way up the ladder to a no-work position and abandoning life-long learning. The issue I have is that younger people who haven't had the benefit of a life outside of tech are pumping out thing after thing after thing...and they're just different enough from each other and what's come before that you have to spend time looking at all of it or risk falling behind. The first dotcom bubble had the 25-year-old CEO, and this time we have relentless social media and DevOps tool companies. Amazon, Microsoft, Google and name-your-startup must have their employees permanently connected to a Red Bull IV to get that much work out of them.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with hard work...I do it every day. What I don't think the Millennial crowd has had yet is a good stomping from their employers to give them some perspective. Just like the last bubble, the VC funding is going to dry up for the startups, and the established tech companies are going to pull back and wait for a recovery. The free meals, bring-your-dog-to-work environments and concierge service are going to be replaced with layoff notices. And while these people will have many accomplishments under their belt, I'll bet some of them are going to wake up, look around and realize they've been giving 90 or 100 hours a week to an employer who just threw them out on the street.
Don't live to work...companies are not going to be loyal to you anymore. Work hard, give good value for money, but slow down and enjoy your life while you can.
Re: (Score:2)
"And while these people will have many accomplishments under their belt, I'll bet some of them are going to wake up, look around and realize they've been giving 90 or 100 hours a week to an employer who just threw them out on the street."
that perspective or actual event happens at about 40 (I'm 41)
Re: (Score:2)
Japan had that problem. It probably still does. Along with a sky high middle aged male suicide rate.
Re: (Score:2)
They may have been born in the grind, but they were in college through the worst of the bubble. Around 2004 the Web 2.0 bubble and social media started inflating, then 2008 happened, but in technology smartphones started going crazy, followed by the DevOps and cloud/container/serverless pushes. Technology has pretty much been immune to the housing crash, IF you were working for a web startup or a software/cloud company.
So, I respectfully disagree - they really haven't had a good stomping yet overall. There
The thing about the Protestant work ethic... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Basically it's "stay busy so you don't notice how you get bullshitted".
Old Man Yells At Cloud (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The ultimate top 10 things that WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!!!
Here's the meaning of life (Score:2)
And it's free too:
Imagine that you're going to die today when you lie in bed and close your eyes, it's going to be forever. Try to be able to say "Yup. Had a good run, it's been worth it".
If you can say that: You win.
Momo (Score:2)
Read this [wikipedia.org].
Or watch the movie if you don't have time for a childrens book.
What an idiot (Score:2)
I often see shit like, "Ten Habits I Have QUIT to Get More Done," and I think, "Maybe quit writing posts like this."
Why? How would it make the person more productive if they stopped doing their job of writing articles that get page hits and likes? Is this guy too stupid to realise that these articles exist not because someone wants to share some amazing fact about their life, but rather that they want to put food on their table?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually Communism's usual failure mode is the opposite.
In general the problem is that "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need" rewards the needy and punishes the capable. You very quickly get people manufacturing needs and faking their hard work under communism.
Capitalisms main failure modes are that it can't really handle anything that you can't exclude others from using unless they pay (which includes most art, any sort of large scale infrastructure subject to network effec
Re: (Score:2)
You very quickly get people manufacturing needs and faking their hard work under communism.
Well, maybe the latter, but asking for simple toilet paper is hardly "manufacturing needs".
Re: And there's socialism for you in a nutshell (Score:2)
Only if you live in an uncivilized culture where people *use toilet paper*. Gross.
Re: (Score:2)
Stop shilling for Big Toilet Paper. Stick it to The Man and get a bidet.
Re:And there's socialism for you in a nutshell (Score:5, Informative)
"You very quickly get people manufacturing needs and faking their hard work under communism."
Sure, capitalism doesn't have anybody manufacturing needs and faking their hard work.
Except, in the world's capitalist bastion (the USA) research suggests anybody who says they work more than 40 hours a week is lying, most white collar workers actually do more like two or three cumulative hours of productive work a day, the performance you get from an executive is inversely proportional to their salary, and entire job classes, many of them "elite," are demonstrably no better than flipping coins (e.g. financial managers).
Lying about your usefulness and inventing make work to keep the proles in line isn't a communist thing. It's a more-than-one-person-in-a-group thing. Actually, I bet most people isolated in the wilderness would also lie to themselves about how much work they actually did.
Re: (Score:3)
Calvinists are evil.
(that's what I got)
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed. Nothing wrong with productivity itself.
My reading of the article:
Dedicating yourself to a carefully chosen purpose is cool, but the author is ranting against people who have become obsessed with productivity for it's own sake, as a form of idolatry.
My takeaway:
Stop being so damn busy all the time and spend more time reflecting on what's actually important.
Re: (Score:2)
The thing is this, laddie: there's productivity, and there's the appearance of productivity.
Which do you think is more visible? Which do you think is easier to measure?
Re: (Score:2)
Answers:
1. The latter. 2. The latter.
Which do you think is most valuable in terms of respect and money granted to the individual? A. The latter.
And that's the problem with our society.
Re: (Score:2)
The whole Protestant Work Ethic is based on the premise that if you're successful, then God will favor you and you'll be guaranteed entry to Heaven.
Where on earth did you get that idea? You have it backwards. The concept behind the Protestant Work Ethic is that is that hard work, discipline and frugality are a result of belief in the values espoused by the Protestant faith. In other words, doing what you need to do to get into Heaven will also bring you material rewards in this life.
Re: (Score:2)
Unlike the heaven lie, people can see through the materialistic one. That's why communism failed while religion still works. They both technically promise the same thing: Work hard today and you'll be living in paradise tomorrow.
Communism was just stupid enough to claim that this paradise will be while people are still alive, so they could easily see that they're bullshitted. Way harder to do with religions that promise the whole paradise bit for an afterlife where you can't simply debunk their lie.
Re: (Score:2)
The promises of Capitalism and Communism are similar, with subtle but very important differences. The Capitalist promise and lure is "Work hard, and one day you will be living in paradise". The Communist promise is "Work hard, and one day we'll all be living in paradise".
While it looks similar, it has a vastly different psychological effect when (not if) failure sets in. In the communist system, due to us all being affected, we all failed, and thus the system did. The capitalist lure is a much more personal
Re: (Score:2)
exactly what he is ranting about?
The grammar is too horrific to discern the exact subject.
Re: (Score:2)
Boost your productivity with this one neat trick.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
It's just like we saw the flaws in colonialism. You not only have to pacify the area, you have to do administration and these ingrates hate you for bringing civilization, progress and diseases.
It's way better to let them administer themselves and pay for their resources with guns so they can shoot each other instead of your soldiers.
Re: (Score:2)
I want to be able when I close my eyes forever to say that I got the most enjoyment out of what's been possible. I want to be able to look back and say "Yup. Was worth it."