[HN Gopher] Productivity porn
___________________________________________________________________
Productivity porn
Author : triplechill
Score : 278 points
Date : 2022-08-03 18:21 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (calebschoepp.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (calebschoepp.com)
| FredPret wrote:
| I recently read The Focal Point and The One Thing. While these
| are tangentially related to productivity porn, they finally
| allowed me to let go of optimizing my work methods and focus on
| the one or two important things every
| day/week/month/year/lifetime.
|
| Stress levels: plummeting.
|
| Output (& happiness) much, much higher, far more than 10x before
|
| Optimized work methods: I now print out a very short to-do list
| for each business I work in. A literal printout from Notepad or
| Apple Notes.
|
| "Productivity": trending towards zero
| sdoering wrote:
| Have these books on my list. I feel you would recommend them?
| FredPret wrote:
| 10/10, yes.
| hahnbee wrote:
| It's the lesser of 2 evils. At least I'm learning when I'm
| consuming content that surrounds my work/lifestyle goals rather
| than just mindlessly scrolling through content that doesn't help
| me at all.
| Syntonicles wrote:
| Agreed. This thread is filled with people who are confusing
| "consuming productivity content" with "actively being
| productive". It is one thing to discount reading blogs about
| time-tracking, efficiency and scheduling _instead of_
| implementing it in your daily life. It is quite another to
| discount the habits of productive people. To write those off en
| masse is to ignore the very real and obvious gradation of
| effectiveness we see in those around us.
|
| There are two counter-points that are often dismissed. The
| first is that if you haven't encountered the concepts, you
| aren't likely to stumble upon them without searching. Learning
| to plan and organize your behavior is no different from
| learning the fundamentals of any other skill.
|
| The second is precisely your point. Our thoughts and behaviors
| are driven by context. Given a person reading a blog about
| time-tracking and a person who-knows-where on an infinite
| social media scroll, who is more likely to close their browser
| and do whatever they feel is most important? I know who I would
| bet on.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| I think there is truth to the idea that someone who is
| actually implementing these systems, even half-heartedly, is
| at least putting in some effort towards whatever their goals
| is. However, I don't think the following is so clear-cut.
|
| > who is more likely to close their browser and do whatever
| they feel is most important? I know who I would bet on.
|
| Immersing oneself in productivity lifehacks is often a good
| way to _feel_ productive without actually being so. So I
| don't think either person stands to have a greater chance
| than the other towards getting back to work.
| Kosirich wrote:
| I wonder if people with (adult) ADD are more susceptible to this.
| Same as the author, I would like to hear the story of someone
| breaking the cycle for good.
| Ensorceled wrote:
| I think the cure is to find a couple of systems that work and
| "settle" on them and stick to them.
|
| I have settled on the idea of "Minimal Viable Day" and "Minimal
| Viable Week" ... what are things that, if I did those things
| AND NOTHING ELSE, I would consider the day and week a success.
|
| Friday afternoon, I create a MVW todo item with 2-3 important
| things in it for the next week. Every morning I create MVD todo
| item with several things in it (often a bunch of smaller items
| and one or two largish items).
|
| Everything else goes into the todo list and is ignored until
| the next MVD/MVW checkpoint.
|
| Now I ignore all other "productivity hacks" and focus on doing
| this one.
| Kosirich wrote:
| Thanks for sharing. I understand what you mean and I'm
| currently doing something similar...again. What I (often)
| lack is the steps needed to go from a more complex long term
| project to MVW/MVD tasks and then sustaining that in the long
| run. I'm currently looking into ways of hacking this, this
| being the dopamine cycle.
| Ensorceled wrote:
| I've been doing SCRUM for a long time ... it's pretty
| natural for me to break down projects into smaller pieces
| that fit into a 1 week or 2 week cycle.
| alexalx666 wrote:
| my ADD is coupled with being obsessive, this combo works
| kstrauser wrote:
| I know I am. The catch is that I _have_ to do at least a little
| bit of this if I want to not be homeless. I 've settled on the
| Things app with something that looks vaguely like GTD if you
| squint:
|
| - I have an inbox. _Everything_ I agree to do that I can 't do
| in the next couple of minutes goes in there. "Buy dogfood".
| "Paint the house". "Do a thing for work". Everything.
|
| - I triage the inbox and put starting dates on everything I
| can't do right now (like "buy a Christmas ornament") so that
| they'll show up on my daily to-do list when the time comes.
|
| - I review everything weekly, add stuff I've forgotten, and
| delete things I've finished or abandoned.
|
| And that's about it. Thing is, without this system, I can't and
| won't remember to do any of the things I need to. It doesn't
| matter how important it is to me to make sure I buy an
| anniversary card for my wife: I'll forget until it's too late.
| The above is how I walk the line between "letting my life fall
| apart due to disorganization and forgetfulness" and "wasting
| time optimizing a fancy process".
| thenerdhead wrote:
| I'm writing a book on this(in my bio). I don't claim to have
| broke the cycle, but I discuss the challenges of my generation
| in it.
| petecooper wrote:
| _adds to Safari reading list, later files to `to read` bookmarks_
| zeroonetwothree wrote:
| I think it's equally unhealthy to be obsessed with being
| productive 100% of the time.
| triplechill wrote:
| Agreed, the trick is finding the balance. Personally still
| figuring how to do that.
| nicbou wrote:
| Here is a really pleasant video with a similar message:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz4YqwH_6D0
|
| A writer writes. A painter paints. You are not defined by what
| you want or prepare for, but by what you _do_.
|
| On the other hand, you don't have to spend every waking hour
| being productive. You can go on a bicycle ride without measuring
| speed and distance. You can work on things that won't develop
| into income streams. Not everything has to be about the hustle
| and the grind.
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| >You can go on a bicycle ride without measuring speed and
| distance.
|
| It's kind of wild how people need metrics - myself included -
| in order to feel like they _did_ something. I have been really
| trying to address that in my own life after I found it had
| creeped so far into my daily life that it was influencing _what
| video games I play_. I mean...what?
|
| I blame it on the fitbit I got years ago haha
| rr888 wrote:
| I wonder how many "successful" people actually read this stuff.
| owow123 wrote:
| "im not productive" === "im not happy / socially isolated and my
| self esteem is low" this statement probably holds true for 99%
| who "relate" to this shite.
|
| Stop lying to yourself, more work wont make you happy - It didnt
| the first time.
|
| There is no easy fix, disabling social media wont fix it. Most
| gains of that nature are short lived.
|
| For real results its long term work on yourself and changes to
| your environment (I'm just getting started on my journey of
| solving this dont take it from me, talk to people > 10 years old
| than you or read a philosophy book > 500 years old)
| therealasdf wrote:
| I unsubscribed from Ali Abdal's youtube channel for this same
| reason. I have the utmost respect for him and I'm amazed at how
| well he manages his life. However, i always felt anxious after
| watching his videos. This video to be exact made me feel like
| shit and made me decide I should unsubscribe
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQSKyvjsUuI
| travisgriggs wrote:
| I'm gonna go read an article about how to be a better stoic now.
| [deleted]
| jedberg wrote:
| I disagree with the premise. I think the things you learn reading
| that tweet or that medium post can be useful. There were
| definitely times when I ran into a problem and thought to myself,
| "Hey I remember reading about this on Hacker News, how did they
| solve it?" and then going back and finding the post and finding a
| solution to my problem.
|
| There is also the notion of being able to make better decisions
| with more "connection material" in your mind. The more you know,
| the more likely you are to make a novel connection.
|
| I consider reading HN and the like part of building up that
| library.
| epolanski wrote:
| The point isn't expanding your knowledge, but doing so when
| there's other priorities.
| jedberg wrote:
| But priorities are just a personal preference and ever
| shifting. Sure sometimes there are external forces driving
| our priorities, like needing to finish a work project to get
| paid, bur once you've taken care of those, it's totally
| reasonable for "knowledge acquisition" to be at the top.
| a9h74j wrote:
| The article itself explores the analogy to porn more deeply than
| the usual offhand reference to productivity porn, particularly
| with reference to energy-sapping and demotivating effects.
| redanddead wrote:
| While reading this story it felt like we are subscriber()
| functions to social media's eventemitters. Like we're all hooked
| up to this larger system
| ericmcer wrote:
| If you peruse instagram accounts that post tutorials of how to do
| things (cooking, art, engineering, etc.) you will quickly realize
| that there are thousands of positive comments and likes on
| instructional videos that teach things completely wrong. Anyone
| attempting to follow the video would be baffled. This article
| definitely comes up with a good term for the phenomenon behind
| the success of those videos.
| Barrin92 wrote:
| The biggest issue with the whole productivity porn thing is that
| it's fundamentally 'midwit' activity. Genuinely novel work, by
| definition cuts through existing things, brushes them away and
| produces something that is new. Tending to your knowledge gardens
| and note taking tools and reading blogs and whatnot is just
| busywork.
|
| People who built real things generally do so because they have
| the will to do it, not because they have 500 pages of investment
| advice collected on Notion.
| 999900000999 wrote:
| Life advice, self help, etc, all of it is too general to be
| helpful to anyone.
|
| What works for a 46 year old married mother of 3 probably won't
| be what works for a 23 year old tech nerd.
|
| You have this obsession with becoming some type of super human
| who can do things vastly beyond your peers.
|
| Sure the average 30 year old living in LA will never buy a home.
|
| That doesn't concern you super elite hustle bro. Hustle so hard
| you have 3 houses, 2 lifted trucks, and a dog who can speak basic
| French.
|
| Most of us are by definition average. Actual life advice for our
| above character would be to move somewhere with affordable
| housing, only buy a lifted truck if you have cash, etc.
|
| No body wants to read.
|
| "Fix your life over 18 to 24 months by making difficult choices"
|
| People want.
|
| "Fix your life in 3 weeks, only takes 30 minutes a day"
| notsapiensatall wrote:
| You keep saying "lifted truck" like it's something to aspire
| to, but aren't pickups dirt cheap in the US?
| trebbble wrote:
| God no. Even before the recent huge bump in car prices.
|
| They're very _common_ , but not cheap.
|
| They're either actual work trucks built to do real work (so,
| not cheap) or are status symbols (so burning cash is part of
| the point--also not cheap).
|
| Like with anything, you can save buying used, but I don't see
| very many older trucks around these days. Dunno if a lot got
| taken off the roads with Cash for Clunkers, or if rising gas
| prices made older trucks less appealing so a bunch got
| scrapped, or what. Seems like _most_ trucks I used to see
| were older, but since they got more popular for normal
| drivers, even one visibly 7-8 model years old is pretty
| unusual. Less so out in the sticks, but near the city, it 's
| almost all fairly-new trucks.
|
| The people who really want to show off can get trucks that
| approach six figures, retail. Not some custom job, that's in-
| demand enough that it's a normal trim level they make.
|
| Any extra stuff done to a truck after purchase is _sometimes_
| about functionality but _most cases you see_ will be
| conspicuous consumption instead, including lift kits. Tons of
| them are on trucks that 'll rarely leave pavement--they're
| the same as fancy, expensive rims or whatever.
|
| [EDIT] Cheap (relatively cheap, anyway) light trucks _used
| to_ be a thing, like in the 90s and earlier, but are damn
| near not made at all, anymore.
| jjice wrote:
| New pick ups are pretty expensive, at least from my
| perspective. A baseline F150 starts at 40k-ish. A decked out
| one could run you near double that I believe.
|
| Compare to a baseline Civic at around 23k.
| notsapiensatall wrote:
| Wow. People are really paying $80k for an F-150?
|
| Every time I think I can't get any more cynical, life
| throws a curveball like that.
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| Many pickup trucks in the US are basically luxury
| vehicles akin to a high end Mercedes or BMW.
| philk10 wrote:
| wait til you hear about the waitlist for the F-150
| Lightning...
| pugets wrote:
| I worked with a guy who spent $55k on a new truck. We
| were both making $18 an hour. He was in his early 20s
| living with his parents.
|
| That was in 2017... I wonder if he's still paying it off.
| mustafabisic1 wrote:
| Love it, and totally felt this myself. That's why I created a
| newsletter for remote working parents. To be on the creation side
| and as least as possible on the consuming side.
|
| https://thursdaydigest.com/
| ChildOfChaos wrote:
| Your solution to productivity porn is to create more
| productivity porn?
| mustafabisic1 wrote:
| Everything about this post seems to be like that lol There is
| something to it for sure. Thanks for the comment, you cracked
| me up :D
| aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
| Cool! Added this to my Notion board!
| [deleted]
| LordHeini wrote:
| I really don't get any of those "be more productive", book,
| video, course and so on.
|
| Every single person I know just wastes their time with that.
| Usualy they work long hours and still don't get much done.
|
| But hey, they have Zettelkasten with things the never read. A to
| do list with stuff they never do. And they go out in the morning
| at 5 for jogging, while gulping down a liter of coffe or energy
| drinks which results in them being groggy the whole day.
|
| If you ever think you need to adhere to what is preached in any
| self improvement thing, just don't.
|
| Habe your shit in order, avoid working mor than 7 hours day and
| take your weekends and vacations seriously.
|
| Especially in IT nothing will get you further than being smartly
| lazy.
| tamsaraas wrote:
| You don't understand how the trick works. I am a person who
| fell for the bait thrown by info / "guides" sellers.2010-2015 -
| peak in my life of productivity. I was able to do damn a lot of
| things altogether. Fix challenging and complex bugs, implement
| modern and crazy stuff, etc.
|
| And my hobby project (game) became popular. Unfortunately, I
| did not use any GTD / todolists, etc. Maybe a tiny todo program
| like qtodotxt because it's small, and I am too greedy to pay
| for todoist.
|
| But since the end of 2015 - I have noticed how slowly I was
| starting to do smaller and smaller amounts of work. I was just
| sitting and can't push myself to continue with the previous
| speed of results. Not because things become more complex, but
| because I can't explain to myself what is going on.
|
| More tasks on the todo, more things to do, more promises
| freaked off, etc. And after googling for a better todo tools,
| ads networks got my interest and started to offer through
| youtube and ads different promoted videos about GTD, matrix
| Gunzenhauser or how it is called, and other stuff.
|
| Tons of really nice made videos, which work like popcorn for
| brains. Do X to get the Y result. Extremely easily explained
| things and procedures. I followed this bullshit and dug in
| because someone else was thinking for me, not me myself. I did
| not realize that at that point in time.
|
| I think this is extremely important to bold: I was not ready to
| even try to think or understand that I want to job done not by
| me but by someone else. This is an important thing, please try
| to remember it, I will get back to it later.
|
| In 2016 -> I started to learn different methodologies, follow
| different literature and books which do the same, and around
| the end of 2016, I got a strict understanding that this is
| business. Literally structured business which makes by
| themselves via tricks and manipulations with information and
| reasons <-> results relations which force idiots like me follow
| it, purchase more to get something that never will work. But
| you are forced to purchase and learn more because you can't
| make the thing work because it's impossible to make the
| thing/methodology work. Because the methodology sucks. Because
| it's made for business more. Like drugs -> while you read all
| of that bullshit and believe in that -> you feel good, when you
| trying to do something - you feel pissed off. And you face some
| kind of addiction.
|
| God bless, I met some girl in 2019, which was suicidal, and was
| hospitalized and treated by psychiatrists. She told me -> "man,
| the thing that you have this is typical symptoms of depression,
| try to visit doctor."
|
| I was denying that thing for damn a long time, maybe two years
| for sure. The problem with depression - is that the thing you
| can't beat alone. You will always go deeper and deeper to
| darker and more problematic things which impossible to cure
| yourself. That does not work like that.
|
| Anyway, finally, when I worked in 2020 for only two weeks in
| the whole year, I strongly realized something extremely bad
| with me. I tried damn everything, just imagine everything that
| you can or who suggest you something: nothing helped. Literally
| everything (relax, changing work, changing friends circle,
| restriction of something X, doing something Y, whatever). Does
| not matter.
|
| Just save your time and nerves - do not listen to anybody like
| me. So, in 2021, I slowly got a strong wish, like when you are
| hungry or want water, but that wish is about to die. This
| feeling follows you every single day, every single thing. If
| somehow you got a conflict / emotional problem -> boom, you
| wanna die. No, this is not a "pissed off" thing. This thing is
| about 3,2,1 - jump from a window. No jokes here. Crazy shit.
|
| Anyway. Somehow after one of such days when I almost committed
| suicide -> I visited a doctor. Diagnosed with the latest stage
| of depression (it's when people kill themselves), and got
| offered to be hospitalized, and so on. I refused that, and I
| got pills to drink and talked with psychiatrists for a few
| months (until the war started).
|
| So. What do I want to say to you? After starting to visit
| doctors who treat depression with pills + I tried to fix my
| problems with professional specialists in a clinic -> I started
| to feel better.
|
| My libido because of pills -> goes down. But my intellectual
| potential -> go up in 2016-2015 years. I was able again, for
| almost a month, non-stop work, work great, did tons of a good
| job, and be productive.
|
| I did not follow any tools, methodology, etc. I just had an
| inner power to do that. I got it back. Some kind of will.
|
| So why do I write all of that? I hope my post helps many IT
| specialists like me (who feel burned) to understand those head
| problems -> it's common problems, and these problems are
| treated and help damn a lot to return back the previous level
| of productivity of your nature.
|
| It will not boost you over your limits, but correct treatment
| will help you cure the source of your wasted will.
|
| Just stop jerking for GTD / kanban / scrum / other bullshit.
| All of that shit does not work and should not work. Just
| abstraction, which will make life harder. If you feel extremely
| overwhelmed, can't do things in time, or lose your focus, or
| can't force yourself to work as you worked before ->, visit
| your doctor.
|
| Pills are not costly, and treatment in the early stages too.
| And results - damn awesome.
| doix wrote:
| > Especially in IT nothing will get you further than being
| smartly lazy.
|
| One day I'll finish my "self-help" book which is all about
| doing as little as possible and leaving everything until the
| last minute in case it resolves itself. Unfortunately, I listen
| to my own advise and will probably never finish the book.
| barking_biscuit wrote:
| Reminds me of that line from that movie "you and your stupid
| mate" where the guy ignores the letter and doesn't open and
| he says something like "If I wait 5 days and then open it, if
| it's bad news then that's 5 extra days of happiness that I
| got that I wouldn't have got if I opened it now".
|
| Can't fault that logic.
| lkschubert8 wrote:
| The JIT Productivity Method. You'll have it written just as
| soon as someone goes to read it.
| JacobThreeThree wrote:
| Schrodinger's productivity.
| paulryanrogers wrote:
| You jest but didn't the guy who wrote "The Martian" do it
| one blog post at a time?
| Sinidir wrote:
| What the hell. Why are you stealing my idea? I've been
| working on this for 30 years. Its about 10% done. I'll do the
| rest next weekend.
| ozim wrote:
| There is a joke:
|
| Boss is stepping outside of brand new BMW - good morning Joe,
| you see that brand new BMW, if you keep working hard and make
| more hours I will get new one next year!
| stingraycharles wrote:
| Being more productive rarely leads to a happy and fulfilled
| life. It's often precisely those moments in life when I'm on my
| least productive, that I look back on as if I really lived.
|
| Of course, be mindful of your time, but learn how to use it
| wisely, rather than optimizing for "productivity" as observed
| by others.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Always needing to be "productive" or busy can be a sign that
| you're avoiding something else in your life. The classic
| example is the workaholic who is hiding from the reality that
| he doesn't like spending time with his spouse or family.
| Instead of confronting and solving that problem, he runs away
| from it by working 60 hour weeks.
| [deleted]
| bobthechef wrote:
| baby wrote:
| I wouldn't put it this way. I think sometimes life gets into
| the way of my work, and that's not a bad thing, and sometimes
| work gets into the way of my life, and I get shit done and
| feel good about it as well.
| lmm wrote:
| > Being more productive rarely leads to a happy and fulfilled
| life. It's often precisely those moments in life when I'm on
| my least productive, that I look back on as if I really
| lived.
|
| Hmm, I've had the opposite experience.
| throw149102 wrote:
| I think we might just have different definitions of
| productive. To me, writing code or reading a paper can be
| productive, but so can a conversation with my dad or a nice
| meal out. Basically I see "Productivity" and replace it with
| "Productivity towards producing more personal utility" where
| that utility can be anything - happiness, relaxation, actual
| goods and services, etc.
|
| Furthermore, I think putting on the hat of "productivity" can
| sometimes reveal unusual things. Like how a conversation with
| a friend is just repeating the same old dreary boring stuff,
| and if you put a little effort in you can have a more
| "productive" conversation.
| xkcd1963 wrote:
| It's nice to be able to live ones potential through. This
| desire seems to stem from observing others "oh, could I
| eventually accomplish the same, or reach the same level?". It
| seems to me though genuine happiness can also be found through
| other means.
| nvch wrote:
| It's like fishing or hunting for somebody. Only a few pieces of
| information will be today's catch (if I'll be lucky today), but
| the hunting time is well spent anyway.
| TrackerFF wrote:
| Hustle and grind. Create 7 streams of income. Work 18 hour days -
| anything less and you're a loser destined for mediocrity. Read 5
| books a week. Start trading stocks and crypto. Take cold showers,
| hit the gym. Optimize your schedule, log every minute spent.
| Ditch your loser friends and only hang out with likeminded -
| success breeds success. Sigma grindset. Moon or bust. If you're
| not worth $1 million liquid before 30, cut off your finger and
| work even harder. Analyze your productivity and always look for
| places to cut fat.
| fastbenz wrote:
| that's why I'm Doraemon now
| bryanrasmussen wrote:
| I believe the last line is supposed to be 'A pig in a cage on
| antibiotics.'
| Yajirobe wrote:
| Reminds me of this awesome video - The Hustle:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U
| weakfish wrote:
| This is my all time favorite video to show people
|
| > "Check robinhood. All red, just as I expected."
| Trasmatta wrote:
| The videos on that channel are so good that they're painful
| to watch, when you realize how closely it matches the life
| you're living.
|
| This one is my favorite (or "least favorite" depending on how
| hard it hits on any given day):
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYvhC_RdIwQ
|
| I feel like the people doing that channel could write a very
| effective modern Office Space.
| omginternets wrote:
| The last minute of him stammering on the zoom call makes me
| want to hide under the bed.
| willcipriano wrote:
| My favorite: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FDoH15ylAeo
| easton wrote:
| The most recent one, "Leadership Sync", pops into my head
| in pretty much every meeting I've had in the last two
| weeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RAMRukKqQg
| the_af wrote:
| This video is hilarious (like many on that channel). What
| cracks me up is the little jokes you can miss unless you
| pause some frames, like
|
| "...but not before I read my blogs" --> "What Ancient
| Mayans Can Teach You About Living Your Best Life"
|
| "and journal about creativity" --> "sleep retrospective,
| epiphanies: 0"
| colpabar wrote:
| it is insane to me that this channel is being discussed
| today because literally 2 days ago it was recommended to me
| on youtube.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ
| cercatrova wrote:
| The one about microservices is incredible:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ
| wizofaus wrote:
| Gold!
| jamil7 wrote:
| 2 Years later I still have trouble watching this one, hits
| too close to home for an old job I had.
| epolanski wrote:
| Reminds me when I had to sort some payments FE-wise which
| was a very trivial array sort (there was at most 50
| payments per page, nothing impactful performance-wise) on
| a json array which had a timestamp value, but CTO got
| involved with this triviality for some reason and started
| blabbering of how business logic had to be on the
| backend.
|
| I literally had a working feature branch in 10 minutes,
| but it ended up being a 6 weeks job involving architects,
| devops, 3 backend engineers to have a microservice
| implemented in GO (which basically no backender knew) to
| handle those payments sorting. I'm not kidding.
|
| I didn't got a promotion to staff engineer or architect
| few months later because CTO was fixated with "micro
| services experts" which basically consisted of anyone
| putting Go on their CV and having an AWS certification.
|
| The guys hired were so sweet, they would spend like
| months repeating in the daily every day they were doing
| analysis and understanding our architecture, just to
| produce after 8 weeks a pdf of few pages with their in-
| depth analysis of Kafka vs RabbitMQ which was basically a
| summary of their landing pages lol.
|
| I love the information economy.
| [deleted]
| WelcomeShorty wrote:
| So... that's me. FCUK. I really need to listen to these
| "work life balance" types more.
| xivzgrev wrote:
| "Read Marcus Aurelius - meditations. didn't understand shit"
|
| LOL
| jkereako wrote:
| Thank you for this.
| TrackerFF wrote:
| The real deal folks
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjfwxZcsKoI
| t00ny wrote:
| Ouch
| badpun wrote:
| Wow. This is literally poison for the mind and soul.
| jedberg wrote:
| I honestly can't tell if this is satire or not.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| When I read "24 year old CEO" I think of Hinton:
|
| http://www.smashcompany.com/business/what-happens-when-
| the-b...
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| The real Patrick Batemen folks
| BbzzbB wrote:
| The funniest part about this video is how he gets
| absolutely nothing done professionally except read two
| emails. Driving around to flash his expensive (leased) car
| doesn't count.
| omega3 wrote:
| Isn't this a satire?
| BbzzbB wrote:
| Not intentionally anyway. If it was intentional, it was
| to grab attention (like include a mistake in a tweet),
| but it seems serious and on-brand for an
| influencerpreneur.
| trebbble wrote:
| These kinds of windows into a life explain how some
| entrepreneur/CEO types can be owner and/or CEO of like
| three businesses, on the board of a couple others, in
| some kind of advisory role on a couple startups, and so
| on, and still always seem to be starting or trying to get
| a hand in some new thing: it's because they don't really
| do jack shit.
|
| Meanwhile the peons get an anti-moonlighting clause and
| absurd claims over any work done in off-hours.
| 8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote:
| Nothing says you're a successful high-impact CEO like
| having a camera crew following you around all day as you
| work out twice and eat salad.
| neilv wrote:
| Finally, an innovation in dating site profiles!
| dominotw wrote:
| kept waiting for the punchline that never dropped.
| shepherdjerred wrote:
| I stumbled upon these guys in NYC! They've got the most
| relatable videos.
| grudg3 wrote:
| I read this in my head like the intro to Trainspotting.
| R0b0t1 wrote:
| Fitting, overwork is a coping behavior for some people. Just
| like taking drugs is for others.
| owow123 wrote:
| 18 hours a day? Telsa ran on 4 hours sleep, stop slacking.
|
| Putting you on PIP for this attitude, not very "big org"
| mindset.
| the_af wrote:
| You can shave some slacking off time by skipping lunch and
| dinner and instead chugging some Silicon Valley energy drink
| mix, marketed with a fancy name.
|
| Wasting time with meals is for unsuccessful losers!
| dvfjsdhgfv wrote:
| Sounds like the beginning of a Radiohead song.
| Suro wrote:
| Fitter happier
|
| More productive
|
| Comfortable
|
| Not drinking too much
|
| Regular exercise at the gym (3 days a week)
|
| Getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries
|
| At ease
|
| Eating well (no more microwave dinners and saturated fats)
|
| A patient, better driver
|
| ...
| codyZ wrote:
| I think that I actually 'L - O - L' at most three times a year
| when reading on my computer. "cut off your finger and work even
| harder." is the best one yet!
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| I get that this is satire but could you expand on why people
| who want to be healthy + productive "have it wrong" (which I
| feel your satirical comment alludes to?)
|
| You're "taking the piss" at people who value working hard/long
| hours, reading, trying to be successful financially, taking
| care of their health/fitness, cutting ties with loser friends
| (drug addicts? bums?)
| matsemann wrote:
| It's not that any one of them is wrong. It's overdoing them,
| or doing them all at once to the detriment of the others.
|
| Or more likely: the image being put forward isn't even real,
| because it's not enough hours in a day to do them all.
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| > doing them all at once to the detriment of the others.
|
| a situation comes to mind
|
| a father who has to ignore his wife + children because he's
| addicted to "the grind/hustle" of working 12+ hour days and
| traveling... so he can make money... for his wife +
| children
|
| is there true net detriment in that case? i'm sure the wife
| + children appreciate the extra income?
| 0xFF0123 wrote:
| It depends, there's obviously a happy medium between the
| two extremes. Optimising for family happiness, sure.
| Optimising for making money and expecting that to return
| family happiness, probably not.
| Swizec wrote:
| It's like people who spend so much time optimizing their
| perfect productivity system that it doesn't leave any time
| for doing the things. Their entire life is about managing the
| productivity system.
|
| Talking about the work !== doing the work. 9 times out of 10
| you're better off doing something, anything, than worrying
| about productivity. Go _do_ stuff.
|
| Doing every productivity hack and good habit in something
| like Ferris's Tools of Titans is literally a full time job if
| not more.
|
| I have the same critique for note taking porn.
| epolanski wrote:
| There's nothing wrong in it, if taken lightly and in a
| healthy positive manner.
|
| I think he's parodying the extreme fixation with one's
| productivity.
| ravenstine wrote:
| Not who you're replying to, but the problem I see with
| productivity porn is that it completely ignores the luck
| involved in success. We all have agency, but some people will
| work more hours and take more ice baths than everyone else
| and still end up poor and irrelevant. Some people are better
| off realizing they don't have "it" and taking a more relaxed
| approach to life.
| eptcyka wrote:
| Valuing hard work, reading and trying to be financially
| successful is something completely unrelated to trying to do
| 18 hour work days, skimming several books a day, and running
| the hamster wheel off the peg and into the frying pan. Hard
| work is often what is required to be successful, but just
| mindlessly toiling away is not the key ingredient to success.
|
| Also, what good is a friend who wouldn't come to your aid in
| the hardest of times?
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| > Valuing hard work, reading and trying to be financially
| successful is something completely unrelated to trying to
| do 18 hour work days
|
| Are you trying to say "it's easy to be financially
| successful by working 8 hours a day instead of 18 hours"?
|
| like... it's "overstated" that people think they need to
| "work more/work harder" to become successful?
| lmm wrote:
| Easy, no. Easier, yes. People absolutely overvalue
| putting in more time/effort, which actually has pretty
| poor returns.
| CSMastermind wrote:
| Some people who push these values on social media care way
| more about the image of being a "successful person" than
| actually doing what it takes to achieve success (which rarely
| involves bragging about how hard you work on social media).
|
| They're at best untrustworthy sources and at worst snakeoil
| salesmen.
|
| Speaking of the latter there's a special brand of cognitive
| dissonance being shown here.
|
| If there were some surefire way to be rich and happy, etc. in
| a very short period of time. A system so simple that anyone
| could follow it then why doesn't everyone?
|
| If you really believe that these habits would make anyone
| successful then you have to explain why everyone isn't doing
| it.
|
| And they convince others and themselves that it's because
| most people aren't willing to do what it takes. They won't
| sacrifice their comfort or friends or whatever to the point
| that it takes to be successful.
|
| If you do all these things are still aren't rich and retired?
| Well it must mean you haven't sacrificed enough or worked
| hard enough or whatever!
|
| The real answer is that none of these habits are a guarantee
| of success. Are they good ideas? Sure! Like for sure eat
| healthy, get enough sleep, read books, and work out.
|
| Like everything though there are tradeoffs, often on your
| time, and moderation can be the key for most people. There
| are other inputs into your success and there's no one size
| fits all plan that works for everyone.
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| > Some people who push these values on social media care
| way more about the image of being a "successful person"
| than actually doing what it takes to achieve success (which
| rarely involves bragging about how hard you work on social
| media).
|
| Devil's advocate but
|
| you can measurably tell if you are financially successful
| (from working hard/long hours) and our healthy fitness wise
| (from going to the gym/eating clean/going for a run/etc.)
|
| you can also measurably tell if you are in a good headspace
| from meditation/yoga/reading
|
| I'm the first person to poop on people who "do it for the
| Gram" but...
|
| Most people I know who post about being successful are the
| same people who wouldn't want their image hurt by being
| caught in a lie.
|
| aka... they aren't really "fronting", they are really
| "about it" when it comes to living a "let's talk about it"
| lifestyle
| Retric wrote:
| It's really tempting to assuming the things you think are
| important are what actually result in success. Nobody
| sees all the possible lives they could have had.
|
| Daily jogging seems like a healthy choice when you
| wheren't hit by a car etc etc.
|
| Add in all the actual lying and it's easy to get an
| incredibly distorted view of reality.
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| Avoiding jogging (in lieu of gaining obesity/any various
| degree of issues that come from lack of exercise) in fear
| of getting hit by a car seems irrational, wouldn't you
| agree?
|
| You should strive for "perfect". If "perfect" is healthy
| and healthy means go for a run (with risks), you have to
| weigh it against the alternative (don't run, be
| unhealthy).
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| The guy spends so much time optimizing every minute of his
| day that he's functionally not "living."
|
| Also notice he has literally _no_ human interaction.
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| what do we define as living?
|
| i have many friends who swear it is more fun to work than
| to "sit around watching netflix/hang out with friends
| passing time/drinking alcohol"
| [deleted]
| ziddoap wrote:
| Parent poster is referring to the people that take "healthy
| and productive", condense it, distill it, then shoot it into
| their veins.
|
| At some threshold it becomes an obsession, which is not
| great.
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| why would anybody want to be unhealthy and unproductive?
| what is to be gained from those two characteristics?
| gedy wrote:
| The opposite of these people is not necessarily
| "unhealthy and unproductive".
| the_af wrote:
| I don't think that's a reasonable take on the comment
| you're replying to.
|
| The answer to mindless obsession with health,
| productivity and success fads for entrepreneurs is not to
| become unhealthy and unproductive.
|
| Though, on that note, what do these "productivity" and
| "success" even mean? Why is being extremely productive a
| worthy goal? Leisure is good, too.
| maximus-decimus wrote:
| Fun. The answer is fun.
|
| But obviously, it's not that you have fun eating because
| you're unhealthy, it's that you're unhealthy because you
| eat stuff for enjoyment.
|
| Similarly, being unproductive isn't fun in itself, but
| having fun means almost by definition not being
| productive. If a hobby is productive, it's not really a
| hobby.
| samatman wrote:
| There is a whole world of lucrative fun out there.
|
| One thing about a livelihood though: it's never fun all
| the time.
|
| The same is true of many serious hobbies however.
|
| Fun certainly doesn't have to be productive, nor is it an
| antonym.
| smiddereens wrote:
| leokennis wrote:
| I'm not qualified to comment on the health factor. In general
| striving to be healthy is good, no contest there.
|
| But regarding working those long and hard hours (which then
| cannot be spent on other things) maybe we should heed the
| advice of the dying:
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-
| fiv...
|
| > 2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. > > "This came from
| every male patient that I nursed. They missed their
| children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women
| also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older
| generation, many of the female patients had not been
| breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted
| spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work
| existence."
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| For anybody who is just scrolling by and not clicking any
| links:
|
| Top five regrets of the dying
|
| 1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to
| myself, not the life others expected of me.
|
| 2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
|
| 3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
|
| 4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
|
| 5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
| borroka wrote:
| This list has been circulating forever, following the
| publication of the book, and I believe they should be
| called "top five very theoretical and after the fact and
| with no empirical evidence they are regrets and they
| would do something different if in the same position of
| the dying".
|
| Now, think of those who like to eat until they are full,
| those 7k calorie meals. There are many such cases,
| especially in the United States. After such a large meal,
| which would frighten weaker stomachs, if they were asked,
| "Do you regret eating like that?" they would almost
| certainly say yes. But they would do it again tomorrow,
| some would say because they have a medical condition,
| others because they love to eat and don't mind having
| problems with walking, diabetes, and all the assorted
| ailments that go hand in hand with overeating, or
| alcohol, or any combination of the two.
|
| In a moment of tremendous weakness, of fear of crossing
| the Acheron, when asked "do you regret working so hard?"
| even the laziest worker the world has ever seen, the
| anti-Stakanov, would say, "yes, I do, it's one of my
| biggest regrets."
|
| Some of my friends did not continue studying after middle
| school and sometimes say, "I would have/should have
| continued studying," regardless of the fact that at that
| time they were not inclined to open a textbook even with
| a gun pointed at their head. But in their minds, if they
| had a chance to go back in time and armed with motivation
| that they did not have at the time, they would study, of
| course they would. But they only like the idea, not the
| action. They are the same people. And it's the same for
| those five regrets, the "if I had $10 million, I would
| give $9.5 million to charity." But they don't have that
| $10 million.
| lupire wrote:
| throw149102 wrote:
| I mean this is funny but this isn't at all what the post is
| about. What it means by "productivity porn" is only
| tangentially related with the hustle sigma male trillionaire
| grindset stuff.
| baal80spam wrote:
| > Work 18 hour days
|
| ...and meditate the other 6.
| ourmandave wrote:
| Ultimate life hack:
|
| 1. Dude, move to Venus where a day is 5,832 hours.
|
| 2. Become a 10,000 hour expert in less than a weekend bro!
|
| 3. Profit!
| mellosouls wrote:
| You are Andrew Tate and I claim my five pounds.
|
| Or Russ Hanneman.
| abledon wrote:
| dont forget to use discountcode huberman at athetlic greens
| ghostbrainalpha wrote:
| I really like Athletic Greens though....
| nickstinemates wrote:
| I don't. Tastes like shit.
| mise_en_place wrote:
| I guess I take a different approach than the author does. I waste
| several hours a day on such social media consumption, but I don't
| delude myself into thinking I was productive. If anything, it
| lights a fire under me because I wasted so much time, and that
| gives me a productivity boost to finish the things I was supposed
| to do.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| He seems to conflate learning with productivity porn. Doing a
| course or even a short gym video is fine if (a) you sought it out
| to solve a problem and (b) you apply what you have learned.
|
| Even serendipitous "I will learn that interesting thing on HN" if
| done with purpose and diligence is fine.
| [deleted]
| thenerdhead wrote:
| While this term gets overused, I think what we're really saying
| is that we're addicted to success. Or the idea that we will be
| successful if we are overly productive.
|
| If you watch many of the people on social media who are
| "productivity gurus", you will notice that their philosophy of
| how to stay productive will shift as the content gets stale and
| they need something more novel to talk about with their growing
| audience. Many of them are just like you and me and cover the
| latest bestseller book or popular tweet that has merit to it, but
| then gets discarded after we realize it doesn't work in our
| lives.
|
| In turn, they also become wildly successful by providing you
| surface level tips on how to be a little more productive each
| day.
|
| While I used to be obsessed about this topic or what others call
| "hustle culture", I think you have to go through it before you
| realize how finite one's life really is. The overworking, the
| "always on"-ness, the comparison to others who happened to reach
| success earlier than us.
|
| It all doesn't matter at the end of the day. The simplistic
| perspective is that you can take common occasions and make them
| great and you'll find success or at least a better understanding
| of your definition of "success".
| googlryas wrote:
| > Or the idea that we will be successful if we are overly
| productive.
|
| I find this one the most fascinating. It implies a supreme
| confidence in the correctness of one's beliefs, which I simply
| have never had. As if to say, the only thing stopping my
| success is my ability to drive faster, but without any doubt
| that you're actually on the right road, heading the right
| direction, etc...
| truncate wrote:
| I've come to realize that there is some kind of wisdom on not
| caring too much about outcomes, being in present and keeping
| things simple. For a long time, I believed in exactly opposite,
| success, over-optimize - whatever I do do it right way. Until
| during COVID, I found myself doing so many things, music,
| fitness, coding, photography, and later dating -- and you can
| constantly find endless amount of advise and new ways to do
| things on YouTube, while not realizing you are getting mentally
| exhausted. Trying to stay more in present, and keeping things
| simple now -- not to succumb to the mass-marketing campaign of
| whatever that something on internet usually is (most times it
| is marketing something, be it some product or themselves).
| thenerdhead wrote:
| Exactly. I firmly believe that there's even a paradox to all
| this. The less you care, the more successful you can be.
| Almost like Office Space.
|
| Doing a few things very well is what separates you from
| someone who does a hundred things not well at all.
|
| Attention is your most previous resource and it's stolen from
| us everyday by others when we should reclaim it for ourselves
| and those few things that we're passionate for.
| bilater wrote:
| Meta point: Reading this article was productivity porn.
| wizofaus wrote:
| But reading the comments has made my day, some zingers and
| great references to other resources of genuine comedic value I
| hadn't seen before.
| sdoering wrote:
| > Meta point
|
| Meta porn
| redanddead wrote:
| I was listening to Zuckerberg's internal Facebook memo to
| employees and they're really going all out on VR, they think
| it'll go big, trying to generate monopolistic effects by
| subsidizing their VR hardware so that more people buy in, and
| buying VR studios.
|
| Porn. Just give people meta porn
| notsapiensatall wrote:
| They can't. The money is in ads, and advertisers won't
| touch anything that isn't family-friendly.
|
| A startup might be able to do a decent job, but they would
| get booted off the app store faster than you can say a
| four-letter word.
|
| Too bad there's no good way for users to write and run
| arbitrary code on their devices.
| ChildOfChaos wrote:
| Yet they just increased the cost of the quest by $100
| redanddead wrote:
| Just checked, yeah you're right! Wonder why
| [deleted]
| ketzo wrote:
| Only if you don't follow its advice!
| triplechill wrote:
| I love this :D
| atmosx wrote:
| busted
| [deleted]
| personjerry wrote:
| I think for content like this there's a scale between mostly
| "feel good" fluff (i.e. Gary V stuff, imo) to mostly "useful"
| stuff (i.e. Atomic Habits, imo). But everything has a mixture of
| actionability and story-based fluff thrown in there
| entertainment/inspirational value.
|
| In my opinion, the fluff gets you through the drier parts of the
| reads. But what you decide to actually take out of the book and
| action on - that's up to you.
|
| You turned it into mere entertainment when you read but didn't
| take action, for example, clean up your desk to enable your
| habits to begin, as clearly described in the Atomic Habits book.
|
| The good reads you'll probably need to note down and return to a
| few times to extract all the useful, concrete advice.
| jbjbjbjb wrote:
| That's an interesting distinction. I think the in-between is
| the worst. At least with Gary V you know you're getting energy
| and motivation. Another YouTube video skimming over lessons
| from Atomic Habits for the hundredth time is the mindless faux
| learning to avoid.
| bckr wrote:
| Darn, this is completely true. I feel like such a techie when I
| scroll HN and hoard links for later perusal. In fact I feel so
| much better than I did about the same time spent on FB or Reddit.
| But I'm still not putting that time into constructive pursuits.
| alexalx666 wrote:
| what helped me is having a filing system I can trust and tinker
| with, check out linkding on github
| amelius wrote:
| Perhaps we should write down the things we _really_ learned
| from reading HN, so we can decide later if it was worth the
| time.
| macrael wrote:
| I can't find an online article where Merlin Mann discusses this
| but I remember very vividly him talking about why he stopped
| posting on 43Folders.com a decade ago. 43Folders was a GTD
| productivity porn site and after while Merlin decided that he
| didn't want to be "giving drugs to addicts" and stopped posting
| little "5 ways to write a better task title" articles for all the
| same reasons OP is writing about here.
| dougskinner wrote:
| Here ya go, one of my all time favorites of his:
| https://www.43folders.com/2011/04/22/cranking
| macrael wrote:
| A beautiful piece, thank you. But this is more about him
| prioritizing family over his book. It must have been on a
| podcast I remember him talking about how he kind of had a
| crisis of faith over running 43folders and stopped doing
| little "life hack" posts.
| Oarch wrote:
| You've discovered the motivational industrial complex. I think
| this nicely sums up the content of many magazines.
| goatcode wrote:
| I was disheartened when I read about all these successful
| people and their lofty advice. I was more disheartened when I
| realized their advice is just the random stuff they happened to
| do that on their path to success, and that equivalent advice of
| the myriad failures that complement them would never be heard
| (and that both were of approximately equal value). Despite how
| in the overmind the notion of "correlation is not causation,"
| this snake oil is surprisingly only beginning to go out of
| fashion.
| thenerdhead wrote:
| I like to read self-help. I think it can actually change your
| life.
|
| The problem is finding actual good self-help. Most stuff is
| garbage or dives too deep into a specific topic.
|
| One of my favorite authors is Orison Swett Marden
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orison_Swett_Marden) who
| writes well-rounded self-help and founded a magazine
| ironically called "Success". There's also Samuel Smiles who
| wrote the original title called "Self-Help".
|
| If you go back in time far enough, you will come to the
| conclusion that most self-help stems back to certain
| influences at the time. You can go as far back as to the tao
| te ching, meditations, or even the bible. Not much of this
| stuff changes, but is repackaged with modern examples of
| successful people into bestsellers.
| robocat wrote:
| One friend calls them "self harm books" because the vast
| majority are harmful overall - sold as part of the self-
| harm-industrial-complex.
| WastingMyTime89 wrote:
| > You can go as far back as to the tao te ching,
| meditations, or even the bible.
|
| The Tao Te Ching with the adjonction of its commentaries is
| a book on Confucian moral and ethic. The Meditations is a
| journal and also mostly a book about ethics. I think
| linking them to modern self-help books is somewhat
| disingenuous.
|
| I deeply believe that if people actually stopped reading
| self-help books and read books about ethics instead the
| world would definitely be a far better place. "How to live
| a life worth living?" is after all a far more interesting
| question than "How to do the most of your life?".
| [deleted]
| heavyset_go wrote:
| Most of the "advice" is just stuff some ghostwriters came up
| with that sound good and fit into whatever image those people
| want to publicly project.
| prometheus76 wrote:
| Goes back to Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. That
| book really started the "self-improvement" movement.
| ozim wrote:
| You say you were disheartened.
|
| I bought and read Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad Poor Dad
| followed with Donald Trump - The Art of the Deal.
|
| After reading these I felt worse than at the time I was
| actually mugged on the street. I think I paid like $20 for
| both books and muggers got something like $15 I had on me.
| swyx wrote:
| the irony is that they are just giving the audience what it
| wants - a causal formula for success. a guy just saying "i
| got really lucky" over and over would get no readership.
| smiddereens wrote:
| 8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote:
| I would recommend
| https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785515-four-thousand-w...
| as an interesting counter-argument to all of the productivity
| literature out there.
| emadabdulrahim wrote:
| I listened to his short lectures on the Waking Up app. Really
| enjoyed them and clicked for me. I wonder if it's still worth
| reading the book.
| someweirdperson wrote:
| > "Whether you are doom-scrolling on Instagram" [...]
|
| This most likely isn't intended to be reading a never-ending
| stream of bad news (on instagram?), but simply an endlessly
| scrolling site that keeps loading content before reaching the end
| of the page. The wiktionary definition [0] seems wrong.
|
| [0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doomscrolling#English
| californical wrote:
| I think that people use it hyperbolically rather than literally
| in that context -- the original meaning is correct, but people
| use the word in an exaggerated context to make a point
| [deleted]
| biztos wrote:
| One of the original, and most effective, competition hacks is to
| convince people that you sleep less than they do.
|
| When someone tells you they sleep 5 hours a night then run two
| miles and take a 15-minute cold shower then start their work day,
| 85% of the time they are lying, 10% of the time you will have
| already noticed the effects of chronic sleep deprivation, and 5%
| of the time it's drugs.
|
| But this has been a surefire way to put your competitors on the
| back foot for hundreds, probably thousands of years.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| Where's the line? Watching self-help content is described in the
| article as productivity porn. What about reading a self-help
| book? A (let's say good quality) non-fiction book? A scientific
| paper? A text book? Taking a class? Working on a project that is
| likely to fail? Writing code? Writing an article? Writing a book?
|
| > When I look for solutions to this problem I only come up with
| half-baked ideas and more questions.
|
| It sounds like the author's talking about science.
| Ensorceled wrote:
| If you are spending all your time "sharpening your saw" and no
| time "cutting wood" ... you are probable over the line.
| sdoering wrote:
| I think in the end the question is what the result is. Does the
| self help content prompt action, ideally sustainable action. Or
| is it porn as described.
|
| Like porn could be a tool for people to engage in
| (re)productive action. Or just porn.
| ketzo wrote:
| I think the easy rule of thumb is "do you ever actually _do_
| the thing you read about?"
| cpach wrote:
| I like to read about lots of things. Urban planning,
| manufacturing, arts, culture, movies, politics, etc etc.
|
| Am I a manufacturer? Do I make oil paintings? Do I direct
| movies? Am I an elected officiel? No. I'm in tech, doing
| programming and sysadmin things. I'm a small cog in the whole
| scheme of things. Still interesting to read about what's
| going on in other fields. Nothing wrong with that IMHO.
| ketzo wrote:
| Agreed - but by the same token, I don't think you would
| call any of that reading "productivity-related," right?
|
| Whereas if I, a software engineer, read 100 articles about
| micro services and make a bunch of grand plans without ever
| actually implementing anything... pornography.
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