deepstash
Beta
Why time management is ruining our lives | Oliver Burkeman
Cashing In On Personal Productivity Craze
The personal productivity craze got worse due to capitalism, as the essential needs of the population skyrocketed.
Self-help books and gurus cashed in on the productivity craze, as people were promised a sense of control and meaning in their lives.
67 SAVES
This is a professional note extracted from an online article.
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
IDEA EXTRACTED FROM:
5
Key Ideas
The concept of Inbox Zero
'Inbox Zero' is a concept introduced by Merlin Mann, a way to handle your email by processing them to zero.
This is achieved by taking appropriate actions like filing, noting or replying, to all your emails, ensuring no unanswered emails remain to make you anxious, so you can live your life without checking email every few minutes.
The Quest for Personal Productivity
The never-ending quest for personal productivity has spawned countless apps on the Smartphone App stores, and many bestseller books.
Personal Productivity has branched out in the field of dating, hotel stays, parenting and even eating.
Problems With 'Inbox Zero'
The people who implemented the 'Inbox Zero; method ended up getting more emails as they were replying to all their emails, with increased activity.
They also paradoxically started checking the inbox more often.
The anxiety levels increased by applying hyper-productivity.
Cashing In On Personal Productivity Craze
The personal productivity craze got worse due to capitalism, as the essential needs of the population skyrocketed.
Self-help books and gurus cashed in on the productivity craze, as people were promised a sense of control and meaning in their lives.
Pressure Reduces Creativity
While manual work can be sped up, good ideas do not emerge under pressure, as creative people find it difficult to do their best work under looming deadlines.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
7
Key Ideas
Time-management tools
When it fails to work, most people try another app or another technique.&nbs...
Uncritical Productivity
Pursuing productivity for its own sake is counter-productive.
Most people feel able to complete more tasks when they start using time-management tools, but they don’t bear in mind that they can’t keep increasing their productivity forever, and they commit to more and more. In a few weeks, they are more productive but still frustrated.
Balancing act
Back when more people worked in factories, laborers did not have to deal with time management. At the assembly line, time was managed for you.
Freedom comes with responsibility: you have to think a lot more about how you manage your time.
4 more ideas
7
Key Ideas
Productivity Obsession
As workers, we are obsessed with getting stuff done. It is then clear why there seems to be a bottomless well full of advice, hacks, tools, tricks, and secrets to help us pack more into the waking ...
Modern History of Productivity
- Adam Smith wrote in 1776 that there are two kinds of labor: productive and unproductive. The productive one generally adds value to the materials which he works upon, of his own maintenance, and his master's profit. However, a man grows poor by maintaining a multitude of menial servants who add to the value of nothing.
- Benjamin Franklin put forth his own "to-do" list in 1791, stating that one should start the day asking what good shall be done and end the day evaluating what was accomplished.
Abuse Masked as Productivity
In the late 18th and early 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, machines moved production from handmade in the home to factories. A frenzy of producing more goods more quickly became a kind of national pastime.
Low-wage factory workers, many of whom were children, toiled in unsafe conditions for decades before labor unions put measures in place to protect workers from the excesses of the push for productivity.
4 more ideas
9
Key Ideas
Effectiveness Vs Efficiency
- Effectiveness is goal orientation. It's picking something to do. This is doing the right things—picking a goal and doing that goal.
- Efficiency is doing things in an economica...
Scott Hanselman
"Effectiveness is doing the right things, but efficiency is doing things right. That means effectiveness is picking a direction and efficiency is running really fast in that direction."
6 more ideas