4 ms·

Working Smarter, Not Harder

28 points by ingve 2y ago

dosinga 2y ago
I'm not sure not checking facebook during work hours can be counted as working smarter; it can count as, just that working instead of not
- pljung 2y ago
  It made sense to me as part of the broader theme of separating work activities from private ones. And that separation being the smart action.
  - dosinga 2y ago
    Oh I agree, it is the smart thing to do. But to me it is not working smarter - if you check facebook at work you don't work more hours, you just spend more time at work
  - giantg2 2y ago
    Perhaps it's just mistitled. "How to Work" might be more apt instead of "Working Smarter, Not Harder". After all, the second half of that title is also incorrect- you are in fact working harder since you are no longer doing leisure activities during work time.
    - WesleyLivesay 2y ago
      It does feel a bit odd. A better title might be "Work Faster, Not Longer". Probably also ties into the fact that this person's job seems very deliverable based. Maybe content creation? That is just a completely different set of requirements than most people's "keep butt in seat for 40 hours" jobs.
- mhluongo 2y ago
  The "smart" part is no longer interrupting your workflow with an addicting dopamine trap. Fewer interruptions → more deep work → more progress with less total time spent. Similar idea to work "theming". It lowers context switches and let's you accomplish more.
drewcoo 2y ago
[flagged]
- whiplash451 2y ago
  Depending on many aspects of your life in particular where your supporting family members are, it might be hard to "parent-smart" your kids out of your free time.
- mattgreenrocks 2y ago
  Tell me you’re not a parent without telling me you’re not a parent.
- WillAdams 2y ago
  It's not fair to a child if the child is not the absolute top priority of the parent.
- mhluongo 2y ago
  Many of us want to more time with our children.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
hubraumhugo 2y ago
I guess having a baby OR starting your own company can have similar effects. The only advantage you have as an early startup is an execution moat, so you have to be relentless in your focus and prioritization. My unexciting but very effective productivity stack: A website blocker and a single large txt file for notes and todos
kurts_mustache 2y ago
"I stopped checking Facebook so frequently." "I probably managed 4-6 hours a day". Sounds like a real A player.
freitzkriesler2 2y ago
The one thing that helped me the most was getting rid of Facebook . I unfortunately replaced this addiction with short form videos instead.
- fergonco 2y ago
  Addiction finds a way. I can relate. I blocked everything at different levels: DNS, browser plugins, router. I can still undo that for a quick shot, but it's just not worth it.
l2dy 2y ago
The title reminds me of the Work Smarter loop in "Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems that Never Happened", but that's more about management than organic growth of efficiency.
AtlasBarfed 2y ago
Back at work in 4 months. This effing country. Capitalism has self-destruction baked into it, but not necessarily the global warming. Capitalism really feeds off of the double-impact of industrialization and urbanization. But urbanization (currently) leads to a sharp drop in fecundity, to the point that you can basically project a negative growth rate as a result. The US being so massive combined with lots of legal/illegal immigration has staved it off, but Japan, Germany, China, Russia, and Korea are all in various stages of demographic collapse. Because, simply, capitalism and the economic yes-men that underpin it can't properly incent women to have kids when the economic payoff for the elite-in-charge is a nebulous 20-30 years down the road. What current economics/accounting DOES tell every corporation in the world is that female workers having kids imposes a substantial cost in providing benefits. Corporations are about imposing costs on society while reaping profits, NOT the other way around. Sustaining the population across generations isn't the luxury that current capitalism and politics around worker rights and healthcare view it. It is pretty demonstrably a key pillar to keeping the entire thing running. Capitalism in America croaks along obsessing over 2-4% "economic growth" per year, but how does that seemingly necessary growth occur if the population, especially the working/productive ones, SHRINK? The US, again, can stave this off with immigration. South Korea? I think North Korea will collapse and they will see a demographic infusion that way, otherwise they are REALLY up shit creek. Japan was the first to deal with it, they are hobbling along with negative interest rates. Germany/Europe? Immigration is a bit more problematic, although Russia's demographic and authoritarian collapse and the Ukraine refugees might produce a large infusion.
- andsoitis 2y ago
  > Because, simply, capitalism and the economic yes-men that underpin it can't properly incent women to have kids Since most "capitalist" countries are really mixed economies (combination of state intervention and free market), I wonder what in your mind would explain the same pattern of population decline in the following places: China[1], Cuba[2], Italy[3]? Even Norway's population is only increasing due to net migration[4]. Interesting stuff, and I doubt the reason is simply "capitalism does not incentivize women to have children". I suspect the reasons are more complex and interesting than that. [1] https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-population-drops-2nd-year-raises-long-term-growth-concerns-2024-01-17 https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-population-drops-... [2] https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/CUB/cuba/population-growth-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/CUB/cub... [3] https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/ITA/italy/population-growth-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/ITA/ita... [4] https://www.statista.com/topics/10080/demographics-of-norway/#topicOverview https://www.statista.com/topics/10080/demographics-of-norway...
lo_zamoyski 2y ago
Children have the nice effect of cutting the fat out of your day. When you don't have children, it is very easy for most people to piss away their time on social media, reading useless news (99% of it is sensational dreck at the level of gossip), and so on. Children remind you that time is a very limited resource. Parkinson's law. You have less time, so your use that time more intensely meaningfully. I am willing to bet that much of the problems with focus and mental illness (rumination and all that) that people report would be resolved by taking on more responsibility. The knowledge that you don't have time to fritter away on garbage is enough to mobilize, organize, prioritize, and motivate you, dashing any temptations or even desires to indulge in worthless things. It's the same reason why people suddenly become motivated closer to a deadline or expected delivery date. Nothing focuses the mind more intensely than immanent death.
- silverquiet 2y ago
  I've been paralyzed by the fear of imminent death since I was about seven years old, and I believe that is about the time I decided I could never have children since they would face the same fate. Perhaps for you it is focusing, but for me it is quite the opposite.
  - theatomheart 2y ago
    everyone dies. you are not that special. get over yourself and live with the time ur given, noob. life is a gift; don't waste it.
  - deepfriedchokes 2y ago
    I have had a similar existential crisis since I was 13 which greatly affected my ability to focus for half my life. When I hit middle age I finally realized this self inflicted trauma was keeping me from living the life I wanted which was creating a feedback loop that amplified my existential crisis. Consider talk therapy, it works. Fear is the mind killer, as they say. Take your power back and live the time you have at your best.
    - 2y ago
Melchizedek 2y ago
Or, we can go back to the wonderful society we had where a mother of young children didn’t have to work, and the husband with a high school education could still buy a nice house and provide for the whole family. But class warfare and the useful idiot feminists took that away quickly. Instead we get this mother trying to hyper optimize her own life like a robot, to try to solve the systemic issue on a personal level.

28 points by ingve 2y ago

I'm not sure not checking facebook during work hours can be counted as working smarter; it can count as, just that working instead of not

pljung 2y ago
It made sense to me as part of the broader theme of separating work activities from private ones. And that separation being the smart action.
- dosinga 2y ago
  Oh I agree, it is the smart thing to do. But to me it is not working smarter - if you check facebook at work you don't work more hours, you just spend more time at work
- giantg2 2y ago
  Perhaps it's just mistitled. "How to Work" might be more apt instead of "Working Smarter, Not Harder". After all, the second half of that title is also incorrect- you are in fact working harder since you are no longer doing leisure activities during work time.
  - WesleyLivesay 2y ago
    It does feel a bit odd. A better title might be "Work Faster, Not Longer". Probably also ties into the fact that this person's job seems very deliverable based. Maybe content creation? That is just a completely different set of requirements than most people's "keep butt in seat for 40 hours" jobs.
mhluongo 2y ago
The "smart" part is no longer interrupting your workflow with an addicting dopamine trap. Fewer interruptions → more deep work → more progress with less total time spent. Similar idea to work "theming". It lowers context switches and let's you accomplish more.

drewcoo 2y ago

[flagged]

whiplash451 2y ago
Depending on many aspects of your life in particular where your supporting family members are, it might be hard to "parent-smart" your kids out of your free time.
mattgreenrocks 2y ago
Tell me you’re not a parent without telling me you’re not a parent.
WillAdams 2y ago
It's not fair to a child if the child is not the absolute top priority of the parent.
mhluongo 2y ago
Many of us want to more time with our children.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

hubraumhugo 2y ago

I guess having a baby OR starting your own company can have similar effects. The only advantage you have as an early startup is an execution moat, so you have to be relentless in your focus and prioritization. My unexciting but very effective productivity stack: A website blocker and a single large txt file for notes and todos

kurts_mustache 2y ago

"I stopped checking Facebook so frequently." "I probably managed 4-6 hours a day". Sounds like a real A player.

freitzkriesler2 2y ago

The one thing that helped me the most was getting rid of Facebook . I unfortunately replaced this addiction with short form videos instead.

fergonco 2y ago
Addiction finds a way. I can relate. I blocked everything at different levels: DNS, browser plugins, router. I can still undo that for a quick shot, but it's just not worth it.

l2dy 2y ago

The title reminds me of the Work Smarter loop in "Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems that Never Happened", but that's more about management than organic growth of efficiency.

AtlasBarfed 2y ago

Back at work in 4 months. This effing country. Capitalism has self-destruction baked into it, but not necessarily the global warming. Capitalism really feeds off of the double-impact of industrialization and urbanization. But urbanization (currently) leads to a sharp drop in fecundity, to the point that you can basically project a negative growth rate as a result. The US being so massive combined with lots of legal/illegal immigration has staved it off, but Japan, Germany, China, Russia, and Korea are all in various stages of demographic collapse. Because, simply, capitalism and the economic yes-men that underpin it can't properly incent women to have kids when the economic payoff for the elite-in-charge is a nebulous 20-30 years down the road. What current economics/accounting DOES tell every corporation in the world is that female workers having kids imposes a substantial cost in providing benefits. Corporations are about imposing costs on society while reaping profits, NOT the other way around. Sustaining the population across generations isn't the luxury that current capitalism and politics around worker rights and healthcare view it. It is pretty demonstrably a key pillar to keeping the entire thing running. Capitalism in America croaks along obsessing over 2-4% "economic growth" per year, but how does that seemingly necessary growth occur if the population, especially the working/productive ones, SHRINK? The US, again, can stave this off with immigration. South Korea? I think North Korea will collapse and they will see a demographic infusion that way, otherwise they are REALLY up shit creek. Japan was the first to deal with it, they are hobbling along with negative interest rates. Germany/Europe? Immigration is a bit more problematic, although Russia's demographic and authoritarian collapse and the Ukraine refugees might produce a large infusion.

andsoitis 2y ago
> Because, simply, capitalism and the economic yes-men that underpin it can't properly incent women to have kids Since most "capitalist" countries are really mixed economies (combination of state intervention and free market), I wonder what in your mind would explain the same pattern of population decline in the following places: China[1], Cuba[2], Italy[3]? Even Norway's population is only increasing due to net migration[4]. Interesting stuff, and I doubt the reason is simply "capitalism does not incentivize women to have children". I suspect the reasons are more complex and interesting than that. [1] https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-population-drops-2nd-year-raises-long-term-growth-concerns-2024-01-17 https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-population-drops-... [2] https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/CUB/cuba/population-growth-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/CUB/cub... [3] https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/ITA/italy/population-growth-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/ITA/ita... [4] https://www.statista.com/topics/10080/demographics-of-norway/#topicOverview https://www.statista.com/topics/10080/demographics-of-norway...

lo_zamoyski 2y ago

Children have the nice effect of cutting the fat out of your day. When you don't have children, it is very easy for most people to piss away their time on social media, reading useless news (99% of it is sensational dreck at the level of gossip), and so on. Children remind you that time is a very limited resource. Parkinson's law. You have less time, so your use that time more intensely meaningfully. I am willing to bet that much of the problems with focus and mental illness (rumination and all that) that people report would be resolved by taking on more responsibility. The knowledge that you don't have time to fritter away on garbage is enough to mobilize, organize, prioritize, and motivate you, dashing any temptations or even desires to indulge in worthless things. It's the same reason why people suddenly become motivated closer to a deadline or expected delivery date. Nothing focuses the mind more intensely than immanent death.

silverquiet 2y ago
I've been paralyzed by the fear of imminent death since I was about seven years old, and I believe that is about the time I decided I could never have children since they would face the same fate. Perhaps for you it is focusing, but for me it is quite the opposite.
- theatomheart 2y ago
  everyone dies. you are not that special. get over yourself and live with the time ur given, noob. life is a gift; don't waste it.
- deepfriedchokes 2y ago
  I have had a similar existential crisis since I was 13 which greatly affected my ability to focus for half my life. When I hit middle age I finally realized this self inflicted trauma was keeping me from living the life I wanted which was creating a feedback loop that amplified my existential crisis. Consider talk therapy, it works. Fear is the mind killer, as they say. Take your power back and live the time you have at your best.
  - 2y ago

Melchizedek 2y ago

Or, we can go back to the wonderful society we had where a mother of young children didn’t have to work, and the husband with a high school education could still buy a nice house and provide for the whole family. But class warfare and the useful idiot feminists took that away quickly. Instead we get this mother trying to hyper optimize her own life like a robot, to try to solve the systemic issue on a personal level.