AI Makes My Job Miserable. How Do I Escape

AI Makes My Job Miserable. How Do I Escape? ![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article3.5c705a01b476.png) 🔗 **Source:** [AI Makes My Job Miserable. How Do I Escape?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [workplace-productivity, artificial-intelligence, knowledge-work, pseudo-productivity, busyiness-singularity, digital-minimalism] > author: Cal Newport > source: Deep Questions > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8 > date created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}} > > # 🏷️ Title: AI Makes My Job Miserable. How Do I Escape? >  ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ## 📝 Summary - Cal Newport argues that AI won't just take jobs—it will make existing knowledge work jobs miserable by creating a "busyness singularity" - The root problem is "pseudo productivity"—using visible activity as a proxy for useful effort—which has been amplified by decades of digital technology - AI reduces the cost of pseudo-productive activities (emails, reports, slide decks) to essentially zero, creating infinite shallow work - Five strategies to escape: plan weekly, maintain a portfolio, avoid AI-automatable tasks, pursue upskill projects, and write exceptionally well - The solution requires moving away from busyness-based evaluation toward actual value creation ## 📖 Main Content Newport presents a compelling alternative to the standard AI discourse focused on job displacement. Instead of mass unemployment, he warns of a "busyness singularity"—where work becomes an endless loop of AI-generated pseudo-productive activities. ### The Evolution of Knowledge Work Problems The story begins in the 1950s when Peter Drucker coined "knowledge work" and emphasized worker autonomy. This created a management challenge: how do you evaluate autonomous workers? The implicit solution became "pseudo productivity"—using visible activity as a proxy for useful effort. This worked adequately for decades until digital technology arrived. Computers increased the number of tasks workers could juggle. Email enabled fine-grained demonstration of effort through response times and message volume. Mobile devices made work omnipresent, creating constant pressure to demonstrate busyness. The result, according to Microsoft data: 117 emails and 153 Teams messages per day, with interruptions every two minutes during core work hours. ### AI as the Accelerant AI doesn't solve this problem—it makes it exponentially worse. Current AI applications in most knowledge work focus on pseudo-productive activities: writing emails, creating slide decks, summarizing meetings, generating reports. These activities demonstrate effort but rarely create direct value for clients or bottom lines. When you reduce the cost of pseudo-productive activities to zero while maintaining a system that rewards visible activity, you get what Newport calls a "busyness singularity"—infinite shallow work density that collapses in on itself. ### Five Escape Strategies 1. **Plan Weekly**: Schedule important work like meetings, protecting time for actual value creation 2. **Maintain a Portfolio**: Document valuable accomplishments to provide alternatives to busyness-based evaluation 3. **Avoid AI-Automatable Tasks**: Use the "Claude test"—if AI could do it, spend less time on it 4. **Pursue Upskill Projects**: Continuously develop rare and valuable skills 5. **Write Exceptionally Well**: Differentiate yourself with clear, concise, human-crafted communication ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:03:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8&t=192) The Busyness Singularity Concept - AI reduces cost of pseudo-productive activities to zero - Creates "mad performative dash of button mashing" - Teams of AI agents producing and consuming each other's outputs - "Digital blitz of back and forth nothingness" #### ⏱️ [00:15:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8&t=930) Microsoft Work Trend Data - 117 emails per employee per day - 153 Teams messages per day - 57% of meetings are ad hoc - Interruptions every 2 minutes during core work hours #### ⏱️ [00:25:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8&t=1545) Five Practical Solutions - Weekly planning prevents reactive pseudo-productivity - Portfolio approach replaces busyness metrics with value metrics - AI avoidance test: "Could Claude do this?" - Upskilling creates defensible value - Writing well differentiates human output from AI slop #### ⏱️ [00:35:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8&t=2120) Management Advice for Slow Productivity - Transparent workload tracking - Work-in-progress limits - Docket clearing meetings 2-3x weekly - Daily office hours - Employee portfolio maintenance ## 📚 References - [Microsoft Work Trend Index Annual Report](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/uploads/prod/2023/05/Work-Trend-Index-Annual-Report.pdf) - [The Economist: "Prepare for an AI jobs apocalypse"](https://www.economist.com/) - [Cal Newport's "Slow Productivity" book](https://calnewport.com/slow-productivity/) - [Cal Newport's "Deep Work" book](https://calnewport.com/deep-work/) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase Newport argues that the real AI threat isn't job displacement but job degradation through infinite pseudo-productivity. The core problem traces back to using visible activity as a proxy for useful work—a flawed but manageable approach until digital technology amplified it. AI represents the final acceleration toward a "busyness singularity" where work becomes meaningless activity generation. The solution requires individual workers to escape pseudo-productivity traps through strategic planning, value documentation, skill development, and exceptional communication quality. This isn't just about surviving AI—it's about reclaiming meaningful work in an age of technological acceleration. ## 📰 Newsletter **Escaping the AI Busyness Trap: Why Your Job Might Get Worse, Not Disappear** Cal Newport's latest warning isn't about AI taking your job—it's about AI making your job unbearable. His "busyness singularity" concept hits close to home for anyone drowning in Slack notifications and AI-generated reports. The WordPress community should pay attention: as AI tools proliferate in content creation and site management, the risk isn't unemployment but endless shallow work. Instead of meaningful development, design, or strategy work, we might find ourselves managing AI agents that create content for other AI agents to consume. Newport's five escape strategies offer a practical roadmap: plan your weeks around real value creation, document your actual accomplishments, avoid work that AI could automate, continuously develop new skills, and write with exceptional clarity and purpose. For WordPress professionals, this means focusing on high-level strategy, creative problem-solving, and human-centered design—the work that AI can't meaningfully replicate. The tools are getting smarter, but the need for human judgment, creativity, and authentic communication remains paramount. **Resources:** - [Cal Newport's Deep Questions podcast](https://calnewport.com/podcast/) - [Slow Productivity book](https://calnewport.com/slow-productivity/) - [Digital minimalism principles](https://calnewport.com/digital-minimalism/) ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Audit current AI usage in content creation—identify pseudo-productive activities vs. genuine value - Develop "AI-proof" developer education formats emphasizing hands-on learning and human judgment - Create portfolio tracking for developer advocacy impact beyond activity metrics - Design upskilling programs for advanced WordPress development skills #### Community - Establish "no-AI" zones in community discussions to preserve authentic human interaction - Implement portfolio-based recognition systems for contributors beyond commit counts - Create mentorship programs pairing experienced developers with newcomers for skill transfer - Develop clear guidelines for AI usage in documentation and tutorials #### WordPress - **Core:** Evaluate AI integration proposals against value creation vs. pseudo-productivity metrics - **Documentation:** Maintain human-crafted examples and tutorials alongside AI-assisted content - **Training:** Develop cognitive fitness programs for developers and contributors - **Marketing:** Emphasize human creativity and problem-solving in WordPress positioning ## 🧪 Hypotheses 1. Organizations implementing Newport's five strategies will show measurably higher job satisfaction and productivity than those embracing unrestricted AI automation 2. Teams with transparent workload management and portfolio tracking will resist pseudo-productivity pressures better than teams using traditional activity metrics 3. Individual contributors who deliberately avoid AI-automatable tasks will develop more valuable and defensible skill sets over 12-18 months 4. Weekly planning rituals will prove more effective than daily planning for knowledge workers in AI-augmented environments 5. Writing quality will become an increasingly important differentiator as AI-generated content proliferates 6. The "busyness singularity" will manifest first in industries with high email volume and meeting frequency ## 📊 Methodology **Longitudinal Studies:** Track job satisfaction, productivity metrics, and career progression for workers implementing Newport's strategies vs. control groups over 2-3 years. **Workplace Interventions:** Implement transparent workload management, portfolio tracking, and weekly planning in test organizations; measure stress levels, output quality, and retention rates. **AI Usage Analysis:** Analyze patterns in AI tool adoption across different roles and industries to identify pseudo-productivity vs. value-creation applications. **Communication Quality Studies:** Develop metrics for written communication clarity and impact; track changes as AI writing tools proliferate. ## ❓ Questions - How do we measure "actual value" vs. pseudo-productivity in knowledge work roles where output is inherently subjective? - What specific skills will remain most defensible against AI automation over the next 5-10 years? - How can organizations restructure performance evaluation to reward depth over visible activity? - What role should AI play in knowledge work, if any, without triggering the busyness singularity? - How do we balance individual strategies with systemic workplace culture changes? ## 🔮 Future Research - **Cognitive Load Studies:** Investigate the mental health impacts of constant AI-mediated work vs. human-focused approaches - **Skill Evolution Tracking:** Long-term studies on which professional capabilities remain valuable as AI capabilities expand - **Organizational Design:** Research optimal team structures and management practices for AI-augmented environments - **Communication Pattern Analysis:** Study how AI-generated content affects human communication skills and workplace relationships - **Productivity Measurement Innovation:** Develop better metrics for knowledge work value that resist pseudo-productivity gaming ## 💡 Implications **Practice:** Knowledge workers need immediate strategies to avoid pseudo-productivity traps before AI makes them inescapable. Organizations must redesign performance evaluation systems. **Policy:** Labor regulations may need updating to address AI-induced workplace stress and the right to meaningful work, not just employment. **Education:** Professional development programs should emphasize uniquely human capabilities and cognitive fitness rather than tool adoption. **Technology Design:** AI tools should be designed to augment human creativity and judgment rather than replace human communication and thinking. ## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment **Reading Level:** Grade 12-14 (Flesch-Kincaid estimate). Complex concepts presented with concrete examples and clear structure. #### 👀 Visual learners **Present:** Clear section headers, Microsoft data visualization, concept progression diagrams **Improve:** Add flowcharts showing the pseudo-productivity evolution timeline, decision trees for the five strategies, before/after workplace scenarios #### 🔊 Aural learners **Present:** Podcast format with clear verbal explanations and examples **Improve:** Add chapter summaries, key concept repetition, verbal emphasis on critical points #### 🗣️ Verbal learners **Present:** Rich vocabulary, clear definitions (pseudo-productivity, busyness singularity), analogies to familiar concepts **Improve:** Add glossary of terms, expand metaphors (gravitational pull, singularity physics), more storytelling elements #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners **Present:** Step-by-step five-strategy framework, concrete action items **Improve:** Add weekly planning templates, portfolio-building checklists, hands-on exercises for each strategy #### 🧠 Logical learners **Present:** Clear cause-and-effect progression from Drucker to AI, systematic five-point framework **Improve:** Add decision matrices for strategy selection, quantified metrics for each approach, logical flowcharts #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners **Present:** Management advice section, team-based solutions **Improve:** Add discussion questions for team implementation, peer accountability frameworks, collaborative planning exercises #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners **Present:** Individual reflection prompts, personal strategy development **Improve:** Add self-assessment tools, private journaling prompts for strategy implementation, solo planning exercises #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners **Present:** Organic evolution of work problems, ecosystem thinking about workplace culture **Improve:** Add environmental metaphors, sustainable work practice concepts, holistic system thinking frameworks ## 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics **Present:** Clear heading hierarchy, descriptive content structure **Improve:** Add ARIA landmarks for main content sections, descriptive alt text for any visual elements, table headers for data presentation #### Keyboard navigation **Present:** Standard text-based content with logical flow **Improve:** Ensure any interactive elements are keyboard accessible, add skip links for long content sections #### Contrast and readability **Present:** Standard text format with good contrast ratios **Improve:** Ensure any highlighted quotes or callouts meet WCAG contrast requirements, optimize line spacing #### Text resizing and reflow **Present:** Standard responsive text format **Improve:** Test content reflow at 200% zoom, ensure no information is lost at different text sizes #### Media and captions **Present:** Video includes spoken content with clear audio **Improve:** Professional captions for video content, transcript available for podcast format, audio descriptions for any visual elements #### Forms and interactions **Present:** Minimal interactive elements **Improve:** Any feedback forms should include proper labels and error handling ## 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth **Present:** US-centric workplace examples (Microsoft data, American business culture) **Improve:** Include global perspectives on work culture, examples from different economic systems, awareness of varying workplace norms #### Inclusive language **Present:** Gender-neutral professional language, accessible terminology **Improve:** Expand examples beyond traditional office environments, include diverse work arrangements and job types #### Neurodiversity support **Present:** Clear structure, consistent formatting, concrete strategies **Improve:** Acknowledge different cognitive processing styles, provide multiple implementation approaches, reduce assumption of neurotypical work patterns #### Representation **Present:** Focus on workplace experiences that affect many knowledge workers **Improve:** Include examples from various industries and roles, acknowledge different levels of workplace autonomy and privilege #### Psychological safety **Present:** Respectful framing of workplace challenges **Improve:** Acknowledge that not all workers have equal ability to implement these strategies, provide alternatives for different power dynamics ## ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning **Deductive strength:** The logical progression from pseudo-productivity → digital amplification → AI acceleration follows clearly from stated premises. **Historical evidence:** Newport provides concrete data (Microsoft statistics) and traces a believable historical progression from the 1950s to present. **Causal reasoning:** The connection between measurement systems (pseudo-productivity) and behavioral outcomes (busyness culture) is well-supported. #### Fallacies **Potential slippery slope:** The "busyness singularity" concept, while compelling, may overstate the inevitable negative outcomes. Not all AI integration leads to meaningless activity loops. **Survivorship bias:** The five strategies assume workers have significant autonomy to implement changes—may not apply to all workplace contexts or power dynamics. **False dichotomy:** Presents AI usage as either pseudo-productive or completely avoided, when nuanced integration might be possible. #### Tone of voice **Professional and authoritative:** Newport speaks with expertise derived from academic research and book writing. Uses concrete data and systematic analysis while remaining accessible to general audiences. ## 🛡️ DARVO Analysis No DARVO patterns detected. Newport presents a critique of workplace systems and technology trends without attacking individuals or reversing victim/offender dynamics. The analysis focuses on systemic issues and individual agency rather than personal blame. ## 🎯 Conclusion Newport's "busyness singularity" concept provides a crucial reframe for AI workplace discussions. Rather than focusing solely on job displacement, we must address how AI might degrade work quality through pseudo-productivity amplification. His five strategies offer practical individual responses, but the deeper challenge requires organizational transformation away from activity-based evaluation toward value-based assessment. The core insight—that measurement systems drive behavior—suggests that fixing AI's workplace impact requires fixing how we evaluate knowledge work itself. This makes Newport's analysis essential reading for anyone designing AI tools, managing teams, or trying to maintain meaningful work in an increasingly automated world. ## 🔄 Refactor Appendix — AI Makes My Job Miserable. How Do I Escape? ### 📚 Literature Atoms (H3) #### Pseudo-productivity creates vulnerability to AI acceleration > [!quote] ID:transcript_0 > When you set up a work environment in which visible activity is rewarded then you give everyone a machine that can automate those efforts making them essentially free. Well, what's going to happen is work will become a mad performative dash of button mashing. **Context & use**: - Core mechanism explaining how AI amplifies existing workplace dysfunction - Demonstrates why fixing measurement systems is prerequisite to beneficial AI integration **Tags**: #workplace-systems #ai-acceleration #pseudo-productivity **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8&t=1200)  #### Digital technology progression amplified pseudo-productivity systematically > [!quote] ID:transcript_1 > Digital technology, computers to networks to mobile computing played poorly with pseudo productivity. And in the 90s into the 2000s, these jobs got increasingly frantic and busy and all-encompassing. **Context & use**: - Historical analysis showing current AI problems have deep roots - Each technological wave (computers, networks, mobile) increased busyness density **Tags**: #technology-history #workplace-evolution #digital-transformation **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8&t=800)  #### Portfolio maintenance replaces activity-based evaluation with value demonstration > [!quote] ID:transcript_2 > You actually want to keep somewhere like in the document like a professor would with their CV a growing list of the important initiatives, projects or accomplishments that you are responsible for. **Context & use**: - Practical strategy for escaping pseudo-productivity evaluation - Creates alternative narrative to visible busyness for career advancement **Tags**: #performance-evaluation #value-documentation #career-strategy **Highlight**: [view highlight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAay1tB1Q8&t=1600)  ### 🧠 Permanent Candidates (H4) #### Measurement systems drive behavior more than technology itself **Claim**: Workplace dysfunction from AI stems primarily from pseudo-productivity measurement systems, not the technology's inherent properties. **Evidence pointer**: [[#Pseudo-productivity creates vulnerability to AI acceleration]] **Scope & conditions**: Applies when organizations use visible activity as productivity proxy; breaks down when value-based measurement systems exist **Links**: - [[Goodhart's Law]] — because extends the principle that measured metrics lose value as targets - [[Technology adoption patterns]] — because contrasts with deterministic technology narratives - [[Performance management systems]] — because applies-in organizational design contexts  ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue - Research historical precedents for measurement system changes in knowledge work — how have organizations successfully transitioned from activity-based to value-based evaluation? #fleeting #research - Investigate whether "cognitive fitness" programs show measurable workplace benefits — potential validation for Newport's underlying assumptions about human capability development #fleeting #validation ### → Things 3 - [ ] Implement weekly planning ritual starting next Monday — block calendar time for high-value work first #things - [ ] Create portfolio document template and populate with Q4 accomplishments — alternative to activity metrics #things --- ## Full Transcript [00:00] There are a lot of concerns in our [00:02] current discourse about work and [00:05] technology. Here, for example, is an [00:07] economist article from just a couple [00:09] weeks ago. The headline reads, "Prepare [00:12] for an AI jobs apocalypse. It is not [00:15] here yet, but government should lay a [00:18] safety net." Yikes. Right now, here's a [00:21] a Times headline from just last week. [00:24] California's governor signs AI order [00:26] aimed at protecting workers. Governor [00:29] Gavin Nuome issued an executive order to [00:31] explore an overhaul of labor policies to [00:33] deal with potential mass job [00:35] displacement from artificial [00:37] intelligence. Now, notice what these [00:40] examples have in common. They're all [00:41] about the potential catastrophic loss of [00:45] jobs that might occur if technology [00:47] automates existing roles. But there's [00:50] another possibility that people haven't [00:52] been discussing as much, but it's a [00:54] possibility that I've increasingly come [00:57] to worry about. What if the real fear [01:00] with new advancements like AI is not [01:03] that these technologies are going to [01:04] take your job, but instead are going to [01:07] make your job miserable? And if this is [01:10] true, what specifically can you do to [01:14] avoid this fate? Well, it's Monday, [01:17] meaning it's time for an advice episode [01:19] of this show, which is the perfect [01:20] opportunity to go seek out some answers. [01:24] All right, so here's the plan. I'm going [01:26] to start by telling you a story. A story [01:29] about how technology has slowly and [01:31] somewhat accidentally made knowledge [01:33] work jobs increasingly worse. And then I [01:36] will talk about how the arrival of AI [01:38] might take this long unfolding process [01:41] and accelerate it to an absurd degree, [01:43] creating what I've taken to calling the [01:46] busyiness singularity. Now, once I've [01:48] told you this tale, I'll then share some [01:50] practical advice about what you can do [01:52] individually to avoid the gravitational [01:54] pole of this grim fate. In more detail, [01:58] I have five important suggestions to [02:01] share. [02:03] Uh, and we will go through each of [02:05] those. All right, so we have a lot to [02:06] cover today, so let's get started. As [02:10] always, I'm Cal Newport and this is Deep [02:14] Questions, the show for people seeking [02:16] depth in a distracted world. [02:24] All right, I want to start by telling [02:26] you a story about the evolution of [02:28] knowledge work. And I should say right [02:29] off the bat, if you want the full [02:31] version of this story, you need to read [02:33] part one of my most recent book, which [02:35] is called slow productivity. This is [02:37] basically sort of the the primary source [02:40] material for a lot of what I talk about [02:42] these days about work on this show. So [02:44] you should have your own copy of it. All [02:45] right. So here is the short version of [02:47] the summary I tell in part one, the [02:48] story I tell in part one of that book. [02:50] In the beginning, we have the notion of [02:53] knowledge work emerge in [02:56] the mid 1950s. Roughly speaking, that's [02:58] when the management theorist Peter [02:59] Ducker actually coins the term knowledge [03:01] work. His job was to help the business [03:05] leaders of America in particular [03:06] understand what knowledge work is and [03:09] how it differs from the industrial work [03:10] that had been driving the American [03:12] economy up to that point. Now, one of [03:14] the key concepts of knowledge work that [03:16] Peter Ducker drilled into the heads of [03:18] American executives was autonomy. Unlike [03:21] assembly line workers, knowledge workers [03:22] are creative and have specific skills. [03:25] They often know more about what they're [03:26] doing than the managers who manage them. [03:28] So instead of trying to give them an [03:29] exact step-by-step checklist to follow [03:31] like you would do if you're building a [03:33] Magneto for a Model T Ford, you need to [03:36] give them autonomy to figure out how [03:39] they're going to work and what they're [03:40] going to do with their work. It's much [03:41] more it's going to need to be much more [03:42] of a hands-off management style. Well, [03:44] this created a problem for managers [03:45] because how do we manage knowledge [03:46] workers if we can't just have a uh a [03:50] pile of widgets we look at and say, "How [03:52] many did you produce today?" If they're [03:53] autonomous, how do we manage them? The [03:56] implicit answer that arose is what I [03:58] call pseudo productivity. It was a [03:59] heristic that says, let's use visible [04:01] activity as a proxy for useful effort. [04:04] The more we see you doing, the more [04:07] useful we'll assume you're being. Now, [04:10] this is not a very precise way to manage [04:12] productivity in the knowledge sector, [04:13] but you know, for decades, it worked [04:15] well enough, right? It was like at the [04:18] water cooler if the boss comes in change [04:20] your conversation from you know the [04:24] latest episode of ALF to instead some [04:26] worklike topic. This was also like the [04:28] madman era like well we'll just be here [04:30] long hours so we look busy but also [04:32] we'll have like full bars in our [04:34] offices. So like pseudo productivity [04:35] wasn't the best way of actually managing [04:37] knowledge workers but it was good [04:39] enough. [04:41] Then digital technology arrives in the [04:44] office environment and this is where [04:47] pseudo productivity begins to take a [04:49] turn for the worst at least when it [04:51] comes to the subjective experience of [04:52] the individual workers. First we get [04:55] computers on the desk. This greatly [04:57] increased the number of different things [04:59] that each individual worker could work [05:01] on. Many of these things would be [05:03] administrative focus. Many of these [05:05] things are sort of neverending. There's [05:06] like endless things you could be doing. [05:08] Well, that created a new level of [05:09] busyness [05:11] uh that didn't exist before we had the [05:14] computer. And in a pseudo productive [05:15] environment where more busyness is [05:17] better than less, we began to feel like [05:20] we had to run after all these different [05:21] things. And suddenly we were switching [05:23] our attention back and forth between [05:25] different meaning more tasks than we had [05:26] been before. Then we get networking [05:28] technology. Weorked up these computers, [05:30] giving us tools like email. Well, this [05:33] increased both the granularity and rate [05:34] at which you could now demonstrate to [05:36] people that you were doing uh visible [05:38] effort, right? It used to be you had to [05:40] just be at the office and kind of hide [05:42] the martini glass when the boss walked [05:44] by. Now, how quickly you respond to an [05:47] email thread is an indication of useful [05:50] effort. How many emails you send to [05:51] people is an indication of effort. So, [05:54] now there was this incredibly fine grain [05:56] granularity at which you could be [05:57] demonstrating that you are pseudo [05:58] productive. And then finally we got [06:00] mobile computing, laptops and then [06:02] smartphones which meant the times and [06:04] locations in which you could be working [06:05] became nearly endless which again in a [06:07] pseudo productive environment was a [06:09] disaster because now every moment that [06:11] you weren't in the office you still were [06:13] navigating this question of should I in [06:15] this moment jump on my phone or my [06:18] laptop answer some emails jump on Slack [06:19] demonstrate some sort of effort because [06:21] the more busyness the better. So it [06:22] became a neverending tension. So digital [06:26] technology, computers to networks to [06:27] mobile computing played poorly [06:31] with pseudo productivity. And in the 90s [06:34] into the 2000s, these jobs got [06:36] increasingly frantic and busy and [06:39] all-encompassing. [06:41] The result of this sort of supercharging [06:44] of busyness has not been great. Uh I'm [06:48] going to bring up on the screen here for [06:49] example this report I like to talk about [06:52] from Microsoft the work trend index [06:54] annual report. This where Microsoft used [06:56] data from their online office products [06:58] uh to figure out what online workers are [07:00] actually doing. There's a chart in here [07:02] that I think is really telling. Here's [07:04] what they found in their uh data. The [07:07] average number of emails received per uh [07:10] per employee each workday is 117. The [07:13] average numbers of Teams messages [07:14] received per workday 153. The portion of [07:17] meetings that are ad hoc called in the [07:19] moment without a calendar invitation [07:20] 57%. The average time between [07:22] interruptions by a meeting, email or [07:24] message during core work hours once [07:26] every two minutes. Right? So what we're [07:29] seeing there is a portrait of work [07:32] getting insane [07:34] and not because of some deep capitalist [07:37] plot to exploit the workers that for [07:38] some reason we weren't implementing [07:40] until we got to the 90s or 2000s. It's [07:42] because technology played poorly with [07:44] pseudo productivity. Um, I'm going to [07:46] load up another headline here. This is [07:48] another natural consequence. This [07:50] headline from Axio says, "Global survey, [07:53] worker burnout reaches new high." This [07:56] is going to be the obvious consequence [07:58] of a work that is now hyper busy. And [08:02] so, this is sort of the story I tell in [08:03] slow productivity. I think it's one of [08:04] the defining stories of office work in [08:07] the 21st century. But all of this [08:10] happened before generative AI began to [08:13] make its move into the workplace. So [08:15] what's the effect of this new technology [08:17] when we add this into the mix? What's [08:19] its effect onto this ongoing story? [08:22] Well, this is where things get even [08:24] worse. People often talk about LLM power [08:26] tools as providing some sort of [08:28] productivity miracle, right? We hear [08:29] reports of computer programmers who are [08:31] handing off the actual writing of [08:34] computer code to AI and we imagine this [08:36] is coming for all of our other main work [08:38] as well and all these other jobs. And [08:40] this gets us either terrified or excited [08:41] about AI's possibility. But what's [08:43] really happening with AI in most [08:45] non-computer programming office jobs [08:47] right now, it's much more mundane. Here [08:50] are the most common uses of AI in most [08:52] non-programming office jobs at the [08:55] moment. Writing long emails [08:56] automatically, [08:58] summarizing long emails, automatically [09:01] creating slide decks, transcribing [09:03] meetings, and turning transcriptions [09:04] into some sort of work product that can [09:06] then be shared, creating verbose [09:08] reports, and trend analyses. So having [09:10] to do some research and then write a [09:11] report. What unifies those examples [09:15] is that they're all more or less pseudo [09:18] productive activities. The type of [09:20] things you do to demonstrate effort to [09:22] show that you're busy, but that bring uh [09:25] not a ton of actual value to the bottom [09:27] line. Clients aren't paying for the [09:30] reports or emails you're sending back [09:31] and forth. So AI right now is often [09:34] being used in the office to support [09:37] pseudo productive activities as things [09:39] you do to show that you are being busy. [09:42] Now the problem is is AI has essentially [09:44] reduced the cost and friction of these [09:46] existing pseudo productivity act pseudo [09:47] productive activities down to zero. [09:50] So what happens when you set up a work [09:52] environment in which visible activity is [09:54] rewarded then you give everyone a [09:55] machine that can automate those efforts [09:57] making them essentially free. [10:00] Well, what's going to happen is work [10:01] will become a mad performative dash of [10:03] button mashing. Who can turn out more [10:05] slop quicker than the next person? As [10:09] soon we'll be managing teams of agents [10:11] that are producing emails and slide [10:13] decks on our behalf while intercepting, [10:14] summarizing, and responding to those [10:16] incoming AI decks that have been [10:18] generated by other people's agents. It [10:20] will be a digital blitz of back and [10:21] forth nothingness. The density of [10:23] shallow work here will become infinite. [10:25] It will collapse in on itself. you will [10:27] end up with a busyiness singularity. [10:30] It's productivity reductto ad absurdum. [10:35] All right. So if we step back here, [10:37] what we're facing is not really an AI [10:39] problem in the sense of oh everything [10:41] was fine and then AI came along and [10:43] created a new problem. Pseudo [10:45] productivity was never the right answer [10:47] for measuring useful effort in the [10:48] knowledge work. And with each new decade [10:50] a new technology came along that made [10:52] these shortcomings even more apparent. [10:54] And it's on this trajectory that when [10:57] you then throw AI into the mix, we now [10:59] are collapsing towards a [11:01] self-destructive [11:03] conclusion. [11:04] This busyiness singularity to me is [11:07] going to have a much more widespread [11:09] negative consequence [11:12] societywide [11:13] than the threats of jobs being fully [11:16] automated. Hey, let's take a quick break [11:18] to hear from some of our sponsors. [11:21] Now, if you listen to this show, then [11:23] presumably you're interested in ideas [11:25] about taking control of your mind to [11:28] produce deep results in a distracted [11:29] world. But there can be a difference [11:31] sometimes between scattered advice like [11:33] I'm giving over a bunch of different [11:35] podcast episodes and a carefully [11:37] produced class. This is why I recently [11:40] recorded my very own masterclass course. [11:44] It's called Rebuild Your Focus and [11:46] Reclaim Your Time. And it's a [11:48] comprehensive look at the types of [11:50] things we talk about here on this show. [11:53] Now, I was excited to record this class, [11:56] not just because I wanted to get my [11:57] ideas out there, but because uh I'm a [11:59] masterclass fan myself, just to name a [12:01] few examples among many, I've eagerly [12:03] devoured Malcolm Gladwell's, Aaron [12:05] Sorcin, and Ron Howard's Masterclass [12:08] courses, and I've enjoyed every one. [12:10] Now, here's the relevant details. [12:12] Masterclass offers more than 200 classes [12:14] across 14 categories taught by the [12:16] world's best instructors, including [12:19] yours truly. You can watch the classes, [12:22] but you can also listen to them in audio [12:24] mode on your phone, meaning you can [12:26] learn while working out or commuting or [12:28] doing the dishes. And it's affordable [12:29] with plans starting at just $10 a month [12:31] when you choose the bill annually. [12:34] MasterClass keeps adding new classes, so [12:36] there's never been a better time to get [12:38] in. Right now, as a listener of this [12:40] show, you can get at least 15% off any [12:44] annual membership at [12:46] masterclass.com/deep. [12:49] That's 15% off atmasterclass.com/deep. [12:54] Head to masterclass.com/deep [12:57] to see the latest offer. I also want to [13:01] talk about our friends at Lariden. [13:02] Here's something I've learned as someone [13:04] who writes about technology. Sometimes [13:07] figuring out how best to use a new tool [13:09] can be just as hard as innovating the [13:10] tool in the first place. This certainly [13:13] seems to be the case with AI right now [13:15] where you have teams rushing to deploy [13:16] dozens of different tools with no clean [13:18] way of figuring out which ones actually [13:20] help. Sometimes this will make things [13:22] worse rather than better. Which is all [13:24] to say the real challenge at the moment [13:26] isn't just adopting AI, it's [13:28] understanding how it's being used and [13:30] how to maximize the value you're getting [13:31] from it. This is exactly what Laridin [13:34] focuses on. Laridan gives a clear view [13:36] of AI tool adoption and how teams are [13:38] using them daily. No more guesswork. It [13:41] tracks real usage data and outcomes so [13:43] you can connect AI activity to actual [13:45] business results. It can even help you [13:48] enforce internal policies and manage [13:50] risks which is critical as AI usage [13:52] grows. So if AI is already a part of [13:55] your organization, now is the moment to [13:57] get control of it. Head to laridin.com [14:00] today and book a demo to start [14:01] maximizing impact from AI. That's [14:03] lariden lr [14:06] i d i n.com. [14:09] All right, let's get back to the show. [14:11] All right, so what can you as an [14:14] individual do [14:16] to try to escape the worst effects of [14:20] this coming busyness singularity? [14:22] Well, I have five suggestions that I I'm [14:25] going to offer. I'll go through these uh [14:28] one by one and we will discuss. All [14:31] right, the first suggestion, [14:34] plan weekly. All right, let me talk [14:37] about that. Here's what I want you to do [14:39] and then I'll explain why. On Monday [14:41] morning, I want you to look at the week [14:42] ahead. I want you to ask what important [14:46] things, things that create non-ambiguous [14:48] value for your organization. [14:50] Do you want to make progress on that [14:52] week? That I want you to find and [14:54] protect time for it on your calendar [14:56] like you were scheduling a meeting or an [14:58] appointment. This might mean cancelling [15:00] or rescheduling less important things [15:02] that are already on your calendar to [15:04] open up bigger swats of time to make [15:06] progress on the things that are actually [15:08] important. Now, why do I want you to do [15:10] this? Because when you zoom into the [15:12] moment of a given day, it's easy to get [15:15] lost in pseudo productive busyiness. [15:17] There's always more emails to send or [15:18] slide decks to create or transcriptions [15:20] to mess around, things that look like [15:22] you're on it and you're busy. [15:25] And so, if you're just saying, "What do [15:26] I want to work on next?" the obvious [15:28] answer will almost always be something [15:29] pseudo productive. So if you want to [15:31] make uh open up some space between you [15:33] and pseudo productivity and actually [15:35] start producing value, you got to plan [15:37] in advance and the weekly scale is a [15:39] very good way of doing that. All right, [15:43] what's my second tip? Let's go back to [15:44] our big list here. [15:47] Number two, [15:49] maintain a portfolio. [15:52] All right. So, what I mean by this [15:56] is uh you actually want to keep [16:00] somewhere like in the document like a [16:02] professor would with their CV a growing [16:05] list of the important initiatives, [16:07] projects or accomplishments that you are [16:09] responsible for. So, if tip number one [16:11] was about finding more time to do [16:13] valuable activities, tip number two is [16:15] about keeping a record of the valuable [16:17] things you actually did. [16:20] You want an alternative to just let my [16:23] visible busyness [16:25] be how you judge me. You want an [16:27] alternative to that that's actually [16:28] grounded in actual value producing [16:30] accomplishment activities and [16:32] initiatives. So actually keep track of [16:33] it. Here's what I did this month. Here's [16:35] what I did this quarter. I took on this [16:38] project. We did this. It had this [16:40] positive consequence. I did this with [16:42] this product. We made these changes. [16:44] Here's the hardest part about it. Here's [16:45] where I brought my expertise. It had [16:46] these positive consequences. You're [16:48] going through and creating a portfolio [16:51] of things you did that actually brought [16:54] value. Now, you actually want to share [16:56] this. This could be something that you [16:58] bring into your quarterly reviews. It [16:59] could be something that you show to your [17:01] bosses. It can say, "Here's what I was [17:03] did last quarter. What should I focus on [17:06] for the quarter ahead?" [17:08] What you're trying to do here is rewrite [17:10] their understanding of you and your [17:11] value away from pseudo productivity and [17:13] towards the actual pursuit of things [17:15] that are valuable. try to free you from [17:18] this trap of just trying to [17:20] automatically generate busyiness. [17:24] All right, I have a third idea here. [17:27] Bring up my my big list. [17:31] Avoid what AI can do. Well, if you read [17:35] my 2016 book, Deep Work, I have this [17:38] suggestion in there where I say, "Hey, [17:40] when thinking about what activities to [17:42] spend your time on in a professional [17:44] context, ask yourself the question, is [17:45] this something that a smart 22-year-old [17:48] recent college graduate could do on my [17:50] behalf with just like a little bit of [17:52] training?" And if the answer is yes, I [17:55] wrote that's an indication that this is [17:58] not a an activity that's really making [18:00] use of hard one skills. And so it's a [18:02] lower value producing activity and it's [18:04] something that you shouldn't spend as [18:05] much time on. You want to find [18:06] activities that a smart 22-year-old [18:08] without your particular skills and [18:09] training could do. Well, we have a [18:11] better version of this test today which [18:13] I think is this something that I could [18:15] have, you know, claude co-work do? Is [18:17] this something that I could like largely [18:19] automate with chat GPT queries? And if [18:22] the answer is yes, you say then I want [18:24] to avoid that activity to the extent [18:25] possible. I want to move my work away [18:28] from things that AI can do and towards [18:31] things that it cannot. If most of what [18:34] you're doing is just automated by AI or [18:36] soon will be, then you are vulnerable. [18:39] You're kind of bringing this on [18:40] yourself. If you say, "Yeah, I I go to [18:43] the meetings, I get the transcripts, I [18:44] create slide decks, I write a summary of [18:46] the points with AI, all this in AI, I [18:48] have an AI agent send this out to [18:49] everybody." You might feel like you're [18:52] doing a lot of things, but these efforts [18:54] the AI is doing or could do. So, you're [18:56] producing very little value yourself. [18:57] You're more vulnerable. So, just do the [18:59] AI test. Is this something that like an [19:02] AI agent or chatbot could do or do most [19:05] of? Then I want to move away towards [19:06] something else. If the answer is no, I [19:08] wouldn't even know how to use AI to [19:10] really help this except for like at the [19:12] edges, then good. I want to spend more [19:14] time doing that. So, you need to move [19:16] away from activities where it's obvious [19:17] that AI can do them. You're not being [19:19] productive if you're letting AI automate [19:21] your work. You're working on things that [19:23] is not very valuable. [19:25] All right, my fourth piece of advice, [19:28] let's do the big reveal. [19:32] Pursue upskill [19:35] projects. [19:36] So, what you should be doing is always [19:38] have some sort of new skill that's [19:40] valuable and relevant to your job that [19:42] you're working on. Something that will [19:43] make you more rare and valuable in your [19:45] field. if possible to find a way to [19:48] connect this skill to a project you're [19:49] doing for your job, right? So like I I [19:51] hey, I will take on this responsibility [19:53] boss that in order to do this project, I [19:55] have to learn a new skill. So at least [19:56] you can get credit for doing it. But if [19:58] you can't do that, then just take a half [20:00] hour every day to be making slow and [20:01] steady progress on learning something [20:03] new that is going to be valuable for [20:04] your job. It's a the harder your skill, [20:07] the more rare and valuable the skill, [20:09] the more you can escape the trap of AI [20:12] accelerated pseudo productivity because [20:14] you're now playing the game of hard one [20:16] value that you can point to and say, "I [20:18] did this and it's valuable." You can the [20:21] better you are at things, the more [20:22] valuable things you can do, the less you [20:24] have to play the game of using visible [20:26] business as a proxy for useful effort. [20:30] All right, the final tip I am going to [20:32] suggest [20:35] Write well. [20:38] Differentiate yourself by from the AIS [20:40] by writing well, taking the time to [20:43] write well. Make your emails, your [20:46] reports, anytime you're putting down [20:48] professional text, make it super clear, [20:50] make it super concise, make it succinct, [20:52] make it well crafted. Make it clear it's [20:55] from a human. Well, everyone else is [20:57] going to be sending out these long [20:59] reports with bullet point lists with [21:01] emojis next to the list for some reasons [21:03] and all sorts of sort of convoluted [21:05] language or you're like, "This this [21:07] seems like it's smart, but when I look [21:08] closer, I have no idea what it's [21:10] actually saying." Coming succinct, [21:12] coming clear. [21:14] This is the issue. [21:16] We can do it. This is a trap. This is [21:18] the right way forward. Here's what we [21:20] should do. We can make this happen. [21:22] Right? Clear, succinct, and smart. Care [21:24] about your writing. So when more people [21:26] are trying to automate their writing, [21:28] you should spend longer on your writing [21:30] than you were before. It's a huge [21:31] differentiator from you and what's going [21:34] on with AI. It means that people value [21:37] the things you send more than other [21:40] things. So if you're sending less [21:41] because you're avoiding the pseudoity [21:43] trap, that's okay because everything [21:44] else is going to seem sort of sloppy and [21:46] your things might be more rare, but it's [21:48] to the point when you send it. you're [21:50] trying to uh set yourself up as this [21:52] sort of alternative to what's going on [21:55] with some of this AI autogen. So, let's [21:57] look at these five things again. I think [21:58] this is what you can do right now to [22:00] help escape the busyiness singularity. [22:02] Use weekly plans to make sure you're [22:03] making time for what values. Maintain a [22:05] portfolio so you can point to other [22:07] people. Here's the stuff I'm doing [22:09] that's actually valuable that's [22:10] unrelated to how busy I am. Avoid what [22:12] AI can do. Tasks that could be easily or [22:15] substantially automated by AI or tasks [22:16] you need to spend less time on. Always [22:19] be pursuing upskill projects. You want [22:21] to be better, better, better, better [22:23] better. You have to rely on skills, not [22:24] busyness. If you're going to survive [22:26] this moment without going insane and [22:28] value your writing, be succinct, clear, [22:30] and valuable when you write so you don't [22:32] have to write as much and yet still get [22:35] a lot of value or a claim for what you [22:36] do produce in your professional in the [22:39] professional context. All right, so this [22:42] is what you know, it's an idea I've been [22:44] developing. If you're and look, computer [22:46] programmers have their own issues. You [22:48] should listen to a couple weeks ago I [22:50] did a whole AI reality check episode on [22:52] what's really happening with computer [22:53] programming. There's all sorts of issues [22:54] with AI in the fields. Last week I did [22:56] something on what's happening in [22:57] mathematics with AI. These are the [22:59] fields where AI is best suited to play. [23:03] But when it comes to like normal [23:04] knowledge work jobs, you're not a [23:05] professional mathematician or computer [23:07] scientist. You're not a programmer. This [23:09] is what I'm worried about. The busyiness [23:10] singularity pseudo productivity being [23:12] pushed reduct absurdum. And these are [23:15] the type of things. This is what you [23:16] have to be doing now is you have to [23:18] leave the pseudo productivity trap. This [23:20] is the time to start leaving pseudo [23:21] productivity and moving towards depth. [23:24] It's the time to stop relying on visible [23:26] activity as your main marker of value in [23:28] the workplace and instead relying on [23:30] actual hard one things you did and can [23:32] point to. Now it might seem scary at [23:34] first because there's a certain [23:35] predictable comfort to just sitting [23:37] there and sending emails and having AI [23:38] make that even easier. But that is a [23:40] trap. That's not sustainable. It's going [23:42] to become increasingly exhausting and [23:44] you will become increasingly vulnerable. [23:46] Do the hard work of actually doing hard [23:48] work. That is the key to differentiating [23:50] yourself in our current technological [23:53] moment. All right. So, there we go. [23:55] Jesse, I got all the tape off this time. [23:58] >> Yeah, [23:58] >> that's the that's my my protest against [24:01] technology is using painters tape and a [24:03] notebook as like our main graphical [24:05] element on this show. [24:07] >> Do you have new terms in your new book [24:09] that you've developed like pseudo [24:11] productivity? Um, yes. I always have new [24:13] terms. [24:14] >> Yeah, you always have good great new [24:15] terms. [24:15] >> Yeah. So, so for the Deep Life book I'm [24:17] working on, uh, which I'm the final [24:20] edits for the pre-cop like just the main [24:23] edits, the final edits are being done, [24:25] you know, as you hear this episode by [24:27] the end of the week you're hearing this [24:28] episode in theory, I will have submitted [24:31] the the sort of polished version of that [24:33] book. Yeah. that if lifestyle and you've [24:34] heard these on the show before, [24:35] lifestyle ccentric planning, the phase [24:37] shift model of the deep life is being [24:39] worse than the lifestyle ccentric [24:41] approach to to the deep life. Um I I get [24:44] into lifestyle visions, lifestyle [24:46] properties, [24:47] uh keystone habits, things like uh [24:50] property scraping, residence isolation. [24:53] I got a lot of terms in that book. It's [24:54] a very practical book, which is which is [24:56] the way I'm trying to write it. And then [24:57] the new book idea I have, if I end up [24:58] writing it about thinking, is all going [25:00] to be about cognitive fitness, which is [25:02] a term that I'm also really trying to [25:03] promote. [25:04] >> I was I was actually brought that that [25:06] idea is kind of making the rounds. [25:07] There's an Atlantic piece last week [25:09] where the president of Amherst, I think, [25:10] was basically reacting to my idea of [25:12] cognitive fitness. He thought it sounded [25:14] too grim and that college would be more [25:16] fun. But I've actually written tons of [25:18] stuff about how to make the intellectual [25:19] life of college fun. Go back and see [25:21] like five years of my writing from the [25:23] the late 2000s. Um, so we're actually [25:25] more on the same page on that than he [25:27] might realize. But the key thing here is [25:28] the idea is out there. It's being [25:30] reacted to. So, you know, the more I can [25:33] change the vocabulary, [25:35] the happier I am, for whatever that's [25:36] worth. All right, I want to take another [25:38] quick break to hear from our sponsors. [25:41] Look, starting a new business is hard. I [25:43] remember what it was like starting up [25:44] the media company that produces this [25:46] podcast. Here's what I learned. Don't [25:49] reinvent the wheel. Trust existing [25:51] industry leaders where you can. And this [25:53] is where Shopify enters the scene. If [25:55] you need to sell something, you need [25:57] Shopify. Shopify is the commerce [26:00] platform behind millions of businesses [26:02] around the world and 10% of all [26:04] e-commerce in the US. From big names [26:06] like Allirds and Mattel to new brands [26:08] just getting started. Want to sell [26:10] online? Get started with your own design [26:12] studio. 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All [27:01] right, let me get into the weeds a [27:03] little bit about what I mean by that. [27:04] When you go online, you request the [27:06] websites and services are included in [27:08] little bundles that are called packets. [27:10] Now, the contents of these packets might [27:12] be encoded, but the address of where [27:14] those packets are being sent is not. And [27:17] this means that your internet service [27:18] provider knows exactly what sites and [27:20] services you are using. And in the US, [27:24] they are legally allowed to collect and [27:26] sell that information to advertisers. [27:28] A VPN helps you reclaim your privacy. It [27:31] works by encoding your entire packet and [27:35] then sending it to a VPN server that [27:36] then decodes it and talks to the site [27:38] and service on your behalf. Then it [27:40] encodes the answer and sends that back [27:42] to you. So, all your internet service [27:44] provider learns is that you're [27:45] communicating with a VPN server, not [27:47] what specific sites and services you're [27:49] actually talking to. Your actual traffic [27:51] is hidden. Now, if you're going to use a [27:53] VPN, I recommend ExpressVPN. [27:57] Why? Here are three things I personally [27:59] find compelling about this service. [28:01] Number one, it's affordable with plans [28:04] starting at just $349 a month. Number [28:06] two, it's easy to use. You just click a [28:09] button to launch the app and you're [28:11] protected. You can now just use your [28:12] apps and browsers as you normally would. [28:14] And three, it works on all of your [28:16] devices from phones to laptops to [28:18] tablets and more. So you can get privacy [28:21] however you're accessing the internet. [28:23] So protect your online privacy today by [28:26] visiting expressvpn.com/deep. [28:28] That's exvvpn.com/deep [28:32] to find out how you can get up to four [28:34] extra months. ExpressVPN.com/deep. [28:38] All right, let's get back to the show. [28:41] All right. Well, that's enough about my [28:43] thoughts. Now, it's time to hear what [28:45] you have to say. As is our tradition on [28:47] Mondays. [28:48] We like to open the show's inbox to read [28:50] some of your messages. Remember, if you [28:52] have a question, comment, or interesting [28:53] article, or idea to share, you can reach [28:55] us at [email protected]. [28:59] All right, Jesse, where are we going to [29:00] start this week? [29:03] We received a bunch of notes and [29:04] comments in reaction to your newsletter [29:06] from last week about LLMs and the [29:08] sacredness of speech. [29:10] >> Yeah, we did. People were into this one. [29:12] All right, so let me just load up the [29:14] essay real quick on the screen. It was [29:15] called on gods and LLMs. Um, it opens, [29:20] you know, I talk about Genesis. I talk [29:22] about the identification of humans as [29:25] speaking beings. Uh, I'll just read one [29:28] quote from the Rabbi Shai held. [29:30] According to the medieval commentary [29:31] Rashi, speech is thus not only central [29:33] to who we are as human beings, it is [29:34] also key to our uniqueness alone among [29:36] God's creations. Jewish tradition [29:38] affirms human beings are capable of [29:40] speech. The essay goes on to say, [29:42] "There's something sacred about the [29:44] production of ideas, whether it's [29:46] vocalized or written. It's a telepathy. [29:49] It's a mind state from one human being [29:51] recreated in another human's mind. It's [29:54] the foundation on which we democratize [29:57] holiness and from that all the ideas we [29:59] enjoy today about things like human [30:01] rights and justice that speech [30:04] is at the core of the human experience [30:07] and then the point of the article is [30:08] asking the question the ethical question [30:11] so is there something profane then about [30:13] letting a machine produce speech as well [30:16] is this like unique to humans something [30:18] we should cherish or something like [30:19] machines can do this as well we'll just [30:21] automate it around so I I I asked that [30:23] question. This generated a lot of [30:25] feedback. I'll read a few of these [30:26] pieces of feedback here. Uh Yeshua said, [30:30] "Great peace. I'm an Orthodox Jew and I [30:33] had not had I not known otherwise, your [30:35] piece could have come straight out of a [30:37] rabbis Shabbat sermon." Well, this does [30:41] seem I don't know, Jesse, like a good [30:43] place for a blasphemous Cal Network [30:45] joke. Here's the one I came up with. Cal [30:49] Network doesn't give sermons about God. [30:51] God gives sermons about Cal Network. [30:55] Something I'm gonna go to hell for. Um, [30:58] all right. Let's see what else we have [30:59] here. Thomas wrote and said, "I consider [31:01] LLMs to be practice for communicating in [31:04] real life, not a substitute. What I do [31:06] is similar to what Ben and David of [31:08] Acquired do. They use Claude that train [31:09] themselves on their spiel and test the [31:11] coherence of their ideas and then they [31:12] hit the recording booth and talk to each [31:14] other." I think that's the model. I [31:16] mean, I get that, Thomas. I know people [31:17] do that. They they test out ideas. The [31:19] back and forth. It's like a It's a way [31:22] of thinking that lowers the energy [31:24] required to think because you get all [31:25] these mental breaks while you're waiting [31:26] for the chatbot to say things and to do [31:28] some thinking on your behalf. I get it, [31:31] but it also still makes me [31:32] uncomfortable. It still makes me [31:34] uncomfortable the sort of interacting [31:36] using something as uniquely human and [31:38] sacred as speech with a machine. There's [31:40] a sort of emotional spiritual fraud [31:41] there where a mind even though part of [31:43] our mind knows this is a matrix being [31:46] multiplied a bunch of times to create [31:48] tokens autogressively. A deeper part of [31:50] our mind thinks it's talking to another [31:52] being and treating as such and it's not. [31:54] And there's just something there that [31:55] makes me uncomfortable, but I can't [31:56] quite articulate what to do about it. Uh [31:58] France writes in to say it's hubris to [32:00] think that because other species do not [32:01] use our speech, they have no speech with [32:04] which to communicate. Well, I'm sure all [32:06] species or many species have different [32:08] ways of communicating. But I think the [32:09] point here of Jewish tradition is that [32:12] speech as we know it, that is the the [32:14] ability to transmit arbitrary mental [32:17] states from one individual to another, [32:19] this deeply human thing is core to the [32:21] human experience and therefore should be [32:23] treated uh with care. Alex says, "You [32:27] nailed it. I couldn't put my finger on [32:28] why AI generated emails and messages [32:30] just feel inhuman like we can now see [32:33] through it and know that it did not come [32:34] from a human. So we just feel jaded when [32:36] we read AI generated communication. I [32:38] will be crediting crediting you when I [32:40] say the sacredness of speech. Yeah. I [32:42] mean I'm there Alex. There's something [32:44] we should think about this. It's an [32:45] ethical question like like here's how I [32:47] end I'm going to read the final [32:48] paragraph of my my essay here. Um, I [32:51] said this is all to say before we [32:54] blindly embrace whatever AI product Sam [32:56] Altman or Dario Amade declares to be [32:59] inevitable, we still have a lot of work [33:00] to do in figuring out what we're willing [33:02] to accept. We have to be asking these [33:05] questions. [33:07] This is my philosophy of [33:08] technoslectionism. [33:09] We don't just have to take whatever [33:11] technology comes our way and just try to [33:13] survive the waves. We have agency here [33:16] and we can ask hard questions. We can [33:18] make hard decisions. We can change our [33:20] usage patterns. We could push back. We [33:22] can change our mind after we adopt a [33:24] technology and cut back on how we use [33:25] it. We have control. And this is the [33:28] case with LLMs as well. All right, let's [33:31] move on from AI. Jesse, what other what [33:33] other messages do we have here? [33:35] >> Kevin has a question about slow [33:37] productivity for managers. [33:39] >> All right, this is well connected to [33:41] today's deep dive. All right, Kevin [33:43] says, "I have gone down the Cal Network [33:45] rabbit hole and am sold on your [33:47] productivity ideas. I recently was [33:50] promoted manager of a small team of two [33:53] other employees in my knowledge work [33:54] job. How can I ensure I'm encouraging [33:56] the slow productivity principles for my [33:58] teams?" All right, interesting side [34:00] note. Um, Cal Network doesn't go down [34:02] rabbit holes. The rabbits come out of [34:03] the rabbit holes when he wants them. Not [34:06] going to go down a hole. They're going [34:07] to come out. All right, here's some [34:09] notes. You're you're you want to take my [34:11] ideas of slow productivity. Feel like I [34:13] should show the book again. Hold on. [34:16] Tada. [34:18] There we go. Um, and you want to make [34:20] sure that you're implementing them in [34:22] your workplace. All right. Couple things [34:24] I want to I'll tell you right off the [34:25] bat. Make workloads transparent. Who is [34:29] working on what? Do not let that exist [34:31] implicitly implied by a bunch of [34:33] messages and static, you know, stack [34:36] Slack channel transcripts. Here is a [34:39] central place where we keep track of who [34:41] is working on what task. The central [34:43] place needs a holding pin for things [34:44] that need to be done eventually, but [34:45] that no one is working on. Do not play [34:47] the game of all potential work has to be [34:50] distributed among people. And now you [34:51] have each individual with these huge [34:54] workloads that are unworkable at any [34:56] moment. And they have to kind of figure [34:57] out how to juggle all these things and [34:59] try to make progress on some but not [35:00] others. Keep the workload transparent [35:02] and have a place for uh things that need [35:05] to be worked on but no individual is [35:07] working on in the moment. Have clear [35:09] work in progress limits for how much any [35:11] one individual should be doing. Two, you [35:13] need docket clearing meetings at least [35:14] twice a week. These are meetings where [35:16] your team gets together and you review a [35:18] shared document where when anything new [35:20] pops up on any team member's plate as [35:23] something that needs to be discussed or [35:24] potentially done, an issue to be handled [35:26] that has to pursue, there's a shared [35:28] document called the docket where you put [35:29] it so it's off your mind. You don't [35:30] email it out. You don't jump on a Slack [35:33] channel. You don't call an impromptu [35:34] meeting right there. You put it in the [35:37] docket. It's a shared Google doc. Two or [35:39] three times a week, your team gets [35:40] together and goes through that Google [35:42] doc thing by thing. And what are we [35:43] going to do for each of these? We don't [35:45] need to do this. This we need to work on [35:47] now. So, let's add this to the workload [35:49] for you in our transparent workload [35:51] document. This is something we need to [35:52] do, but not now. So, we're going to add [35:53] it to our transparent workload [35:55] management system in the list of things [35:57] that need to be done but no individuals [35:58] doing. Oh, this we could do right now as [36:00] a team. Let's just handle it right here. [36:02] And you go through and you clear out [36:03] that docket. Doing this two or three [36:05] times a week, 30 minutes at a pop, saves [36:07] so many context switches of just [36:08] ambiguous back and forth messages as you [36:10] try to sort of toss these things around. [36:13] Three, insist that your team holds daily [36:15] office hours at posted times. As much as [36:17] possible, move any discussion that [36:19] requires more than a single message to [36:20] answer to the office hours. Come by my [36:22] office hours. Come by my office hours. [36:24] If you have an issue that you need [36:25] feedback from multiple people on, do a [36:27] reverse meeting. You go to each of their [36:29] office hours one by one instead of [36:30] making all of them come to you. Office [36:33] hours can make a huge difference. And [36:35] finally, borrowing uh one of the pieces [36:37] of advice that I talked about in the [36:38] deep dive of today's episode, have your [36:40] employees maintain a portfolio of highv [36:42] value accomplishments, right? So that [36:44] you can cut through pseudo productivity [36:46] and really be monitoring who is doing [36:48] what that's valuable. If someone is not [36:50] growing that log, you say what we have [36:52] to change it so that you're being more [36:53] valuable to us. This cuts through pseudo [36:54] productivity. [36:56] We no longer care about [36:59] visible busyness. We care about this [37:01] list growing. And when you have [37:02] transparent workloads, this also becomes [37:04] clear because you're like, I know [37:05] exactly what you're supposed to work on. [37:07] Why is this not done? Right? So, it's [37:09] it's a really all these things work [37:11] together to create a system that is [37:12] based off of actual value producing [37:15] uh accomplishment and not on just [37:17] visible signs of busyiness, which again [37:18] in an AI world is just going to collapse [37:20] into a busyness singularity. Um, we [37:23] could do one more. What else do we have [37:24] here? Jesse [37:25] >> Evan reports on his efforts to improve [37:27] his cognitive fitness. All right. So, [37:30] Evan says, "I started the deep work [37:32] process again and feel so much better in [37:34] my entire life because I have my focus [37:36] back. The main things I am doing are [37:39] landlining and memorizing the Bible. I [37:42] have completed all the book of James. Is [37:44] there anything else I can use as a mind [37:46] workout that requires my attention so [37:48] deeply like memorizing?" [37:50] Um, [37:51] >> a I like the use of the term [37:52] landlinining which one of our listeners [37:54] I this a few weeks ago, right? So, one [37:56] of our listeners suggested this idea. [37:57] Landlining is the idea of keeping your [37:59] smartphone plugged in in your kitchen [38:01] when you're at home. So you treat it [38:03] like an oldfashioned landline. You have [38:05] the ringer on. You go there if someone [38:06] calls. You go there to check text [38:08] messages. You go there to look things [38:09] up. It's not on your person as you do [38:11] everything else in your house. I think [38:12] it's a great idea. It really helps your [38:13] focus. Memorizing as a way to get more [38:16] cognitive fitness is an interesting idea [38:18] because I talk about it in my book deep [38:21] work. I actually talked about a [38:24] particular it's a cool story. It was a [38:25] student in Australia who was struggling [38:28] academically. It's a university student [38:31] struggling academically. He gets [38:33] involved in competitive memorizing. So [38:36] there's competitions you can go to where [38:40] you uh you memorize like you memorize a [38:42] deck of cards. It's stuff like this. [38:43] It's memory competitions. [38:45] The techniques he learned. So he's doing [38:47] this in this memory competition. [38:49] This helps him, right? this helps his [38:52] general ability to focus and sustain [38:55] concentration. And what happens to his [38:56] schoolwork? All his grades go up. And he [38:59] when I, you know, when I talked to him, [39:01] he was on his way to like a prestigious [39:02] Australian graduate program. And so I [39:05] used it as an example of like, hey, you [39:06] can train your brain to be better at [39:07] focusing and get all sorts of general [39:09] benefits. And memorizing is like the [39:11] type of thing you can do uh to in [39:13] general make your brain stronger, to get [39:15] more cognitive fitness. So that's that's [39:16] interesting what you're doing there, [39:17] Evan. Um, other things you can do to [39:20] actively strengthen your concentration [39:21] muscles. The three things I talk about a [39:23] lot on this show is uh read, write, [39:26] self-reflect. Right? Reading has a [39:29] unique value to your brain because it's [39:31] not just practicing using your brain. It [39:33] actually rewires your brain in a way [39:34] that you can uh make more areas of your [39:37] brain work together to produce smarter [39:39] thoughts. So reading literally makes you [39:40] smarter, not just from the content, but [39:42] the way it rewires your brain. Writing [39:44] is where you reverse those circuits and [39:45] actually produce original thoughts using [39:47] them. And you get better at actually [39:48] focusing these circuits to producing new [39:50] things of value in the world. So care [39:51] about writing. Don't automate it with [39:53] AI. Hard is not bad. Strain is not bad. [39:56] It's like lifting a weight. You want the [39:58] burn. You want to feel the burn of a [39:59] blank page. And self-reflection is going [40:01] for a walk and thinking about something [40:02] in your head without a phone. Can I [40:04] maintain my mind's eye on an internal [40:06] subject like myself, some problem I'm [40:08] having, something I'm trying to figure [40:09] out, and make progress on it with just [40:12] internal dialogue? Those three things, [40:14] reading, writing, self-reflections, I [40:16] think are the primary activities to [40:18] strengthen your cognitive fitness, [40:19] right? It's like what what would be in [40:22] the athletic context like doing cardio [40:24] and strength training and stretching. I [40:26] think it's roughly that equivalent. All [40:28] right, that's all we have from our inbox [40:30] for this week. Uh, also on Mondays, we [40:32] like to finish with an update about what [40:34] I am up to. Uh, I finished last week my [40:38] fifth book of the month, Jesse. I reread [40:40] In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen [40:43] because again my rough idea for a new [40:45] book, which I'm not sure if I'm doing [40:46] yet or not, but I have this idea for a [40:49] book tenatively titled In Defense of [40:50] Thinking. And I want to go back and read [40:52] Paul's manifesto about eating to see [40:54] what did he do there that might be [40:56] relevant for how I think about [40:57] structuring this book about thinking. [40:59] And so it was interesting to go back. It [41:01] was kind of nostalgic. I remembered when [41:02] this was 2006, this book came out. All [41:04] these ideas were big back then. It's so [41:07] nonsurprising today. like the ideas in [41:09] that book have been so because he was [41:10] successful have been so well uh [41:12] inculcated to our culture that like it [41:14] didn't I I remember the freshest that [41:16] book has which it you know doesn't have [41:18] anymore because like he was successful [41:20] in changing the way we thought about [41:21] thinking so but it was good to go back [41:22] and reread that [41:23] >> is it like no processed food and [41:25] >> well he his three pieces of advice is uh [41:28] eat food mostly plants not too much [41:31] >> but it's a three-part book part one kind [41:33] of lays out the problem of nutritionism [41:36] which is like focusing on individual [41:38] macro and micronutrients when you're [41:39] thinking about health as opposed to like [41:41] thinking about food as you know a whole [41:44] and then he talks about [41:47] getting beyond nutritionism and then the [41:49] third part is like he goes into those [41:51] specific pieces of advice and actually [41:53] like gives a lot of advice so you know [41:54] it's a it's a very good book if you [41:55] haven't uh read it before a lot more [41:57] science reportery than I remembered [41:59] >> it's deep it's a lot of like science [42:01] reporting on like this study came out [42:03] and this legislation happened like very [42:05] much it's very more reperatorial than [42:08] the book that inspired it was his [42:10] previous book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, [42:12] which is based around four setpiece [42:14] stories and is also I reread that not [42:16] long ago as well. And that's also a good [42:17] book. Um, in terms of what I'm up to, [42:19] again, I as I mentioned, I'm in the line [42:21] edits of my my the book that's coming [42:22] out next, coming out next spring is [42:24] called The Deep Life, a one-off book [42:25] about cultivating a deep life. Takes all [42:27] the ideas from the show, puts into a [42:29] system, step by step. Boom. Now you have [42:32] it. This is the source guide for making [42:34] your life so interesting that your phone [42:35] will seem less exciting. [42:37] I mean the final line edits. So that's [42:39] like we've you go back and forth a lot [42:41] with writing. You you you kind of as you [42:43] write you go back and forth with your [42:44] editor until you get something that kind [42:46] of works. And then there's like sort of [42:47] higher level notes of like work on that [42:50] here. Like chapter by chapter we need [42:52] something here. This doesn't make sense. [42:54] Maybe cut this. And then you get to sort [42:55] of the line edit piece of the first [42:57] round of editing where your editor will [42:59] actually go through and you know make [43:01] particular let's cut this and this. This [43:03] isn't clear to me. You know those type [43:04] of things. And that's where you do your [43:05] final like out loud read of sections two [43:07] to really try to get the language [43:09] working. You hope that's what leads to [43:11] what's then called the manuscript [43:12] acceptance. Like okay, now we have a [43:14] manuscript. It works. There's still a [43:16] lot of editing that happens after this [43:17] because you still go on the copy editing [43:19] where you you have like professional [43:20] copy editors getting into like the [43:22] precise grammar and languages and word [43:24] repetitions and factchecking and uh we [43:26] have a professional footnote editor to [43:28] come in and get all the innotes in the [43:29] right format. So there's a lot more [43:30] editing to come but it becomes much more [43:32] lower level and production focused. So [43:34] anyways, [43:35] I'm hoping to be done with that by the [43:36] end of the week this comes out. When [43:39] this airs, I'll actually be on my way to [43:40] Asheville where I'm going to hang out [43:43] with friend of the show Brad Stolberg [43:45] and I'm going to edit in the morning. [43:47] I'm staying in some mountain lodge up [43:48] there in Asheville. I'm going to edit in [43:50] the morning. In the afternoon, we're [43:51] going to uh we share a trainer, so we're [43:53] going to train and then think big [43:54] thoughts about the world of writing. So [43:55] that's going to be a cool trip. So, as [43:57] you hear this, I'm on my way to finish [43:58] my edits among the the crisp mountain [44:01] air of Asheville, North Carolina. [44:03] >> Is editing easier than writing? [44:06] >> Um, yeah. I think writing's hard. Uh, [44:10] like today I was struggling with [44:13] because it's the type of thing I [44:14] struggle with, you know, chapter one, [44:17] right? Chapter one of the book. uh here [44:20] is the you what is our approach here's [44:23] what the deep life is I'm going to kind [44:24] of get to in the intro but I'm like [44:25] let's give the formal definition of the [44:27] deep life what is the approach we're [44:29] going to pursue in this book and I set [44:30] up two contrasting approaches [44:33] there's what I say is like the most [44:34] common model that people think when they [44:36] think about the deep life is something I [44:38] call the phase shift model which is like [44:39] a singular event so either a radical [44:42] change or really impressive [44:44] accomplishment will deliver me a deep [44:47] life so I need to like move to an island [44:50] or you know win this major award and [44:53] then and then I will have a deep life [44:54] right and I argue that doesn't work [44:56] right no singular achievement is [44:58] actually it doesn't last you're you're [45:01] that's not going to work a lot of [45:03] examples they said the the alternative [45:05] notion is the lifestyle ccentric [45:06] approach that obviously is going to be [45:07] the right approach because I talk about [45:09] all the time on the show where you say [45:10] no no no actually the what generates [45:12] your subjective experience of your life [45:14] is like all the aspects of your like [45:15] what is your daily life like all the [45:18] aspects of your life. And so what you [45:20] really need to do is engineer your [45:22] lifestyle so that it uh every single day [45:26] is making you know producing depth. It's [45:28] it's your daily lifestyle, not any [45:30] singular event that really determines [45:31] what your life is like. So you need to [45:32] think about re-engineering all the [45:34] aspects of your lifestyle, not just [45:36] pursuing a single sort of like major [45:38] change or accomplishment. [45:40] But there's these subtleties because the [45:42] way my brain works is like the [45:44] definition of the deep life is too much [45:46] overlapping the definition of the [45:49] lifestyle ccentric approach to the deep [45:51] life and I need good separation. This is [45:53] the deep life. These are two potential [45:55] ways to pursue it. This is the better [45:57] way. But the definition of the deep life [46:00] I was using and I was using like an old [46:01] definition I you know written about 5 [46:03] years ago was a little processoriented [46:06] itself. you know, amplify this, reduce [46:08] that. And so it anyway, so that's like [46:09] the type of thing, this is the type of [46:11] thing I really care about is these [46:13] little details about how the pieces fit [46:14] together. You get that just right, it's [46:17] implicitly felt in the reader's mind of [46:20] like a pleasing sensation of things are [46:22] clicking together and their mind gets it [46:24] and you can make progress. If they don't [46:25] quite fit, they won't be able to [46:27] articulate what's making them [46:28] uncomfortable, but the book will, you [46:31] know, that doesn't quite match with that [46:32] and and just gives you a a sensation. [46:35] It's like the key to my books, part of [46:36] the sensation my books create is all the [46:39] pieces are uh gears that mesh. [46:41] >> Yeah, 100%. [46:42] >> And it's supposed to be you're like all [46:44] of this is and then your brain is like [46:45] this makes sense. It can gro the whole [46:47] thing. And so anyways, that's what I'm [46:50] working on. [46:50] >> I think I noticed that a lot during your [46:52] promotion of your last book cuz people [46:54] would ask you a million different [46:54] questions, but you'd always bring it [46:56] back to like a core set of fundamentals [46:57] and I was like [46:58] >> that's what works, right? That's what [47:00] works is like it has to people's minds [47:03] are uncomfortable. I've been doing this [47:04] for 20 years now. People's minds are [47:06] uncomfortable when the pieces don't fit. [47:08] And I think too many pragmatic [47:09] non-fiction writers come into it like, I [47:11] just have a bunch of good ideas and and [47:13] they're thinking about how they present [47:14] each idea and they want to zigg here and [47:16] zap and yeah, and capitalism this and [47:19] that and d and they want to have like [47:21] these moments of these sort of [47:23] rhetorical moments where you're like [47:24] boom, oh yeah, I'm on board with that or [47:26] oh that's funny or yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm [47:28] fired up or whatever. What they miss is [47:30] if the pieces, the big level pieces [47:33] don't click together beautifully, the [47:35] whole thing is going to be make the [47:36] reader uncomfortable. They're like, "Ah, [47:38] these like ideas and this kind of fit, [47:40] but doesn't this push back on that and [47:41] what are you trying to say here?" Idea [47:43] first. All the pieces have to click and [47:46] then you got to deploy craft to when you [47:48] explain things or explain things well [47:50] and clear and that's that's all fine [47:51] too. You need craft as well, but the [47:53] ideas the ideas have to the ideas have [47:55] to click. Mhm. [47:56] >> And so, yeah, I'm I'm obsessive about [47:58] it, but that's what I do. All right. Uh, [48:02] that's all the time we have for this [48:04] week. Um, I'll be back next Monday with [48:07] another advice episode. We usually on [48:09] Thursdays have AI reality checks. I have [48:11] to, you know, I'm going to be on the [48:12] road, so maybe we'll see. So, don't be [48:14] surprised if there's not one this week, [48:16] but we'll be back with an advice episode [48:18] uh next Monday. Um, hey, sign up for my [48:21] newsletter, kel nupart.com if you want [48:23] my dispatches from this fight for depth [48:26] versus distraction. It, you know, it's [48:27] my thoughts on the fly of things I'm [48:31] thinking about. So, if you really want [48:32] the most up-to-date view of like new [48:34] thoughts I'm having about this fight for [48:36] depth and distractions, kelpart.com for [48:37] that newsletter. Uh, buy slow [48:40] productivity was the star of today's [48:42] show. If you haven't read this book, you [48:43] need to because I talk about all the [48:44] time. It's the source. So, you need to [48:45] buy that book if you haven't. All right, [48:46] that's it. See you next week and as [48:48] always stay deep.  ## Highlights - When you set up a work environment in which visible activity is rewarded then you give everyone a machine that can automate those efforts making them essentially free. Well, what's going to happen is work will become a mad performative dash of button mashing. - Note: 📚 Pseudo-productivity creates vulnerability to AI acceleration · - Core mechanism explaining how AI amplifies existing workplace dysfunction - Demonstrates why fixing measurement systems is prerequisite to beneficial AI integration · #atom/literature/h1 - Digital technology, computers to networks to mobile computing played poorly with pseudo productivity. And in the 90s into the 2000s, these jobs got increasingly frantic and busy and all-encompassing. - Note: 📚 Digital technology progression amplified pseudo-productivity systematically · - Historical analysis showing current AI problems have deep roots - Each technological wave (computers, networks, mobile) increased busyness density · #atom/literature/h2 - You actually want to keep somewhere like in the document like a professor would with their CV a growing list of the important initiatives, projects or accomplishments that you are responsible for. - Note: 📚 Portfolio maintenance replaces activity-based evaluation with value demonstration · - Practical strategy for escaping pseudo-productivity evaluation - Creates alternative narrative to visible busyness for career advancement · #atom/literature/h3 - Measurement systems drive behavior more than technology itself - Note: [[Goodhart's Law]] — because extends the principle that measured metrics lose value as targets · - [[Goodhart's Law]] — because extends the principle that measured metrics lose value as targets · #atom/zettel/z1 - Research historical precedents for measurement system changes in knowledge work — how have organizations successfully transitioned from activity-based to value-based evaluation? #fleeting #research - Note: ✏️ Fleeting capture #atom/fleeting/f1 - Investigate whether "cognitive fitness" programs show measurable workplace benefits — potential validation for Newport's underlying assumptions about human capability development #fleeting #validation - Note: ✏️ Fleeting capture #atom/fleeting/f2