3341: Welcome to the Post-Productivity World by Cal Newport on Personal Fulfillment

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[00:00:41] Welcome to the Post-Productivity World by Cal Newport of calnewport.com, and I'm Justin Malik.

[00:00:47] Welcome to the old podcast, the OLD podcast, that stands for Optimal Living Daily, where I read to you, simple as that.

[00:00:55] So let's continue the tradition and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:03] Welcome to the Post-Productivity World by Cal Newport of calnewport.com.

[00:01:09] The Age of Productivity.

[00:01:12] September 8, 2008 was an important date in the world of self-improvement writing.

[00:01:18] Yet almost no one knows this.

[00:01:20] To understand what happened on this date, we should return briefly to 2004, the early days of blogging.

[00:01:27] It was then that a web programmer named Merlin Mann stumbled onto a powerful formula, blogging, about becoming more productive.

[00:01:37] He called his site 43 Folders, a tribute to the Tickler file from David Allen's Getting Things Done system.

[00:01:44] 43 Folders' timing was good.

[00:01:47] A new generation of tech-savvy knowledge workers needed help navigating a work environment defined by information overflow, and Mann offered them a tantalizing promise.

[00:01:57] With the right combination of high-tech productivity tools, you could find your way into a utopian state where work becomes effortless, especially if you use a Mac.

[00:02:08] In 2005, when Clive Thompson wrote his famous Meet the Lifehackers feature for the New York Times Magazine, he quoted Mann as a spokesperson of the new tech-driven self-improvement movement.

[00:02:21] 43 Folders' subscriber count shot past the 100,000 mark, and Mann was able to quit his programming job and support himself full-time with his writing.

[00:02:31] This was, to use my own terminology, the birth of the age of productivity.

[00:02:36] Mann paved the way to a powerful ecosystem of blogs that focused on how to become more efficient.

[00:02:44] Gawker Media's Lifehacker blog became its most popular site, eventually cracking Technorati's top 10 list.

[00:02:52] Lifehack.org became a major force.

[00:02:54] Leo Babauta paid off his credit card debt with an e-book that merged Getting Things Done with Zen philosophy.

[00:03:01] This was a good time to be telling the world how to become more productive.

[00:03:05] But then we get to September of 2008.

[00:03:09] The post-productivity world.

[00:03:12] It was on the 8th day of this month that Mann posted an odd little essay on his personal blog.

[00:03:18] He titled it, Better.

[00:03:20] It was the tantrum of a talented writer whose pursuit of readers had led him astray.

[00:03:26] He expressed frustration with the superficiality of online writing, calling it, quote,

[00:03:31] a diet compromised mostly of fake connectedness and make-believe insight.

[00:03:37] All I know right now is that I want to do all of it better.

[00:03:41] Everything better.

[00:03:42] Better, better, end quote.

[00:03:45] The impact of 43 Folders was immediate.

[00:03:48] That same day Mann posted a short note on 43 Folders saying that the site was no longer

[00:03:54] a blog about productivity.

[00:03:56] He would instead help people embrace the hard work of making something that you love and

[00:04:02] making it better.

[00:04:04] I rarely hear people mention the 43 Folders transformation, which may have to do with

[00:04:09] the fact that soon after, Mann had his first child, which turned his attentions, understandably,

[00:04:15] elsewhere.

[00:04:16] But its impact, I argue, was profound.

[00:04:19] Survey the current landscape of self-improvement blogs.

[00:04:22] It's no longer popular to post about productivity.

[00:04:25] The idea that all that stands between you and workplace bliss is the right omnifocus

[00:04:30] configuration no longer holds its allure.

[00:04:33] The age of productivity began its decline around the time Mann, its Prometheus, turned

[00:04:39] his back on it.

[00:04:40] We are now in a new age, one in which the big picture trumps the small.

[00:04:46] What matters in this new age is your work philosophy, not your systems.

[00:04:52] Mann's new work philosophy, for example, focuses on creating excellent things that

[00:04:56] you care about.

[00:04:58] My career craftsman philosophy, to name another example, focuses on becoming excellent to

[00:05:04] provide the capital needed to shape a compelling career.

[00:05:08] Tim Ferriss, by contrast, rethought What Currencies Matter, moving emphasis from money to time

[00:05:14] with profound effect.

[00:05:16] And while Leo Babauta has quietly and effectively molded Zen habits in the spearhead of the

[00:05:21] minimalist movement, perhaps the most successful of the recent reimaginings of work.

[00:05:26] Productivity, of course, is still important.

[00:05:29] Most mature work philosophies require that you can organize what's on your plate.

[00:05:33] But when you're guided by a philosophy, this organization becomes the easy part.

[00:05:38] Your drive to accomplish what you believe needs to be accomplished has a way of sweeping

[00:05:43] away the ineffective.

[00:05:45] It's hard to judge an era while still in the middle of it, but from all accounts, I

[00:05:49] think this age of workplace philosopher represents an exciting shift in our thinking about work

[00:05:54] and happiness.

[00:05:56] The more seriously we struggle with the question of what defines a good working life, the

[00:06:01] better off we are.

[00:06:03] And I mean seriously struggle, falling back to a vague, unverified cliche like follow

[00:06:08] your passion no longer holds water in this new age.

[00:06:11] I miss 43 Folders, and I'm still hoping that man will soon return to more regular

[00:06:16] updates on how his new philosophical outlook is taking shape.

[00:06:20] In the meantime, I'll continue to struggle away with the growing number of other writers

[00:06:25] who have taken up man's call to move our online conversation, dare I say it, productively

[00:06:30] forward.

[00:06:35] You just listened to the post titled, Welcome to the Post-Productivity World by Cal Newport

[00:06:41] of calnewport.com, and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:07:54] Thank you, DeKalb.

[00:07:55] I still read some articles about productivity, but you've probably noticed that most are

[00:08:00] meant to be inspirational or motivational, bring about some happiness.

[00:08:06] Some are about minimalism.

[00:08:07] That's because it can feel like continuously seeking more and more productivity is

[00:08:12] counterproductive.

[00:08:13] It's like we're looking for a magical formula to make work easy, but we end up spending

[00:08:18] more time trying to be productive than actually doing the work that'll make us better or add

[00:08:24] value.

[00:08:25] I think this gets to the why of it all.

[00:08:27] Why are we trying to become more productive?

[00:08:29] Why are we doing certain things in the first place?

[00:08:32] Is it necessary?

[00:08:34] I think we'd all benefit from seriously considering the question of what defines a good

[00:08:39] working life.

[00:08:41] So maybe today we can take a step back and think about our own work philosophy.

[00:08:45] What really matters in our work, and what are we trying to accomplish?

[00:08:49] And why?

[00:08:50] Maybe it'll lead to some revelations.

[00:08:53] And with that, thank you for being here and listening every day.

[00:08:56] Have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.