Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by richardbakare
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport
5.0
In “Slow Productivity,” Cal Newport has written more of a love story to pursuing your craft. It is a guide to doing great things more than a guide to being productive. In fact the tone, allegories, and philosophical positions in this book argue for moving away from frenetic busyness. In turn he seeks to establish a counter movement of “slow” productivity. A cause that resembles similar efforts in the slow food, media, and lifestyle movements.
This book shows you how to attain accomplishment without burnout. To achieve this, Newport first tackles why we are caught in this go-go-go culture the first place. In some ways we can blame the “Zoom Apocalypse” that came out of the Pandemic. On a deeper level we might ask if America’s sales heavy model of business at fault for how we measure productivity. Our economy is one where we measure value in quantifiable output that can be peddled on consumers versus paradigm shifting milestones.
Newport argues that we need to shift to quality over quantity. The obsession over productivity and the consulting industry’s influence on it has sucked the joy out of work. Instead, doing less, pursuing quality, and removing time constraints could usher in a new joy and craft driven work culture that will bring a new joy to work. This is admirable but even Newport acknowledges that pursuing Slow Productivity is not available to everyone in every line of work. But the mission is an important response to the manic and unsustainable work demands of the modern work place.
This book shows you how to attain accomplishment without burnout. To achieve this, Newport first tackles why we are caught in this go-go-go culture the first place. In some ways we can blame the “Zoom Apocalypse” that came out of the Pandemic. On a deeper level we might ask if America’s sales heavy model of business at fault for how we measure productivity. Our economy is one where we measure value in quantifiable output that can be peddled on consumers versus paradigm shifting milestones.
Newport argues that we need to shift to quality over quantity. The obsession over productivity and the consulting industry’s influence on it has sucked the joy out of work. Instead, doing less, pursuing quality, and removing time constraints could usher in a new joy and craft driven work culture that will bring a new joy to work. This is admirable but even Newport acknowledges that pursuing Slow Productivity is not available to everyone in every line of work. But the mission is an important response to the manic and unsustainable work demands of the modern work place.