Why It’s Fine To Embrace Moments Of Unproductivity
Edition #146
Introduction
Welcome to The ContraMind Code.
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Take a journey to www.contraminds.com. Listen and watch some great minds talking to us about their journey of discovery of what went into making them craftsmen of their profession to drive peak performance.
Smart Productivity Vs Wisdom Productivity
This is a very thoughtful and reflective note from Sajit Pai. He provides a nuanced perspective on the difference between smart productivity and wisdom productivity.
Here’s his perspective that can make you think and appreciate the difference:
“Smart productivity asks how you can be better, faster, and do more. It profers advice such as calendaring instead of to-do lists, eating the frog, removing notifications / reducing distractions, scheduling time for deep work, using templated reply lists etc.
“Wisdom productivity operates above the actual actions of becoming productive, and instead discusses the costs and consequences of trying to be productive all the time. It asks if you really need to do all of that in all this time.”
“Smart productivity is about how you can win/play better. Wisdom productivity asks where should you play, if at all.”
“Smart productivity seems more correct.. but it is an unending treadmill.”
“Wisdom productivity on the surface can seem lazy..but lay down ground rules of response.”
“…time is finite….And whatever you do, it doesn’t seem to be enough. This is when you start acknowledging the futility of smart productivity…. and embrace wisdom productivity.”
Read the entire article here.
When Will AI Change The World?
In this episode of Forrester’s What It Means Podcast, a compelling perspective on AI is raised and answered, not just from a short-term perspective but a longer-term perspective, regarding the effect and impact of AI Computing, which is slowly taking centre stage.
Here are some takeaways from this conversation:
Generative AI enables, for the first time, a fundamental protocol change in how we ask for and receive information, which will be transformational for many industries.
This technology is trying to understand humans using a context, which is what will unlock value going forward.
AI is not just an interface design change but a linguistic design change. This is what makes it disruptive and transformational.
This will unleash a new architecture of applications where smart, intuitive interfaces communicate with humans in natural language and coordinate with a set of agents to get the work done.
Each of us may have our own personal agents trained for our wants and needs, like how to shop, invest, etc. Each brand will have an agent who will negotiate with consumer agents.
How will enterprises leverage AI? They need to capture the knowledge, learn to deploy it, use it, and identify more sources of knowledge.
There will be AI agents that represent that consumer. For example, hypothetically, Amazon could turn that on for 100 million people tomorrow.
Listen to the entire episode here:
How To Enter Flow State
People like sports stars and musicians often get into a flow state. So, what is a flow state, and what does it do to your learning and achievements? What does it take for us to reach a flow state? This TEDEd video explains this very well.
Flow is an altered state of consciousness.
When people are in flow, people tend to feel they are effortlessly engaged in a task. They feel a sense of oneness with what they are doing.
Flow tends to diminish feelings of worry and self-judgement.
When you do things that are ‘intrinsically motivating’ and have meaning and purpose in what you do, you tend to enter into a flow state.
Flow cannot happen when you do tasks because you ‘have to’ rather than ‘want to’.
How to get into a flow state:
Find a quiet environment free of noise and distraction.
Break your tasks into small bundles that are easy to track.
Set tasks that are challenging but not frustrating to you.
You can click the above video and watch it.
Why It’s Fine To Embrace Moments Of Unproductivity
The idea of ‘wisdom productivity’ conjured many conflicting thoughts around what we have come to believe and perceive as productivity.
One of the questions it threw up was, how do we measure productivity in human beings, and can we afford to stay in the ‘high productivity zone’ all the time?
The study, methods, and tools used to manage and measure human productivity are very similar to those used to calculate the productivity of machines. But humans are not machines.
It will be worthwhile to examine the evolution of measuring efficiency and productivity and see if there are any lessons we could learn or unlearn.
Perhaps the early study of business efficiency started with Fredrick Taylor's now famous Time-Motion Study. The emphasis here was more around the content of work. It sought to fix and maximize productivity irrespective of the physiological cost to the worker.
In another thought-provoking article about the ‘productivity paradox’ in IT investments, the findings and thoughts here are interesting:
‘Output value cannot be determined solely from the quantity of "widgets coming out of a factory", but requires the consideration of various other intangibles, ranging from quality, timeliness, customization, and variety.’
‘Perhaps the most common example of productivity lagging behind investments is the case of the electric dynamo. The time needed before productivity benefits were realized in the technological sector (especially since software is still a relatively new field) was about 40 years if we are to believe the studies of the 1990s that show significant productivity achievements.’
Hence, one common theme that seems to emerge is that no direct formula can improve productivity, especially when it comes to cognitive work. We must factor in the physiological cost of human effort and attention, which is not easy to control through tools alone. One interesting fact we need to understand is that productivity also has a lag effect. We usually measure productivity in a cycle that is too short, such as having a productive day, week, month, quarter, etc.
This is really where ‘wisdom productivity’ has a lot of meaning. There are moments in a day or a week when you don’t have to be busy and active instead of always being active. It is a conscious attempt to stay unproductive for a while. Some people take pride in being a ‘busy bee’ with back-to-back meetings and respond quickly to everything. However, it makes a lot of sense to block chunks of time to do nothing but think, reflect and iterate on projects or ideas that you have not been able to give enough time. It allows you to deep dive into ideas without the pressure of the next project or meeting. It will enable you to explore many areas without the constraints of time and deadlines.
In a study by the University of Warwick on lessons learnt from artists about productivity -‘Models of creativity acknowledge the need for periods of incubation and reflection in the creative process. With a few exceptions, most writers, musicians or artists do not follow a conventional working day. Most…..will devise their own routines and structures which will inevitably include some fallow periods.’
Being unproductive makes up the foundation for hyper-productivity.
Some of the lessons we learnt from this week’s mission:
Decide whether you want to follow ‘smart productivity’ or ‘wisdom productivity’.
AI is not just an interface design change but a linguistic design change.
Flow cannot happen when you do tasks because you ‘have to’ rather than ‘want to’.