Thoughts on Slow Productivity

Inspired by Cal Newport and David Graeber

Working in big tech, I spent most of my days between Zoom calls, Slack channels and hundreds of internal emails per day.

Everyone around me seemed to have joined some questionable cult that glorified busy-bragging and pseudo-productivity.

While my job included a prestigious title and considerable salary, I didn’t feel I was creating anything of long-term value.

I was trapped in what the anthropologist David Graeber called a “bullshit job” – a meaningless but well-paid role as a “taskmaster”.

When I got sick and depressed, I decided to leave my job.

Alienated by my experience in the corporate world, I went back to freelancing.

Organizing my work life, I’ve been following a different idea of productivity laid out by the writer and professor Cal Newport.

His books Deep Work and Digital Minimalism have deeply shaped my perspective on how I want to work. His most recent one, Slow Productivity, is the only book with “productivity” in the title I’ll ever want you to read.

Newport’s approach boils down to three golden rules:

• Do less.

• Work at a natural pace.

• Obsess over quality.

Now self-employed, I can finally put them into practice.

Below, I will explain to you in detail how those three rules apply to my day-to-day business.