%% [[Producing]] tags:: #on/productivity | #on/deepwork people:: #people/calnewport | #people/nealstephenson # productivity is non-linear Lon Setnik dates:: 2022-07-19 %% *The difference between writing a novel that impacts millions of people and responding to some emails is deep work.* This reminds me of [[🐓 Idea Farm/3 Inbox of ideas/Deep Work]] uninterrupted blocks of time get you to a deeper place, to a more productive place, to a place where the real [[Peak performance]] of your brain is unleashed. This requires that you unleash a hidden power. It's kind of like [[the hidden power of compounding]], how depth of learning, a process of creating connections, and an ability to focus for long periods of time, creates a situation where you can create more than you could if you were not able to create that depth of space. It's also kind of like how I didn't used to think I could be a farmer because I couldn't manage the weeding, but I found a better process that let me [[focus on the process not the goal]], which helped me to learn a way to manage the weeds. [[Interruptions are the weeds in the garden of deep work]]. This is an idea from Neal Stephenson's writing: Writing novels is hard, and requires vast, unbroken slabs of time. Four quiet hours is a resource that I can put to good use. Two slabs of time, each two hours long, might add up to the same four hours, but are not nearly as productive as an unbroken four. If I know that I am going to be interrupted, I can’t concentrate, and if I suspect that I might be interrupted, I can’t do anything at all. Likewise, several consecutive days with four-hour time-slabs in them give me a stretch of time in which I can write a decent book chapter, but the same number of hours spread out across a few weeks, with interruptions in between them, are nearly useless. This matters because I want to reach my peak potential. As Demian said, I shouldn't be trying to survive, I should be trying to crush it at CMS. Just like working out, trying different approaches, learning what does and doesn't work for my ability to build strength and endurance, this matters because it is a question of my ability to learn how to reach my potential through [[Deliberate Practice]]. ### What would the opposite argument be? ## Sources: https://www.nealstephenson.com/why-i-am-a-bad-correspondent.html