Suppose you start a normal day. You pick up the phone, check the notifications, maybe open an email and then… BOOM! Hundreds of tasks, messages, and unfinished tasks hit you like a huge wave. You get confused and tired, you feel like you fell into a vortex that gets deeper every moment. Everything is moving at a breakneck speed and you have to keep up Less work more results with this lightning speed. This is where a simple but powerful concept called “Slow Productivity” comes in and wants to take your hand and pull you out of this stressful world.
In this article, we want to take a closer look at what slow productivity is, where it comes from, and how it can help us do our work better and be more relaxed in this crazy world. We are going to see together how we can create a proper balance in our work and life and escape from all this rush and stress.
What is Slow Productivity?
In simple words, Slow Productivity means that instead of trying to do a lot of work at lightning speed, come work a little slower and focus on a smaller number of tasks. In this way, the efficiency of your card will increase and you will enjoy what you do more. The fact is that these days businesses and employees are coming to the conclusion that they should have a serious revision in the definition of productivity. Instead of thinking that productivity means doing a lot of work, let’s focus on the quality of work.
Slow Productivity says that we should make a fundamental change in our definition of productivity. It asks us to think about what productivity really means. For example, let’s ask ourselves questions like these:
- What work environment do you work best?
- What methods can sustainably maintain productivity? (For example, is the card a sprint or a marathon?)
- Does the type of work you do require speed or thought.
The origin of Slow Productivity
The term “slow productivity” was first coined by Cal Newport, a computer science professor and well-known author of books such as “Digital Minimalism” and “A World Without Email: Rethinking Work in an Age of Hypercommunication.” He also has a podcast called ” Deep Questions with Cal Newport ” where he talks about living and working deeply in this superficial world.
Cal Newport talks about the four-day work week in the New Yorker magazine, but says that it is only a partial solution to the main problem, which is “too much work”. According to him, reducing the number of working hours without reducing the workload will only make the situation worse. Instead, it says that productivity should be more about the quality of work than its quantity.
Slow Productivity is very similar to other slow movements such as the Slow Food movement in the 1980s, which focused on more awareness and precision.
Productivity Myth: Against Slow Productivity
The productivity myth says that database shop if we work hard enough and fast enough, we will find enough time to do enjoyable things. But the fact is that being busy does not necessarily mean being effective. Filling working days with various tasks and activities may make employees very busy, but it prevents them from discovering their abilities and creativity. This situation only causes the real purpose and meaning of the work to be lost and finally ends in fatigue and burnout.
A survey conducted by Harvard Business Review and in which 1500 people in 46 different countries were asked, showed that burnout is a big and global problem. For example:
- 89% of people say that their life is getting worse because of work.
- 85% said that their well-being has decreased.
- 56% said that their job demands have increased.
- 62% of those who could not manage their workload said that they were “often” or “too much” burned out in the last three months.
According to UC Berkeley and Deakin University research, there are six main reasons for job burnout , which include too much work, lack of control, insufficient rewards, social breakdown, lack of fairness, and value conflict. Burnout can also be a symptom of other problems, such as employees having an endless list of tasks that never ends.
Another obstacle to productivity is busywork. Working harder and faster on more tasks can keep employees constantly busy and keep them from achieving their goals. Work teams can move from this situation to real productivity; By setting smaller, more attainable goals, focus on one thing at a time and eliminate distractions.
Benefits of Slow Productivity for Businesses and Employees
Some of the benefits of Slow Productivity are very clear. People who focus on fewer tasks at a slower pace usually feel better mentally and have more energy to achieve their goals. When things are done with more purpose and precision, employees have more time to socialize, think about themselves, and create a work-life balance.
This method has many advantages for businesses. Even if employees are not overworked, they are not always as productive as they could or should be. If we move a little more slowly, overall productivity may increase and business results may improve, because this way we have more time to focus on things that are important to customers and shareholders.
How to implement Slow Productivity
Well, now the question is: How can we implement Slow Productivity? A writer and teacher named “Carla Starr” said something interesting: “When we have endless tasks, what else can we do except to step away from work? When we know that the to-do list will never get shorter, why should we find more motivation in While we know that these efforts do not change anything and things continue.
A of European countries such as Belgium have enact laws that say e-mail and such things are prohibit after working hours. It is call “the right to disconnect”. Employers can also advise their employee to turn off email notifications, Slack and other social networks. Another solution is to make it clear in the company’s policies that employees should inform others when they are in “deep work” mode.
In an article in the New Yorker
Newport says that if the four-day how to improve user experience with chatbots work week becomes a federal standard, working less will no longer be a “freakish experiment by a few startups.” Instead, it becomes an option that employers must have a good reason for not offering. And as time goes by and the benefits of this work model become clear, it becomes harder to pass it.
Managers can help maintain a stable work level and encourage slow productivity by assigning fewer projects, but more impactful projects.
Challenges of Slow Productivity
Of course, it’s not always that usa b2b list easy. One of the obstacles to Slow Productivity is the culture of “Hustle” or hard work. This culture is common among knowledge workers in work environments and emphasizes on a lot of work and long hours. This is while the World Health Organization says that too much work is dangerous.
An interesting example of this is given
By “Alex Soojung-Kim Pang” in his book called ” Rest: Why We Get More Done When We Work Less “. He says that he did a lot of work during a period of work called “working vacation”, but at the same time, he felt like he was on a long and comfortable vacation. This experience led to the conclusion that what we usually think about working hours and productivity is completely wrong.