Productivity is good — if you optimise the function, not the input

Executive overview

Most critiques of productivity attack the same thing: being pushed to put in more hours for someone else's benefit. That critique is valid but misses the point.

Productivity worth pursuing means improving the conversion function — getting more output from the same input, freeing time for the rest of life.

Two critiques of productivity worth taking seriously

• Economic critique: capitalism uses productivity rhetoric to extract more labour — longer hours, mobile work, weekend availability — without making workers more effective
• Cultural critique: subcultures and humblebrag social media valorise overwork as an identity signal, not a means to an end
• Both critiques are partly right; neither says productivity itself is the problem

The right mental model: fix the function

• Productivity = a function that maps input (time, cognitive effort) to output (valuable work)
• The exploitative version: increase input to increase output
• The useful version: improve the function so the same input yields more output
• Fixing the function reduces burnout, frees time, and expands life options
• Efficiency gains without intention just enable more overwork — clarity about what you want is the second requirement

Designing a deep life alongside productive work

• Define your key life areas ("buckets"): work, relationships, contemplation, leisure, health
• Optimise each bucket — cut noise, double down on what matters
• Freed hours from efficient work flow into underfunded buckets, not back into work
• Finishing by 2 pm instead of 5 pm means three hours available for family, thinking, or high-quality leisure

Interviewing experts without confirmation bias

• Never ask "what's your advice?" — people give socially coherent answers, not accurate ones (the colour folder effect)
• Ask for their story: walk through chronology, find the key career jumps
• At each jump, probe: what was different between you and others who wanted the same position?
• Extract the pattern yourself, as a journalist would — don't let them prescribe it

GRE preparation and deliberate practice

• Study question types and strategies first (e.g. Princeton Review)
• Then take real past GREs under timed conditions repeatedly until target score is reached
• Proximity to actual performance conditions is the most effective training method

Intermittently deep work

• Some tasks (e.g. wireframing) are mostly routine with occasional moments of focus
• A podcast in the background is acceptable: pause it at decision points
• Distinction matters: purely deep work (writing) + background audio = nothing gets done

Time blocking for high schoolers

• Most of the school day is already blocked by class periods
• Block only the after-school study time — not every minute, just schoolwork sessions
• Benefits: confronting actual workload early, starting sooner, spreading tasks out
• No-phone during blocked study time multiplies completion speed by roughly 3×
• If all free time is consumed, the fix is reducing commitments, not better scheduling

Choosing a first job and building career capital

• Career capital (rare and valuable skills) is the currency that buys autonomy, interesting projects, and flexibility
• Don't search for a "true passion" job — passion follows competence, not the reverse
• Four filters for evaluating job options:
  1. Seems interesting and leverages existing skills
  2. Lifestyle factors (location, culture, pace) match your vision
  3. Rewards career capital with autonomy as you improve (not just money)
  4. Contains skills you can actually master
• Mindset shift: evaluate how you'll feel at year five, not day five

Psychedelics and the deep life

• Guided psychedelic experiences show measurable positive effects in terminal cancer patients and PTSD treatment in veterans
• The mechanism (ego dissolution, reconnecting with what matters) overlaps with deep-life goals
• Medically vetted protocols are maturing; broader therapeutic use is likely over time
• Not a current recommendation — a plausible future tool for perspective-setting

Single-use technology

• General-purpose devices create constant attention fragmentation
• Preferred single-use tools: pedometer, time-block planner, grid-paper notebook, printed books
• Each does one thing well; opens with clear purpose, closes cleanly
• The codex (bound book) solved scroll navigation 2,000 years ago — still the gold standard

AI writing assistants

• Grammar and clarity suggestions are roughly equivalent to having a copy editor — net positive
• Real open question: does AI feedback loop gradually homogenise writing style across users?
• Worth researching; not yet a demonstrated problem

RSS and the post-social-media content ecosystem

• Google Reader's death accelerated the shift of attention to platform-controlled feeds
• Newsletters (Substack et al.) are a move back toward creator-controlled distribution
• Ideal end state: RSS reader with tiered paid subscriptions, outside the email inbox
• This mirrors early Web 2.0 — the industry may return to it

Working deep in a small shared space (pandemic conditions)

• Remote and co-working options will reopen; current constraints are temporary
• Near-term fix: treat outdoors as a valid work environment year-round
• Use fire pits, park benches, outdoor dining areas, hiking trails for reading and thinking calls
• "Adventure knowledge work" — exotic locations break doldrums and sharpen focus
• Flexibility of pandemic-era schedules is an underused advantage

Convincing others to engage with self-help

• You can't force it; many people are either dismissive (genre seems unsophisticated) or defensive
• Best approach: live the practices visibly — people ask when they notice results
• Answer honestly when asked; some will follow up privately
• Your intellectual and social lives don't have to fully overlap

Developing an intellectual life in college

• Produce work: write for publications, take small seminars, start a podcast
• Find a small group who want the same depth of conversation — not your entire friend group
• Keep a mix: deep conversations with some, lighter connection with others
• Resilience requires life outside your own head