Working at a natural pace

One core concept in Slow Productivity by Cal Newport is to “work at a natural pace”. This means working at rhythms that are better aligned (than they currently are for knowledge workers) with the nature of a human being. As Cal Newport describes, the type of work humans have done over the centuries has changed significantly both in characteristics and rhythm.

At first, the main job of a human was to hunt and gather food and resources for himself and the broader community. This meant intermittent periods of intense hunting, mixed with more relaxed, work-free days. The second drastic shift in human work happened with the advent of agriculture. Here, work followed seasonality, with long periods of continuous work followed by periods of rest. Next came the industrial revolution and factory work, characterized by long, uninterrupted hours to maximize output.

Cal Newport suggests that knowledge work currently follows principles rooted in the industrial revolution, where the value of work is judged by time spent working. Newport argues this metric is wrong for knowledge work because the outcome is less tangible, and the input is thinking and creativity rather than physical work.

That is why Newport proposes a more seasonal, natural approach to knowledge work, with periods of work interspersed with rest for days, weeks, or months at a time. Many prolific writers, inventors, and intellectuals have naturally followed this approach.

The concept of working at a more natural pace relates to arguments made by Oliver Burkeman in "Four Thousand Weeks" and advice by Naval Ravikant. For example:

• Rejecting the "efficiency trap": Burkeman argues that constantly trying to be more efficient often leads to more stress and less satisfaction
• Accepting limitations: embracing our finite nature and the impossibility of "getting everything done"
• Quality over quantity: Burkeman suggests focusing on "doing a few things that count"
• Resisting the urge for constant productivity: developing an "anti-skill" of resisting the impulse to always be doing more
• Embracing discomfort: Burkeman recommends "staying with the anxiety of feeling overwhelmed"
• Valuing time over money: Naval emphasizes the importance of controlling your own time and being "tracked on the outputs" rather than inputs
• Avoiding busyness: Naval describes being busy as "a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action"
• Long-term thinking: Naval advocates for compound interest in skills and relationships
• Mindfulness and presence: Naval emphasizes the importance of being present and finding happiness in the absence of desire