

The Futility of Productivity Posts - getdavidhiggins
http://blog.higg.im/2014/03/09/productivity-hacking/

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avenger123
What is being forgotten by the author of this post is that we are all
different. Each of these posts, regardless of the main theme (in this case
productivity) are coming from different life experiences and different
approaches. Some of these posts provide a specific set of insights with
instructions, others just some morsels of wisdom on the subject.

Reading these types of posts will resonate differently to me versus to someone
else. Having these posts out there is a nice repetition of the main ideas and
at some point when the person is ready, it can come together. At that point,
all the different posts on the subject that the person has read will have
started to come together with bits and pieces from each.

We do only really change when we are ready. I see these posts as the
accumulation of knowledge to be there for us once we are ready to take the
steps. I guess these thoughts can be true for other areas.

For me personally, I have been reading about setting up a home gym, kettle
bells, paleo diets, low carb diets, dangers of grains (a la Wheat Belly) for
the past few years and yet wasn't in a position to do anything to act on all
these knowledge either through lack of motivation and life circumstances.
Recently, within the last 2-3 months, it's all coming together. I'm tightening
up the diet, working out from home, starting to use kettle bells, removing a
lot of the unnecessary carbs and all the knowledge for all of this has been
ingrained in my brain from reading and learning about all these over all this
time. My personal map of knowledge in this area allows me to dig deeper in the
right places since I've visited these places before causally.

So to the authors point, no, not one article is going to make anybody jump up
and start to make drastic changes to their life. Perhaps not even a hundred.
But when that person is ready, all those articles will play a part in helping
them make these changes.

~~~
DenisM
That's an interesting theory, but I wonder if it's true? Does it happen that
someone would read productivity posts for years, and then suddenly start
acting on the accumulated wisdom? I've never seen that...

~~~
avenger123
Why is someone reading productivity posts all the time? Or any other self
improvement material all the time?

Obviously there is some intent to change. When this intention manifest's
itself into real action is the real question.

It's common with people that are depressed to have them read and be exposed to
as much uplifting and self improvement materials as much as possible. How much
it helps may not be easily quantifiable but it is known to make a difference.

I do agree that suddenly is a big step and its most likely that its baby
steps.

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throwawaymsft
Productivity Tips are the geek's version of Men's Health:

[http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/files/2012/02/Mens-
Healt...](http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/files/2012/02/Mens-Health-March-
cover.jpg)

A single issue should drastically change your life (fitness, sex, money,
energy, style). Yet this magazine comes out every month... hrm.

~~~
visakanv
I used to read Men's Health for several years when I was a teenager. It's
true, after a while it gets rather repetitive. But I thought it was alright. I
thought they had some pretty good reminders. I was often pumped to hit the gym
after flipping through the pages. I think it was a decent investment back
then, and I still remember most of the fundamentals.

~~~
throwawaymsft
Yeah, I don't think the material is actually bad. It's just that the problem
isn't with the material, it's actually doing it.

Issues #2 onward should be "So, are you doing what we told you in issue #1?
Because if you did, you wouldn't be looking for more."

~~~
visakanv
agreed

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msutherl
I keep track of the posts that work for me and refer back to them:
[http://x.are.na/uCUxINP](http://x.are.na/uCUxINP)

~~~
visakanv
Nice! While we're in the spirit of sharing aggregated material that we've
found helpful, here's mine. Sorry for the messiness:
[http://visakanv.com/blog/recommendations](http://visakanv.com/blog/recommendations)

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adamnemecek
The irony of a post lamenting the unproductivity of productivity posts is
killing me.

~~~
coldtea
Well, it discusses them on a meta level, and it doesn't pretend to be
productivity advice itself, so not much irony to die from.

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foocc
I'm tracking the "sparks", perhaps about five a week (through beeminder.com),
with very high fluctuations. Interesting to look back at them in retrospect.

All those insights are then consolidated into an "identity framework" through
draftin.com. Shortcomings are then expressed as quantitative goals on
beeminder.com and tracked (using RescueTime for time-related goals and binary
variables for almost everything else).

This method has actually had quite an important impact on how I perceive
myself.

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cateye
This is a well written self-referential post: maybe the most futile of them
all.

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lazydon
The post is very negative. If you take away from someone what you think of as
false, don't run way without providing a better alternative. Even if that is
just thinking for yourself and not to follow anybody.

Yes, most blog posts go on to follow the same path as that of so called self-
help books. But once in a while a sincere anecdote can make you think of fresh
perspective on how to handle a situation in which you did not do better.

I think we as a generation should feel lucky to be living when Experimental
Psychology is blossoming. Books from authors like Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely,
Daniel Gilbert have had a life changing impact on my thinking. To really
understand that our brains are not perfect - but are infact a kludge - makes
you think about taking necessary precautions about these limitations.

And for productivity, number one thing that we need to outsmart is our
impulsiveness.

~~~
colinshark
The post is negative because the productivity posts are bad and make HN worse.

The alternative is to post ANYTHING other than "These 5 weird things are
making you procrastinate" and similar.

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juvoni
I seek out productivity because my livelihood depends on it. I live in an
environment where very little mistakes can be made and time needs to have an
extra sense of urgency. The difference is that I focus on monitoring my
behaviors and on other habits for the sole purpose of making actionable
decisions on it. As long as there is actionable advice it can be useful.

I wrote about my productivity lifestyle system here: [http://juvoni.com/you-
are-a-rocketship/](http://juvoni.com/you-are-a-rocketship/)

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perlpimp
yes these posts should be life and perspective altering. If you do not depend
on them and treat them as doses of lsd, effect might be quite theraputic. at
the end of the buzz sometimes there is a tiny takeaway and thats how it goes.
Later down the road lesson learned might be highly beneficial - at least there
were moments like that for me.

imho

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firepoet
You've inspired me to add an activity to my agile coaching practice: bring a
blog post that inspired you but you didn't act on. Then we'll design a goal
around it together. Fun!

Maybe I can help my clients turn some of these McPosts into fine dining. :-)

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dasil003
Yes a lot of these posts end up being nothing more than dopamine hits. But on
the other hand, it's probably better than watching TV or reading Newsweek. As
long as we're clear it's entertainment then I think we're okay.

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analog31
It reminds me of something that I read once: That all self-help methods work,
mainly because they encourage us to monitor our own behavior.

