In that case I think you might be straw-manning the message of the article.
It's about being honest with yourself about how your practices relate to your actual productivity versus your potential productivity. Of course at the end of the day only the output matters, and if you're super productive by browsing facebook 4 hours a day and focusing the other 4, good for you.
The article asks: Are you selling yourself short by doing that?
It's possible the answer is no, and that you simply need to work that way.
But it's far more likely that you are selling yourself short. Most people surfing facebook for 4 hours a day are not productive geniuses with an idiosyncratic process. They really are just fucking around.
> I think you might be straw-manning the message of the article.
Yes? First sentence was that I don't understand this perspective.
> Are you selling yourself short by doing that?
I think finding progress is more important than what is literally being done. Activity and productivity are very loosely correlated in knowledge work. If that person scrolling facebook decides to switch careers to online marketing or bring those skills into running their own business, it definitely wasn't a waste of time.
> Most people surfing facebook for 4 hours a day are not productive geniuses with an idiosyncratic process. They really are just fucking around.
I don't know anyone working in tech that's this dumb and lazy. The post is about writing software, not menial work. If someone is bored by tech work or doesn't see the value in it then they don't understand it. They deserve to fuck around and get fired.
It's about being honest with yourself about how your practices relate to your actual productivity versus your potential productivity. Of course at the end of the day only the output matters, and if you're super productive by browsing facebook 4 hours a day and focusing the other 4, good for you.
The article asks: Are you selling yourself short by doing that?
It's possible the answer is no, and that you simply need to work that way.
But it's far more likely that you are selling yourself short. Most people surfing facebook for 4 hours a day are not productive geniuses with an idiosyncratic process. They really are just fucking around.