rerR020 Boost your produetviy: Cripple your technology
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Boost your productivity: Cripple
your technology
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Every advance in productivity afforded by technology has been quickly
swallowed by a corresponding reduction in the barriers to procrastination.
For all their drawbacks, it was hard to browse reddit on these.
For those that spend their working hours attached to a computer,
distraction is never more than a few keystrokes away.
It's too easy to switch from editing a document to blowing time on the web.
In effect, the transaction cost to procrastination has become zero.
‘The standard prescription for boosting productivity--getting organized--
solves an orthogonal problem, and ignoring the ease of procrastination
invites failure.
For many of us, the biggest gains in productivity do not come from following
a specific methodology for "getting things done.” It comes from erecting
transaction costs to nonproductive behavior.
Erecting transaction costs means, in many cases, demoting our
multipurpose devices to a single purpose--that is, erippling them.
Read below for my specific tips.
‘matt might nevarticlestcripple your-tochnology!re7r020 Boost your productviy: Cripple your technology
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The productivity paradox
‘The productivity paradox, popularized by economist Erik Brynjolfsson,
notes that computational power has advanced exponentially for decades, yet
growth in labor productivity remains modest.
While many factors explain the paradox, the one most relevant to modern
knowledge workers is the dual capacity of technology to aid and to distract.
‘To resolve this paradox, my guiding principle for productivity applies:
Mold your life so that the path of least resistance
is the path of maximum productivity.
The key to unlocking the productive potential of technology is to cripple it.
Erect and enforce barriers to using technology to procrastinate.
Tip: Use dry-erase boards and journals
Ifa large portion of your work involves playing with ideas, buy a large dry
erase board. Step away from the machine.
Getting away from the computer makes it hard to subconsciously slip into
autonomic procrastinatory tendencies.
Keep a quad-ruled lab journal in every room where you might work.
When outlining, brainstorming or calculating, use a journal instead of a
computer.
Tip: Block distracting sites; get an iPad
It's easy to sink hours into sites like reddit and Hacker News.
Ifyou find yourself spending too much time on some sites, block them
permanently them using tools like Leechblock for Firefox, StayFocusd for
Chrome, and WasteNoTime for Safari.
‘To browse these sites, use a dedicated device like an iPad instead.
When you need to get work done, remove that device from the room.
If you want to disable Safari on a Mac entirely, use:
‘matt might nevarticlestcripple your-tochnology!
26rerr020
Boost your productviy: Cripple your technology
sudo chmod ogu-rx /Aapplications/Safari.app
and to re-enable it:
sudo port chmod ogu+rx /Applications/Safari.app
Tip: Block games; get a gaming machine
[love gaming.
But, without restrictions in place, I play them too much.
Ifyou find yourself gaming too much on your PC, gradually escalate the cost
to starting a game.
First, create a separate user account on the machine and install games only
on that account. Give it a long (> 32 character) random password that is
difficult to type. (Yes, you should write the password down.)
Ifyou still play too many games, delete the games from your work machine
and buy a dedicated gaming console or a second, gaming-only PC.
Not having games on your work machine will prevent you from playing
them "accidentally."
My wife and I bought a Wii because we wanted games that were fun to play
and, most importantly, easy to pause and put down.
Tip: Put yourself in airplane mode
Many find airplane flights unexpectedly productive.
For a few hours, the prime distractions of modern life are gon:
TV, email, phone, text messaging and time-draining web sites.
oworkers,
Spend a couple hours each day in airplane mode: disable the internet on
your computer and put your phone in airplane mode.
‘The best place for airplane mode is the library, since if you need to look up
information, you won't need to use the web and invite its temptations.
Tip: Live in the console
In my freshman year of college, I wanted to learn the "Unix lifestyle."
So, I deleted my X server (the windowing system for Unix) and forced
myself to complete every task at the command line.
I browsed the web with lynx.
Tread my mail with mutt.
‘matt might nevarticlestcripple your-tochnology!
38rerr020
Boost your produetviy: Cripple your technology
Tlearned to develop and debug code without an IDE.
T mastered the art of computing at the command line.
And, with the exception of nethack, there aren't many ways to waste a lot of
time at the console.
I worked a lot. I learned even more.
Tip: Subscribe to a dead-tree newspaper
Ifit's hard to block news sites, try a dead-tree newspaper subscription.
Every morning, I spread each section of The Wall Street Journal on my
dining room table.
Ibring the New York Times home from work and then do the same.
Five minutes of scanning headlines grants an intuitive sense of the state of
the nation, the world and the markets.
It's also easy to save articles as "to read” while relaxing or working out.
The chief benefit of reading the paper is that it strongly diminishes the urge
to compulsively check the news while trying to work.
Ultimately, it's a more efficient way to consume news.
Tip: Ditch your cable TV subscription
It's too easy to turn on a TV and lose hours.
Most shows are now available for purchase, rental or streaming from
Netilix, Hulu, iTunes or Amazon.
Save time and money by cancelling your cable TV subscription.
‘We attached a Mac Mini to our TV and now save about $100 a month in
cable bills. The payback period on the Mac Mini was seven months.
‘The Mae Mini is also our dedicated "PC" gaming machine.
Related posts
Parsing BibTeX into S-Expressions, JSON, XML and BibTeX
Productivity tips for academies
Travel hacks
Tips for work-life balance
‘matt might nevarticlestcripple your-tochnology!
46renm020 Boos you product: Cripple your tetralogy
12 resolutions for grad students
12 resolutions for programmers
End artificial scarcities to boost productivity
Console productivity hack: Exploiting task frequency
External resources
+ Relevant xked blog post.
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