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The cover of Slow Productivity

Slow Productivity

Cal Newport, 2024

Do less, work at a natural pace, and care deeply about quality. Slow productivity offers a humane path to meaningful achievement without chronic overload.

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6 parts, about 18 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that visible busyness has replaced real results in knowledge work, and offers three principles to reverse it
  • Gives concrete limits to try: a small active project list, a holding tank for requests, doubled estimates, seasonal rhythms
  • Builds its case from the working lives of writers, scientists and musicians, while naming who lacks the autonomy to follow it

Who it is for

  • Freelancers and small business owners drowning in commitments
  • Knowledge workers judged by fast replies and meetings
  • Writers and researchers working on long projects

What the summary covers

  1. Productive without visible frenzy2 min
  2. How busyness became a substitute for results3 min
  3. Principle one: do fewer things4 min
  4. Principle two: work at a natural pace4 min
  5. Principle three: obsess over quality4 min
  6. A system for meaningful accumulation1 min

Recommended by

  • Oliver BurkemanAuthor of Four Thousand Weeks
    This brilliant and timely book is for all of us who’ve grown disillusioned with conventional productivity advice, yet still yearn to get meaningful things done.
  • Laurie SantosProfessor of psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast
    Slow Productivity is a life-changing book!
  • Arthur C. BrooksAuthor of Build the Life You Want
    If you are stretched thin and having trouble getting everything done, you need to speed up, right? Wrong.
  • Gretchen RubinAuthor of The Happiness Project
    With profound insights backed by research, analysis, and examples from the lives of scientists and artists, Cal Newport explores a better way to work

About the author

  • Cal NewportProfessor of computer science at Georgetown University and nonfiction author
    • Born 23 June 1982 and grew up in Pennington, New Jersey
    • Graduated from Dartmouth in 2004; PhD in computer science from MIT in 2009 under Nancy Lynch
    • Joined Georgetown as an assistant professor in 2011, tenured 2017, full professor 2024
    • Full professor of computer science at Georgetown; PhD from MIT; research on distributed systems; over 65 peer reviewed articles
    • Contributing writer for The New Yorker and host of the Deep Questions podcast

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