There are workaholic execs who do put in 14x7 days still, but I think they function by arranging environments to efficiently use their time well even when they’re basically operating with an IQ of 80.
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It’s not hard to log hard hours if 80% of the time all you’re going is sitting and intimidating people into effectiveness by your sheer presence, letting other people do the thinking/talking, and simply adding +1s to some suggestions reactions. It’s a very small shell script.
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Anytime you see an exec with a very quiet style you can be sure they’re running in this low-energy leveraged mode, just moving their klout around the room.
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All they need to do is use moments of 100+ IQ lucidity to ask the occassional perspicacious question and everybody will conclude they’re a mysterious genius. Straussian Great Man Oz effect.
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I don’t hav a stable schedule let along an optimized one, all this is analysis/observation, not recommendations
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Replying to @vgr
Other way around, be productive 3-4hr/day, two days in row and put chill day every two days to load balance stuff? Why stick with 5+2?
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Get bored/restless and in a focusing mood again
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Replying to @vgr
How do you define/feel that you've recovered?
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I remain convinced that “deep work” is a fundamentally narcissistic and even disingenuous misframing. Do it if you want. Don’t pretend it’s some sort of noble modeling of the way everyone can or ought to work. Deep work is glorified hobbies for people with resources. twitter.com/mikeleinart/st
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I’ve gone from amused/apathetic to deep work, to actively hostile to the idea. It’s a performative part of hustle theater. Nobody using the phrase “deep work” appears to have actually done work comparable to what they claim to aspire to.
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The stuff we’re supposed to think deep work is like — soaring leaps of Great Work production by Great Men, on the order of Einstein or Mozart — actually happens via very different patterns of genetics/context/resources/work patterns/play patterns/recovery patterns.
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Ditto Waldenponding. “Social media detox,” etc etc. Yeah, just the “good cop” side of performative hustle theater. Social media addiction isn’t the problem, your solution isn’t a solution. Just an aestheticized, intellectualized version of “a bad work an blames his tools”
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This sounds harsh, but a lot of bullshit analysis and theatrical intervention into misframed non-problems is just ordinary, mediocre people refusing to question the conceit that the only thing standing between them and Greatness is some environmental factor.
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You solve problems very differently if you actually think you’re pretty ordinary and average in most ways, as opposed to thinking you’re special and merely being humble and self-deprecating.
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Broke thread
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A solution to a problem found by someone who actually thinks they’re average and ordinary tends to look less generalizable than it is. A bunch of janky-looking life hacks that look specific to the peculiar circumstances of their life. But you can usually borrow a trick or two.
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A solution to a problem found by someone who actually thinks they’re average and ordinary tends to look less generalizable than it is. A bunch of janky-looking life hacks that look specific to the peculiar circumstances of their life. But you can usually borrow a trick or two.
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A solution found by a person who thinks they’re special typically looks more universal than it is: “just adopt this manifesto and do xyz.”
Usually delivered with unconvincing false humility ie “if I can do it you can” and a throwaway remark about personalizing to your needs.
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I think there’s way more to it and all the “research” is just bolstering peripheral points in shaky ways while studiously ignoring glaring unstated assumptions baked into the idea. To be clear I think he sincerely believes that’s all there is to it. That’s part of the problem.



