{"id":13024,"date":"2021-03-01T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=13024"},"modified":"2021-04-16T00:45:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T08:45:34","slug":"how-hard-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/01\/how-hard-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hard Should You Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I shared the idea of a \u201cproductive frontier<\/a>.\u201d When you\u2019re below the frontier, you can usually get more done simply by optimizing your systems. Cut out the waste and be more productive. When you\u2019re at the frontier, getting more done comes at the expense of other things\u2014like your time off.<\/p>\n

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One wrinkle I didn\u2019t address in that essay was the role of effort. This matters greatly because a lot of our up-and-down struggles with productivity come from it.<\/p>\n

Put simply, for most types of work you can increase your output, without increasing your hours, by upping the intensity of your work. No more watercooler chats. No more lingering over emails as you break a little before getting on with the next task. Just put in a relentless focus on deep work.<\/p>\n

And this usually works! We\u2019re rarely working at our absolute maximum level of effort, so we can often squeeze more productivity out of our day by upping the intensity.<\/p>\n

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Some productivity systems readily admit this. Cal Newport recommends time blocking<\/a>, which he argues makes about a 2x factor in the amount he\u2019s able to get done. But, at the same time, he\u2019s frank about the intensity\u2014scheduling every moment of your working day takes effort.<\/p>\n

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