{"id":14967,"date":"2023-03-07T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=14967"},"modified":"2023-11-24T15:21:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T23:21:29","slug":"sustainable-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Key to Sustainable Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve been following productivity advice for any length of time, you\u2019ve probably experienced the following cycle:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You find a new tool, system or motivational slogan.<\/li>\n<li>You get excited, work hard and get far more done than usual, seemingly proving that the new thing works.<\/li>\n<li>A few weeks pass, the new thing becomes old and you lose enthusiasm.<\/li>\n<li>Eventually, you revert to your old habits.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is productivity so difficult to sustain?<\/h2>\n<div class=\"inline-podcast\">\n<small>Listen to this article<\/small><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"20\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1465350295%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-f3bn9M2wXYB&#038;color=%23219895&#038;inverse=false&#038;auto_play=false&#038;show_user=true\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>I suspect a major cause of the difficulty is that we readily conflate two different ideas of what it means to \u201cbe productive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first is a subjective feeling of productivity. This comes when we\u2019re super busy or exerting extra willpower to focus on our work. This feeling is easy to tap into when you\u2019re motivated by a deadline or a new productivity device.<\/p>\n<p>The second is the objective output of productivity. This is the actual amount of important work that gets done. Books read, code written, clients served or products shipped.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the short term, the subjective and objective views of productivity often coincide. It usually is the case that when we\u2019re subjectively productive, more work is actually getting done.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14970\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>However, in the big picture, subjective and objective views of productivity often have nothing to do with each other. One author might leisurely write ten books over a decade, while another fails to turn in a manuscript despite ardent effort. The top researchers, programmers and entrepreneurs have more professional impact\u2014by orders of magnitude\u2014than their typical peers, but it\u2019s usually not just because they\u2019re just trying really hard.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sustainable Productivity is Invisible Productivity<\/h2>\n<p>Sustainable productivity comes from decoupling the short-term feeling of being busy or exerting effort from the long-term investments that allow you to get more work done whether or not you \u201cfeel\u201d particularly productive.<\/p>\n<p>Sustainable productivity comes from a few sources:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Low-effort routines or habits.<\/strong> The things you do without thinking about them, not just on your best days, but on your laziest days.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Knowledge and skills.<\/strong> Whether something is a vexing problem or a trivial task depends on the skills and experience you\u2019ve accumulated.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eliminated work and tasks.<\/strong> If tasks can be automated, delegated, deleted or streamlined, removing needless steps or tasks will have a far greater impact than simply trying to do them faster. Doing more important tasks means doing fewer unimportant ones.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>But most important is recognizing that in order to become more productive, you have to worry less about feeling productive and more about creating systems that allow you to get more done\u2014without herculean effort.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>Next week, <a href=\"http:\/\/calnewport.com\">Cal Newport<\/a> and I are opening a new session of our popular program, <a href=\"http:\/\/life-of-focus-course.com\">Life of Focus<\/a>. There, we\u2019ll guide students in building a foundation for their own sustainable productivity systems and practices. We hope you\u2019ll join us!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In order to become more productive, you have to worry less about feeling productive and more about creating systems that allow you to get more done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-personal-development","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Key to Sustainable Productivity - Scott H Young<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Key to Sustainable Productivity - Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In order to become more productive, you have to worry less about feeling productive and more about creating systems that allow you to get more done.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorScottYoung\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-07T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-24T23:21:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scott Young\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@scotthyoung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@scotthyoung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Young\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scott Young\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e\"},\"headline\":\"The Key to Sustainable Productivity\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-07T15:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-24T23:21:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":487,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"General\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Key to Sustainable Productivity - Scott H Young\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-07T15:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-24T23:21:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2023\\\/03\\\/07\\\/sustainable-productivity\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Key to Sustainable Productivity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scott H Young\",\"description\":\"Learn faster, achieve more\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e\",\"name\":\"Scott Young\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scott Young\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/vatadmin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Key to Sustainable Productivity - Scott H Young","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Key to Sustainable Productivity - Scott H Young","og_description":"In order to become more productive, you have to worry less about feeling productive and more about creating systems that allow you to get more done.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/","og_site_name":"Scott H Young","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorScottYoung\/","article_published_time":"2023-03-07T15:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-24T23:21:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Scott Young","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@scotthyoung","twitter_site":"@scotthyoung","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scott Young","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/"},"author":{"name":"Scott Young","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e"},"headline":"The Key to Sustainable Productivity","datePublished":"2023-03-07T15:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-24T23:21:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/"},"wordCount":487,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg","articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/","name":"The Key to Sustainable Productivity - Scott H Young","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy-1024x512.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-07T15:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-24T23:21:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LOF-L2-productivity-copy.jpg","width":1600,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/07\/sustainable-productivity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Key to Sustainable Productivity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/","name":"Scott H Young","description":"Learn faster, achieve more","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e","name":"Scott Young","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Scott Young"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/author\/vatadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14967"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15690,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14967\/revisions\/15690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}