One thing I would love to have known earlier is we are not paid to be busy 24X7. Someone who spends about 1-2 hours a day on useful stuff is doing great and overachieving in most knowledge work where a lot of things ends up being forms of make work.
I’m finally finding a happy medium with consulting for a small company where I only need to do a few hours of work a week. It helps me not feel like I’m slacking and the work itself is fun to do when there’s not too much of it.
Love that Jokic quote! These playoffs have been a revelation for me (embarrassingly my first full Jokic game). I do wonder though about the sports dichotomy between players who are all about balling at the expense of family life (MJ, KD) vs those that clearly prioritize family (LBJ, Joker). Definitely a false dichotomy but I think it says something about society who we value more highly.
Really enjoyed hearing how you frame knowledge work as "lumpy". I would love to see new frameworks that suit lumpy work better. What would it look like to be freed from being "on-call" from 9-5 while assuaging your manager's need to see "butts in seats"?
Ha! Good point. There's a story going around that in-office collaboration (or hybrid) actually fosters innovation-style work. Do you think there's any truth to that?
"But in knowledge work a lot of what people are getting paid to do in knowledge work is reacting to lumpy events. There are intense periods where you really do need to be working a lot followed by down times"
Knowledge workers are closer to firefighters, but managed like factory workers.
“In reality, Nate works one hour a day at most. He moseys over to his computer whenever he gets an alert on his phone that he’s got a task to complete. Otherwise, he spends most of the day doing, basically, whatever he feels — he sleeps in, he watches TV, he does household chores. His only real restriction is that he can’t stray too far from home in the event he is needed for something.”
That was my experience at Amazon as a SWE too. Despite hardly working, I had to be “on”. I had to put up an illusion of working. I never felt in control of my own time which proved to be too burdensome.
“To have lots of good work you can spend your time on, you need to weed out the wrong work and learn to trust that good work will eventually emerge in the space that you create.” There’s so much richness in this sentence.
Both of these are tremendously important exercises in trusting your instincts, and having faith in your own abilities—and getting to that point can take years, or decades. I wish I’d been able to do both fifteen years ago...but I can do them now, and that’s what matters.
Hello Paul, I have been an avid follower of your Substack for quite some time.
Regarding your comment about the neurosurgeon needing more rest, that is absolutely true but you also need to consider that the reason that neurosurgeon is actually good is that he or she has spent 100,000 hours in the OR honing their craft culminating in their unique blend of skills and experience that they possess. Would you have rather have a relatively inexperienced but well-rested surgeon? or the top surgeon who operates from 7 am to 7 pm 4 days a week? There is a well-described relationship between surgeon volume and outcomes. In the case of the procedure that I perform, radical prostatectomy, it peaks at around 2,000 procedures that each take 3 hours to perform. If we consider the math, high-performing surgeons are unlikely to be well-rested and very balanced people.
The irony here is palpable. While we advocate for a more mindful, balanced life that isn't solely dictated by professional obligations, it is the very commitment and dedication that often undermines a surgeon's work-life balance which makes them unparalleled in their field. In essence, the surgeon we aspire to have is likely to be the one who has devoted an inordinate amount of time honing their skills, possibly at the expense of personal balance and rest. This dichotomy is thought-provoking and merits reflection. I struggle a lot with this myself.
i think the point still stands. i think the subtle distinction is between painful grinding and active engagement. i imagine most people that go that deep in surgery actually are interested in what they are doing...or at least i hope
I have been trying to find meaningful work after my first job. The closest to that is writing my newsletter and fiction. But you know it takes a lot of time and luck for anything to happen.
I am basically trying to follow your path but it is not the time to take the leap yet.
Years ago I was essentially sidelined by my old boss, and I sort of "quiet quit" for months. My 70% effort was still surface-level strong, but I was actively disengaged. Definitely working as few hours as possible on WFH days. That goes on a while. One day, my new boss says they're both so impressed by how I'd been killing it in recent months.
It took me a few more years to leave, and I'm still trying to find the balance of too little/too much work, but that convo stayed with me. Not surprised others have their own versions.
Totally agree with this whole essay. Another example are Firefighters. They sit around and lift weights, read, and when something happens, respond with utmost speed and verocity. Same in my time in the military in combat. In my professional roles I work about 25% the amount of anyone else and yet I regularly get 100% more work done. So how do you really measure productivity? The person who hacks out 200 hundred lines of code or the person who researches and solves the problem with 5 lines?
I wrote two themes on this same topic. The first is on being a Lazy Leader (and how that's a good thing.) from my time in the Army
There needs to be more serendipity in work – as you highlighted how David Whyte puts it: “Constant busyness has no absence in it, no openness to the arrival of any new season, no birdsong at the start of its day”
Of course, the headline caught my eye right away! I talk to many people from many different parts of the country all the time about this very issue. We are all very confused. Our experience is that it is almost impossible to get even the mundane things in our lives done, when we have to rely on other people to do their jobs. I've seen this from admin staff to company executives to government workers (no surprise there), even to doctors. My biggest complaint about my life right now is that I feel I'm doing everyone else's job for them! This in addition to my own work. I have to constantly call and email people to get issues resolved. It seems that no one is proactive in the least - they are only putting out fires as they arise and when they absolutely have to.
I realize this doesn't really apply to the tech industry, but I wonder what your thoughts are on this? Have you experienced this also? I don't know if people are way overworked because of staffing shortages, or just coasting in their jobs and pushing the "delete all" buttons on their email and phone messages. Either way, I don't see it getting any better and it makes me very concerned for our future. I know soon AI will take care of most of this though, and maybe that's the cause of the problem?
The issue isn’t that it’s shameful to work less than 40 hours a week. The issue is that you’re lying about it.
Jiggling your mouse every 15 minutes while not doing any work is straight up dishonest. As explained in this article, it’s not necessarily detrimental to the company (knowledge work can be lumpy, you’re “on call”, you finish what you’re supposed to, etc). But you are lying - and this lie hurts all of us.
By lying about how much you actually work, you BREED the environment in which people are expected to "work" much more than they actually need to. By jiggling your mouse every 15 minutes, you’re literally manifesting a world in which people are expected to be at their screens for 40 hours a week.
If you’re not doing anything, and you don’t need to be, that’s fine - but tell the truth about it!
We can all agree this type of work environment is largely unnecessary and detrimental, at least when it comes to most jobs that can be done remotely (that’s why we read Paul’s newsletter). But because you continue to lie so that you don’t have to confront your boss (and potentially face consequences), you directly contribute to this environment.
I love hearing my, mind you *lovely*, self proclaimed "30 something but Gen-Zer Comments on TikTok and gets likes" manager talk to me about how lucky I am to start working after college in a generation that takes no shit.
One thing I would love to have known earlier is we are not paid to be busy 24X7. Someone who spends about 1-2 hours a day on useful stuff is doing great and overachieving in most knowledge work where a lot of things ends up being forms of make work.
I’m finally finding a happy medium with consulting for a small company where I only need to do a few hours of work a week. It helps me not feel like I’m slacking and the work itself is fun to do when there’s not too much of it.
Love that Jokic quote! These playoffs have been a revelation for me (embarrassingly my first full Jokic game). I do wonder though about the sports dichotomy between players who are all about balling at the expense of family life (MJ, KD) vs those that clearly prioritize family (LBJ, Joker). Definitely a false dichotomy but I think it says something about society who we value more highly.
I'm all for not working 8 hours a day / 5 days a week. Even four-day work week would help peoples well being so much!!
Really enjoyed hearing how you frame knowledge work as "lumpy". I would love to see new frameworks that suit lumpy work better. What would it look like to be freed from being "on-call" from 9-5 while assuaging your manager's need to see "butts in seats"?
remote work has sort of fixed this, we just pretend theres still a debate
Ha! Good point. There's a story going around that in-office collaboration (or hybrid) actually fosters innovation-style work. Do you think there's any truth to that?
"But in knowledge work a lot of what people are getting paid to do in knowledge work is reacting to lumpy events. There are intense periods where you really do need to be working a lot followed by down times"
Knowledge workers are closer to firefighters, but managed like factory workers.
“In reality, Nate works one hour a day at most. He moseys over to his computer whenever he gets an alert on his phone that he’s got a task to complete. Otherwise, he spends most of the day doing, basically, whatever he feels — he sleeps in, he watches TV, he does household chores. His only real restriction is that he can’t stray too far from home in the event he is needed for something.”
That was my experience at Amazon as a SWE too. Despite hardly working, I had to be “on”. I had to put up an illusion of working. I never felt in control of my own time which proved to be too burdensome.
Baby bjorn ftw
“To have lots of good work you can spend your time on, you need to weed out the wrong work and learn to trust that good work will eventually emerge in the space that you create.” There’s so much richness in this sentence.
Both of these are tremendously important exercises in trusting your instincts, and having faith in your own abilities—and getting to that point can take years, or decades. I wish I’d been able to do both fifteen years ago...but I can do them now, and that’s what matters.
Interesting piece. Looking for remote work right now, but it is not to hide or do less work—it's to be more productive with my energy use.
Energy is more precious than hours as a measurement. I like that
Thanks, Paul. My most recent post discusses that issue in relation to remote work.
Hello Paul, I have been an avid follower of your Substack for quite some time.
Regarding your comment about the neurosurgeon needing more rest, that is absolutely true but you also need to consider that the reason that neurosurgeon is actually good is that he or she has spent 100,000 hours in the OR honing their craft culminating in their unique blend of skills and experience that they possess. Would you have rather have a relatively inexperienced but well-rested surgeon? or the top surgeon who operates from 7 am to 7 pm 4 days a week? There is a well-described relationship between surgeon volume and outcomes. In the case of the procedure that I perform, radical prostatectomy, it peaks at around 2,000 procedures that each take 3 hours to perform. If we consider the math, high-performing surgeons are unlikely to be well-rested and very balanced people.
The irony here is palpable. While we advocate for a more mindful, balanced life that isn't solely dictated by professional obligations, it is the very commitment and dedication that often undermines a surgeon's work-life balance which makes them unparalleled in their field. In essence, the surgeon we aspire to have is likely to be the one who has devoted an inordinate amount of time honing their skills, possibly at the expense of personal balance and rest. This dichotomy is thought-provoking and merits reflection. I struggle a lot with this myself.
i think the point still stands. i think the subtle distinction is between painful grinding and active engagement. i imagine most people that go that deep in surgery actually are interested in what they are doing...or at least i hope
I have been trying to find meaningful work after my first job. The closest to that is writing my newsletter and fiction. But you know it takes a lot of time and luck for anything to happen.
I am basically trying to follow your path but it is not the time to take the leap yet.
Years ago I was essentially sidelined by my old boss, and I sort of "quiet quit" for months. My 70% effort was still surface-level strong, but I was actively disengaged. Definitely working as few hours as possible on WFH days. That goes on a while. One day, my new boss says they're both so impressed by how I'd been killing it in recent months.
It took me a few more years to leave, and I'm still trying to find the balance of too little/too much work, but that convo stayed with me. Not surprised others have their own versions.
Totally agree with this whole essay. Another example are Firefighters. They sit around and lift weights, read, and when something happens, respond with utmost speed and verocity. Same in my time in the military in combat. In my professional roles I work about 25% the amount of anyone else and yet I regularly get 100% more work done. So how do you really measure productivity? The person who hacks out 200 hundred lines of code or the person who researches and solves the problem with 5 lines?
I wrote two themes on this same topic. The first is on being a Lazy Leader (and how that's a good thing.) from my time in the Army
https://polymathicbeing.substack.com/p/lazy-leadership
The second is on Quiet Quitting and how that's not bad either.
https://polymathicbeing.substack.com/p/yes-do-quiet-quit
There needs to be more serendipity in work – as you highlighted how David Whyte puts it: “Constant busyness has no absence in it, no openness to the arrival of any new season, no birdsong at the start of its day”
Of course, the headline caught my eye right away! I talk to many people from many different parts of the country all the time about this very issue. We are all very confused. Our experience is that it is almost impossible to get even the mundane things in our lives done, when we have to rely on other people to do their jobs. I've seen this from admin staff to company executives to government workers (no surprise there), even to doctors. My biggest complaint about my life right now is that I feel I'm doing everyone else's job for them! This in addition to my own work. I have to constantly call and email people to get issues resolved. It seems that no one is proactive in the least - they are only putting out fires as they arise and when they absolutely have to.
I realize this doesn't really apply to the tech industry, but I wonder what your thoughts are on this? Have you experienced this also? I don't know if people are way overworked because of staffing shortages, or just coasting in their jobs and pushing the "delete all" buttons on their email and phone messages. Either way, I don't see it getting any better and it makes me very concerned for our future. I know soon AI will take care of most of this though, and maybe that's the cause of the problem?
Would love to hear others thoughts on this....
Yeah we have tried to optimize everything but human processes are still messy.
The issue isn’t that it’s shameful to work less than 40 hours a week. The issue is that you’re lying about it.
Jiggling your mouse every 15 minutes while not doing any work is straight up dishonest. As explained in this article, it’s not necessarily detrimental to the company (knowledge work can be lumpy, you’re “on call”, you finish what you’re supposed to, etc). But you are lying - and this lie hurts all of us.
By lying about how much you actually work, you BREED the environment in which people are expected to "work" much more than they actually need to. By jiggling your mouse every 15 minutes, you’re literally manifesting a world in which people are expected to be at their screens for 40 hours a week.
If you’re not doing anything, and you don’t need to be, that’s fine - but tell the truth about it!
We can all agree this type of work environment is largely unnecessary and detrimental, at least when it comes to most jobs that can be done remotely (that’s why we read Paul’s newsletter). But because you continue to lie so that you don’t have to confront your boss (and potentially face consequences), you directly contribute to this environment.
totally agree - when i was working little and slacking was WAY harder for me. Sartre calls it living in "bad faith" I think
I love hearing my, mind you *lovely*, self proclaimed "30 something but Gen-Zer Comments on TikTok and gets likes" manager talk to me about how lucky I am to start working after college in a generation that takes no shit.