I recently started reading Cal Newport's latest book, Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout. I'm only a few chapters in but the message is already hitting hard. As we embark on a new academic year and struggle to balance the myriad of projects, meetings, and to do items, it's worth taking a step back and considering the how and ultimately the why of our work.
American culture, bathed in rugged individualism and the pressures of individual accomplishment, has been moving at a frantic pace for decades. Productivity quickly became measured by output, volume, and quantity. Lost in that shuffle was any real measure or appreciation for quality. Companies now measure productivity based on quarterly earnings, employers track time at our desks with keyloggers and timecards, and we are constantly inundated with reminders to purchase the "newest" iPhone or car, often before we've even gotten a handle on everything our current product can do.
In Higher Education, the equivalent mentality results in a constant pressure to publish, obtain grants, and make your public presence known as widely as possible. Academics are taught to specialize and then churn out article after article, often only offering subtle differences from the last. What matters is that it gets published. Higher ed somehow seems to have ceased being a cherished space where truly expansive, time consuming, and curious thought and questioning was enough. The walls of the room have been closing in for decades, and publications and grants replaced thought as the key.
So, as we move past discussing the "Great Resignation" and obsessing over worries of "quiet quitting", perhaps it's time we slow down and make space to consider quality as much as quantity. Newport offers three principles for slow productivity, and I, for one, intent to enjoy exploring not only the book, but the message it heralds.
Principle #1: Do fewer things.
Principle #2: Work at a natural pace.
Principle #3: Obsess over quality.
