There is something inherently human in our desire to find patterns where there are no, to attribute causality to mere coincidence. Centuries ago they danced to rained. We organize our notion to be more productive.
Same superstition, different ritual.
Cal Newport baptized him very well as “productive rain dances”: those activities that we convince that our results will improve, but in reality They are mere rituals without much real impact.
We spend hours configuring time management applications (guilty), categorizing emails (innocent) or testing methods as if they were magical (guilty) potions. We dance around the bonfire of productivity, hoping that the gods of performance will pity us. Elí, Elí, Lama Sabactani.
The interesting thing about these digital superstitions is that, unlike those of our ancestors, they are backed by elegant and metric interfaces that feed our illusion of progress.
Three hours reorganizing cloud folders They do not produce real work although they generate a rewarding sense of order. Cleaning notifications constantly does not advance projects, but it gives us small doses of dopamine. And so we build belief systems.
- “I can only concentrate using this specific application.”
- “I need my 17 -step morning ritual or the day is lost.”
- “I have to answer each message at the moment or I am a terrible professional.”
The problem of these rituals is not that they are useless (some have a certain value), but that We confuse the medium in order, the activity with the result.
In Newport’s words, we are “focused on the activity of the moment instead of the results over time.” And while we execute these dances with devotion, the important projects, which really change our trajectory, remain intact in our slope lists.
Pragmatic austerity is needed to break these digital superstitions. Start by asking if this activity produces a measurable result or if it only gives us the illusion of advancing. If we are confusing movement with progress.
The most affective rituals are usually the least spectacular: uninterrupted time blocks, limitation of notifications and focus on the specific results we want to generate.
Maybe it doesn’t hurt to stop dancing to rain and start building aqueducts.
In WorldOfSoftware | The little great jewel of productivity is a simplest method: the rule of the “two minutes”
Outstanding image | Andreas Klassen in Unspash
