As I stated in my previous post, I have been thinking about Cal Newport’s idea of “slow productivity”. In this post, I would like to explain why I think this is an excellent idea for someone interested in creating a life of flow.
To recap, slow productivity is about doing fewer things, doing them at a natural pace, being obsessed with quality, and focusing on longer-term results. In a way, this is antithetical to the way I always thought I should work. I have been obsessed for a long time with increasing my work output, and this has naturally lead to being obsessed with speed. The results speak for themselves: they sucked, and I was constantly overworked and underperforming. When you do lots of work very quickly, quality suffers, which means you did negative work, work which actually requires more hours to fix at a later time.
Changing your mindset to being slowly productive requires better planning, and saying goodbye to the idea of measuring productivity by busyness. I believe that it will also improve flow by lowering the barrier to entry. Flow is not something that all of us can switch on at will. Much like exercise, the first while can be really hard. If your intention for a flow session is to get an enormous amount done, you will constantly be evaluating your progress, which brings the inner critic online and kills flow. Yet if you have a realistic goal which relates to a bigger picture (and is therefore meaningful to you), but willing to commit yourself to doing high-quality work instead of just lots of it, I believe you will drop into flow that much easier. After all, the intention is not the extrinsic goal of getting lots done, but the intrinsic one of immersing yourself fully, because that is necessary to increase quality. It also means you’re not constantly watching the clock – another flow-killer.
There is another important aspect. Like most people, especially those who care deeply about their work, I hate doing a bad job. Even if I get a lot done, there is far less satisfaction when the quality is middling. When my goal is to focus on quality, I get a much deeper sense of satisfaction and that, after all, is what keeps you going back for more.
The Flow Diaries 