20 votes

The productivity paradox: Why doing more leads to less

10 comments

  1. [7]
    LetsBeChooms
    Link
    I never thought I'd say this, but this feels like something that would have been more appropriate to post on Twitter or Bluesky. There's no substance to it -- just a lot of vaguely connected...

    I never thought I'd say this, but this feels like something that would have been more appropriate to post on Twitter or Bluesky. There's no substance to it -- just a lot of vaguely connected thoughts with nothing to contribute.

    It doesn't talk about task management. It doesn't talk about paradoxes. It's a long-winded shower thought.

    The other posts are similar. Is this AI content?

    17 votes
    1. omid
      Link Parent
      As someone who is not on any of those platforms, I enjoyed the light read.

      As someone who is not on any of those platforms, I enjoyed the light read.

      5 votes
    2. karim
      Link Parent
      Well it seems the paradox is explained in the first 2 paragraphs l, so I wouldn't say it doesn't talk about paradoxes. And it's also a good collection of thoughts. A nice reminder to take it easy.

      You achieve inbox zero, demolish your to-do list, and optimize your workflow to perfection. Victory, right? But instead of feeling triumphant, you're exhausted. And somehow there's more work than ever.

      Welcome to the productivity paradox.

      Well it seems the paradox is explained in the first 2 paragraphs l, so I wouldn't say it doesn't talk about paradoxes.

      And it's also a good collection of thoughts. A nice reminder to take it easy.

      5 votes
    3. [4]
      freedomischaos
      Link Parent
      Just thought I'd check it against a quick AI checker that I found and it believes it to be 90% confident human, but I would agree that it's a series of shower thoughts.

      The other posts are similar. Is this AI content?

      Just thought I'd check it against a quick AI checker that I found and it believes it to be 90% confident human, but I would agree that it's a series of shower thoughts.

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        Baeocystin
        Link Parent
        Worth mentioning whenever the topic of AI checkers comes up: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/09/openai-admits-that-ai-writing-detectors-dont-work/ They don't work, and without...

        Worth mentioning whenever the topic of AI checkers comes up: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/09/openai-admits-that-ai-writing-detectors-dont-work/

        They don't work, and without some form of steganographic embedding on the side of the LLM, they can't. This is really important to emphasize. I've seen too many students punished already because they were (falsely) accused of using a language model in their essays, because some predatory site claiming to check for AI flagged their work, and we need to push back.

        7 votes
        1. [2]
          creesch
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          While I strongly believe that they are right and that AI detectors will have a high rate of false positives. It is also worth mentioning that the source is openAI for who it also is good...

          While I strongly believe that they are right and that AI detectors will have a high rate of false positives. It is also worth mentioning that the source is openAI for who it also is good marketing. As it effectively is saying that LLM output is already as good as human output. So from that perspective, it is good to remain skeptical of such claims by AI companies.

          2 votes
          1. Baeocystin
            Link Parent
            A perfectly valid criticism! Thankfully, there are many other sources to draw from. https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/ai/teach/ai-detectors-dont-work/ for additional sources of the same conclusion,...

            A perfectly valid criticism! Thankfully, there are many other sources to draw from.

            https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/ai/teach/ai-detectors-dont-work/ for additional sources of the same conclusion, as well as more nuanced discussion of what it means for academics, if you're interested. :)

            4 votes
  2. [2]
    snake_case
    Link
    Reminds me of something an old coworker said to me once. If you need something done, ask a busy person. They’re busy because they do things.

    Reminds me of something an old coworker said to me once.

    If you need something done, ask a busy person. They’re busy because they do things.

    11 votes
  3. karim
    Link
    This part is so true in context of... All work fields The faster you finish tasks, the more tasks get assigned to you to fill up the slack. To protect your mental health, you need to give work...

    This part is so true in context of... All work fields

    The more productive we become, the more the world demands of us

    The faster you finish tasks, the more tasks get assigned to you to fill up the slack. To protect your mental health, you need to give work like 70% of your effort, maximum. Maybe 50% on average. 100% all the time and you'll feel like shit and your backlog will probably stay full.

    6 votes