Get Tuesday! - October 8, 2024
Did you know that Charles Darwin worked only four hours a day?
He took long walks, wrote letters, and napped regularly - yet managed to revolutionize our understanding of life on Earth. His secret wasn't extraordinary talent or marathon work sessions, but rather an unwavering focus during his dedicated "maker hours."
Welcome to Get Tuesday! This week, we're challenging conventional wisdom about productivity, talent, and how we structure our work lives. From the crucial distinction between maker and manager schedules to our collective addiction to unnecessary meetings, we're diving deep into what really drives meaningful work.
So, in an effort to explore how to work smarter, not harder, let’s get into it:
The maker vs. manager schedule
Something I have likely shared before, Paul discusses the fundamental difference between two types of work schedules: the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule.
Managers typically work in one-hour blocks and can easily accommodate meetings throughout their day, switching tasks frequently. In contrast, makers (like programmers and writers) require longer, uninterrupted blocks of time (typically half a day or more) to accomplish meaningful work.
Meetings are particularly disruptive for makers, as they not only break up these essential time blocks but also affect their overall workflow and morale. Even a single meeting can derail half a day's productivity, both through direct time loss and the psychological impact of anticipating the interruption. Paul suggests that while both schedules work well independently, problems arise when they interact, particularly when managers don't understand the costly impact of meetings on makers. He does condluce this write-up by offering solutions, like designated office hours and raises awareness about this scheduling conflict to help bridge the gap between these two working styles.
Have you felt this in your experiences? I sure have.
This meeting could have been an email
A Korn Ferry report in 2019 found that 67% of workers say that too much time in meetings kept them from making an impact at work.
Talent is overrated
The cheapest thing one possesses is their talent.
One can have all the talent and skillsets in the world with the wrong perspective.
And there can be another individual that's not as talented and not as skillful with the correct perspective. They'll outwork the wrong perspective person every day of the week.
Not because they are more talented than that person. Not because they are more skillful than that person but because their perspective of what they are doing is totally different.
They value the process. They respect the craft. Tying back to what we talked about above, the maker's schedule isn't just about time management - it's about having the right perspective on how valuable work gets done. This perspective is what transforms raw talent into consistent productivity and meaningful output. Raw talent, while valuable, is merely potential energy - it requires the right perspective to convert it into kinetic energy (actual productivity).
Source: Inky Johnson, Speaker and Author
Tiny Thought from Farnam Street
“90 percent of success is not getting distracted.”
p.s. The Vikings are 5-0.
