Productivity Paradox
Def: Things that look and feel like productive work, and are productive according to society and culture, but are in fact distractions from truths about how we work, think or even live.
“What so often feels and looks like productivity and efficiency to us are often the very activities and habits that stunt our thinking. And many of the habits and activities that look like leisure, sometimes even look like play, those end up unlocking our thinking.""
Examples are:
- constant workplace communication (Slack/Teams/email)
From “The Extended Mind” (1998) article by Andy Clark and David Chalmers:
- There is an active role of the environment in driving cognitive processes
- Our mind as we experience it doesn’t stay within the head, it extends and blends with tools, people and environment