# [[When productivity gets toxic]] ![](https://youtu.be/suNrD8PVDXU) ![[When productivity becomes toxic.png]] ## Guests - [[Andy Polaine]] ## Hook Bom dia! I'm Nicole van der Hoeven. On this channel, I talk about different ways I min/max my life, usually including digital tools like Obsidian. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to be productive. Today, I want to do the opposite. I want to talk about how *not* to be productive-- and why that's sometimes the best thing you can do. ## Intro Here to help me figure that out is a good friend of mine, Andy Polaine. Andy is a designer, and joined me in interviewing Stephan Ango, another designer and now the Obsidian CEO. He's also come on the channel in his capacity as my Dungeon Master, where we talked about how we both use Obsidian to run and play tabletop roleplaying games like D&D. Today I've managed to convince him to come on wearing a slightly different hat: Andy also happens to be a design leadership coach, which means he helps people get unstuck at work and life by making space, setting boundaries, and finding balance. Welcome back to the channel, Andy! ## Topics - Why I wanted to have you here - I'm being selfish: I've always struggled with overload and burnout, but the last two months in particular have been exceedingly hard on me. I'm recovering, but also wanting to know what I should do to break the cycle. - Last two months (9 weeks): - 18 shorts - 11 livestreams - 8 videos - Slept in 15 different beds - 12 countries on three continents - 4 different conference talks - What is burnout? How do you know when you're there? - Nagoski: - *emotional exhaustion*: fatigue that comes from caring too much for too long - *depersonalization*: depletion of empathy, caring, and compassion - *decreased sense of accomplishment*: sense of futility - that nothing you do makes a difference - Why do people burn out? - Do you think there is a certain type of person who is more prone to burnout? - A: flux of communication channels - A: Everyone seems like they're smashing it - When does burnout occur? - What does burnout have to do with boundaries? - Cal Newport: [[Ep. 248 — Decoding Overload]] - Burnout (overload) happens a lot among knowledge workers because it's hard to consistently estimate overhead. - Microsoft found that two out of five work days are spent on overhead (meetings, emails). - What should you do when you're in the process of burnout? - "Take time off" is oversimplifying it. - [[Circuit breaker pattern]] ([[Dimming|Brownout Theory]]) - Nagoski - Physical activity - Breathing - Positive social interaction - Laughter - Affection - Cry - Creative expression - Meetings - Practical ways to prevent burnout - Meeting boundaries - How he set a "hard stop" - How I scheduled this on a "No Meeting Day" - A: Get rid of recurring meetings - A: Don't go to meetings without an agenda - A: Buffers - A: Book out lunch - How to be bad at email and why that's good - three-column filter - started out with which job to take but now it's evolved - must have, nice to have, never haves - helps you do intentional compromise - The importance of sleep - What happens when you're sleep drunk? - Planned book - https://youtu.be/suNrD8PVDXU?t=710 ## Takeaways We usually go through burnout as a result of increased communication channels, doing more work than we used to for sustained periods, struggling with the workload, and being unable to say anything to anyone about it. - More people than you might suspect are struggling with burnout. - One of the hallmarks of burnout is the feeling of being chronically depleted of energy to such an extent that a short respite, like a weekend, doesn't make a difference. - Some ways to tackle overload in software systems can be used to tackle overload (burnout) in humans, too, like the [Circuit Breaker Pattern](https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/Circuit+breaker+pattern). - When you're in a state of burnout, or close to it, it's doubly important to set up lines of defenses against the flow of more work by: - defending your calendar - getting used to saying no - being very selective about channels of communication - You can turn being bad at answering emails into a good thing. Andy used a vacation auto-responder even when he wasn't on vacation as a way to stem the tide. - The Three-Column Filter (Must Have, Nice to Have, Never Have) can be a helpful tool in determining whether a certain bit of work is worth doing. ## Timestamps 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:13 What is design leadership coaching? 00:03:41 Why are so many people getting burnt out? 00:07:08 How do you know you're burnt out? 00:09:03 The Circuit Breaker Pattern (feat. Twitter) 00:13:54 Setting up boundaries that create space 00:20:23 Defending your calendar and quantifying overhead 00:30:23 The Three-Column Filter and dealing with your own greed 00:40:54 What does not-work look like? 00:43:59 Completing the stress cycle and figuring out the Shape of Me 00:47:46 Andy's book - the Design Leadership Dip ## References Andy Polaine - The Design Leadership Dip: https://www.polaine.com/2020/04/the-design-leadership-dip/ 43 Folders and Merlin Mann: https://www.43folders.com/about Engadget - Elon Musk Claims Twitter's new login requirement is a 'temporary' response to data scrapers: https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-claims-twitters-new-login-requirement-is-a-temporary-response-to-data-scrapers-160041528.html Andy Polaine - Your time is a non-renewable resource: https://www.polaine.com/2021/03/your-time-is-a-non-renewable-resource/ Cal Newport - Ep.248: Decoding Overload: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoWlWIUJyPQ Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski - Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle: https://amzn.to/3prcA1c Andy Polaine - Finding the Shape of You: https://www.polaine.com/2020/08/finding-the-shape-of-you/ Jorge Arango - The Informed Life (with Nicole van der Hoeven): https://theinformed.life/2023/03/26/episode-110-nicole-van-der-hoeven/ Andy's website: https://polaine.com Andy's podcast, Power of Ten: https://www.polaine.com/tags/power-of-ten/ Andy's newsletter, Doctor's Note: https://newsletter.polaine.com/ ## Cards 02:03 The Design Leadership Dip: https://www.polaine.com/2020/04/the-design-leadership-dip/ 10:54 Engadget - Elon Musk Claims Twitter's new login requirement is a 'temporary' response to data scrapers: https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-claims-twitters-new-login-requirement-is-a-temporary-response-to-data-scrapers-160041528.html 12:30 43 Folders and Merlin Mann: https://www.43folders.com/about 26:29 Reclaim.ai video 51:14 polaine.com ## ## Post-production - [x] Create captions using Rev, then edit them. - [x] Take a thumbnail photo and create one for YouTube (1280 x 720). - [x] Add description. - [x] Include the title and any keywords in the first few sentences, but in a natural way. - [x] Add related videos and resources as links. - [x] Add end screen. - [x] Add cards if necessary. - [x] Add chapters/timestamps for YouTube if longer than 5 minutes. - [x] Add mid-roll ads/check monetization settings. - [x] Add pinned comment. - [ ] Post video preview on Patreon. - [ ] Schedule on YouTube. - [ ] Add video to relevant playlist(s), or create a playlist if necessary. - [ ] Schedule on Twitter. - [ ] Schedule on Mastodon. - [ ] Promote on Discord (NVDH). - [ ] Create a blog post on [site](https://nicolevanderhoeven.com). - [ ] Add to [video-database](obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-playbook&file=video-database%2FVideo%20database). - [ ] Add to other notes in my vault as appropriate.