I think I’ve become substantially more hardworking!
I think I started from a middle-to-high baseline but I think I am now “pretty hard working” at least (I say as I write this at 8 am on a Tuesday, demonstrating viscerally my not-perfect work ethic).
the big thing for me was going from academic philosophy to working at 80k. Active ingredients in order of importance:
Sense of importance of the work getting done and that if I don’t do it, just less stuff I think is good will happen.
Sense of competence and being valued.
teammates to provide mix of accountability for and celebration of my getting stuff done.
Having a manager vs. not
Culture that values and celebrates hard work while also celebrating taking care of yourself and your mental health.
Positive feedback cycle to my identity about being hardworking. when I started to succeed at working hard, started to feel like “I am a hardworking person” --> easier to work hard and feel psychological rewards for it.
Systems and tools it made possible: e.g. for a long time I posted my to-do list each day in a public slack channel #daily-check-in, which enhanced (3) above.
Other things I can think of helping over the years:
Pomodoros with friends is huuuuuggge. doing them online is great. I have a few whatsapp groups with people for spontaneous poms, and we also do them at 80k. I hear focusmate is also great. sidenote that poms are also a good way to stay in touch with hardworking friends that live far away.
cold-turkying reddit in 2011.
spoiling myself vis a vis my working environment, which for me means not forcing myself to work in the office (or thinking back to student days, libraries), but rather wherever i most like to.
I think I’ve become substantially more hardworking!
I think I started from a middle-to-high baseline but I think I am now “pretty hard working” at least (I say as I write this at 8 am on a Tuesday, demonstrating viscerally my not-perfect work ethic).
the big thing for me was going from academic philosophy to working at 80k. Active ingredients in order of importance:
Sense of importance of the work getting done and that if I don’t do it, just less stuff I think is good will happen.
Sense of competence and being valued.
teammates to provide mix of accountability for and celebration of my getting stuff done.
Having a manager vs. not
Culture that values and celebrates hard work while also celebrating taking care of yourself and your mental health.
Positive feedback cycle to my identity about being hardworking. when I started to succeed at working hard, started to feel like “I am a hardworking person” --> easier to work hard and feel psychological rewards for it.
Systems and tools it made possible: e.g. for a long time I posted my to-do list each day in a public slack channel #daily-check-in, which enhanced (3) above.
Other things I can think of helping over the years:
Pomodoros with friends is huuuuuggge. doing them online is great. I have a few whatsapp groups with people for spontaneous poms, and we also do them at 80k. I hear focusmate is also great. sidenote that poms are also a good way to stay in touch with hardworking friends that live far away.
cold-turkying reddit in 2011.
spoiling myself vis a vis my working environment, which for me means not forcing myself to work in the office (or thinking back to student days, libraries), but rather wherever i most like to.