If I reflect on my last 5 years or so, one thing I find really striking is how much both the quality and quantity of my work has depended on external circumstances.
In particular, I have experienced all of the following:
Working a lot, having a lot of “bad stress”, and feeling quite angry and miserable.
Working very little, being depressed because I can’t seem to find resonance with the world, and developing an exaggerated sense that there is nothing useful for me to do, I can’t contribute value, and can’t do anything that’s good for anyone.
[The recent months, and also some earlier periods:] Working a lot, having a lot of “good stress”, and feeling great.
During the times when I was procrastinating a lot, generally had low motivation for “work”, and was depressed, it was often quite bad for me to confront the fact that other people were (or at least seemed) productive and happy (whether or not they worked long hours).
But I think one of the worst lessons I could have learned is that other people are just intrinsically more hard-working or capable, and that I should leave the job of improving the world with these ‘great people’. I also think it would have been bad to approach this as a ‘productivity problem’ to be solved with ‘productivity hacks’ or other local fixes.
(This is not to deny that interpersonal differences in productivity or capability exist as well. I’m kind of on the record about this …)
[At best a semi-answer to your question. Sorry.]
If I reflect on my last 5 years or so, one thing I find really striking is how much both the quality and quantity of my work has depended on external circumstances.
In particular, I have experienced all of the following:
Working a lot, having a lot of “bad stress”, and feeling quite angry and miserable.
Working very little, being depressed because I can’t seem to find resonance with the world, and developing an exaggerated sense that there is nothing useful for me to do, I can’t contribute value, and can’t do anything that’s good for anyone.
[The recent months, and also some earlier periods:] Working a lot, having a lot of “good stress”, and feeling great.
During the times when I was procrastinating a lot, generally had low motivation for “work”, and was depressed, it was often quite bad for me to confront the fact that other people were (or at least seemed) productive and happy (whether or not they worked long hours).
But I think one of the worst lessons I could have learned is that other people are just intrinsically more hard-working or capable, and that I should leave the job of improving the world with these ‘great people’. I also think it would have been bad to approach this as a ‘productivity problem’ to be solved with ‘productivity hacks’ or other local fixes.
(This is not to deny that interpersonal differences in productivity or capability exist as well. I’m kind of on the record about this …)
If I could give my past self some advice, it would be this: Don’t compare yourself to others. Treat your depression. Lean into what you’re good at. And if your environment isn’t good for you, change it. I wasn’t great at actually doing these things, but I’m very glad about the extent to which I was.