Talks at Google
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2010–2016
1:01:17 · 251K views · May 7, 2008
Tony Schwartz of The Energy Project speaks at Google about managing energy rather than time. He draws on The Power of Full Engagement and his work on stamina and sustained performance.
HN commenters point to it in discussions of shorter workweeks and productivity, arguing that rest and energy matter more than hours.
4 comments from Hacker News
Oh man, don't you know that you need to rest and relax for making something productive? Read Tony Schwartz and see this video: this video The human body is not a machine, you know... About the thing: "you want to be rich" Man, this is ethereal, an entelechy by itself, you can't motivate yourself with an entelechy. Your subconscious mind needs real, fixed things or goals, you know "not to be rich" but "4000", 5000, 6000, 1000eur/month rich, or getting a million, or two, whatever. You don't want to be rich, you want certain things money can give you, write it down in a paper what they are(as fixed specific goals). You will start realizing that you could get them without "being rich". You want so much money only for yourself?,IMHO that would be sad, the richest kid on the block. Maybe you want to really help other people in the process. The best money making people I know, and I know dozens of them, some are famous, are very good at filling OTHER PEOPLE necessities first. People can't stop giving them money because they did something for them. Money is only an exchange of value. Studying marketing is a way of getting what people necessities are. If you are sick of working for others, work for yourself, every day. At first it will be very hard, but once you get it you will love it: [LINK]
Interesting somewhat related talk from Tony Schwarz in the Leading @ Google series - this video "Demand is relentlessly rising. Our capacity is not keeping pace. The traditional solution to higher demand has been to invest more time. Unfortunately, time is finite, and most of us have no hours left to invest. Energy, however, can be systematically expanded --- and it can also be regularly renewed. To operate at our best, we need four energy sources: physical (quantity), emotional (quality), mental (focus), and the energy of the human spirit (purpose). This talk will focus on the role of energy in fueling sustainable high performance, and in motivating others." ...which relates to the work he does at the Energy Project - [LINK]
In my experience people who work long hours are often too tired to be objective about the quality of the work they are delivering or their own efficiency . It's worth watching this talk from the Leading @ Google series - this video The short version is, despite the information-age, we still think about this stuff in an industrial-age terms; that productivity is directly proportional to time spent. In fact it's highly non-linear for most forms of information-age value creating activitie.
As we move from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, it becomes more about managing our energy as individuals, not how many hours we're putting on the clock Tony Schwarz's "Leading at Google" talk on this topic is excellent - this video