Unearth the wisdom of 1911, where a genius unveiled a neglected science that could amplify productivity fiftyfold without extending work hours. A century later, this forgotten knowledge still holds the potential to revolutionize our understanding of efficiency and time management.
The Productivity Paradox
Productivity determines what governments societies adopt. If productivity drops for too long, revolutions happen.
- If productivity goes up, the system stays because workers enjoy higher incomes and more leisure time
- Something very odd happened in the last 50 years
- At the exact point you’d expect another 50x increase in productivity because of computers, there was stagnation in the United States……and in other developed countries…
Before and After The 50x Framework: Five Fundamental Changes
View productivity
- Organize your work
- Knowledge work productivity can be 50x’d
- Productivity is essential to non-productivity
- Small productivity gains come from small hacks
- Knowledge work productivity is still in its infancy
- The more efficient we are at work individually and collectively, the more time we have to carve out for slow, deep living not based on optimization
Free 5-Day Knowledge Work Challenge
From April 4th to May 6th, I’m doing a knowledge work challenge called Month To Master, and I’m making the first week of it free.
- In the free week-long challenge, I help you practice three of the most fundamental skills of knowledge work: Selecting one micro-topic to learn, Building a curriculum to help you learn rapidly, and Sharing what you learn each day on a co-learning call.
15-Month Live Coaching Program To Become A 50X Knowledge Creator
Seminal is designed for people who love learning, love expressing themselves, are committed to mastering the skills of idea creation, and want to create ideas that leave a legacy
- The last time I will be teaching it live, as we plan to make this on-demand
What We Have Been Taught About Productivity Is Fundamentally Wrong
Technology is not the fundamental cause of productivity.
- What history shows us is that what really matters is first having the right production process – the steps you follow to create good or service – and then, technology boosts the power of that process.
Millions Of Articles On Shallow Productivity Hacks… But Almost None On 50X Productivity
Most people into productivity had never heard of the most important breakthrough in the history of productivity or the person behind it.
- To understand why the 50x shift happened in the first place and how to replicate it with knowledge work instead of just manual work, one needs to understand the fascinating person behind the framework and the process he used to discover it.
We Are Still In The 1800s Of Knowledge Work
Most knowledge workers are winging it or using a best practice from their specific boss, company, or job rather than using the most scientifically tested approach
- People are mired in never-ending meetings, going through endless to-do lists, and constantly responding to emails without measuring their productivity
- There is no science on the ideal load for knowledge consumption
- Today’s knowledge workers waste a third of their day, every day, on activities that could be reduced or eliminated altogether
Become a 50x Knowledge Learner & Creator
There are two ways to help you apply 50x to your life and for us to collaborate
A Forgotten Thinker, Who Started Off as a Machine Shop Laborer, Sparked The Productivity Revolution
Frederick Winslow Taylor, the creator of the science of management, is considered one of the three most important “makers of the modern world” by Peter Drucker
- In 1977, Taylor was ranked the #1 contributor ever to management thought and practice by a panel of business and economics historians beating out the likes of John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Alfred Sloan, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford
- At the peak of his celebrity in the early twentieth century, Taylor gave lectures around the country and was as famous as Edison or Ford.
- During these years, Taylor envisioned and tested the components that would eventually become management. He became rich very early on through his metalworking inventions – ultimately having more than 40 patents to his name.
What Caused The 50x Manual Worker Revolution Boom Is Surprising
The core thesis of Taylor’s Principles Of Scientific Management boils down to applying the scientific method to productivity using the following 4-step process:
- Questions: What is the optimal shovel load?
- Types of shovels
- Shoveling techniques
- Testing various distances, weights, and heights
- Management systems
- Standardizing the winning experiments into the company processes and culture
- Best practices are passed down from generation to generation
