Cal Newport’s books are always inspiring, but for practical reasons, they are rarely exceptional. Adopting a new approach to productivity is difficult in a dysfunctional workplace unable to recognize the importance of working differently.

Writing a book in a cabin is different from building software in a team. Different jobs require different strategies. No single book can challenge the status quo and provide solutions applicable in such diverse contexts.

Slow Productivity encourages us to do fewer things, work at a natural pace, and obsess over quality.

• Doing fewer things means working on projects you truly care about.
• Working at a natural pace means balancing intensity with rest to sustain long-term effort.
• Obsessing over quality means producing work that buys you more freedom for your next project.

Slow Productivity offers a better definition of how work should be. However, it won’t make the reality of my daily grind more meaningful in the short term. It is a book best suited for the independent creative worker.

To fix our work, we first need to admit it is broken. Newport’s book is an excellent toward that goal.