The Productivity Rule

Summary

Dave's relentless pursuit of productivity and expansion in building his online empire ultimately led to his neglect of personal life and health, culminating in his early demise from cancer.

Abstract

Dave dedicated all his free time to the expansion of his internet empire, focusing on promotion and measuring growth to optimize his social media strategy. Despite reaching 100,000 followers and increasing his income through digital products, his work-life balance suffered as he prioritized productivity over personal relationships and health. He sacrificed cooking, socializing, and leisure activities to gain more work hours, even using his phone while in the bathroom to maximize productivity. This obsession with constant growth and productivity mirrored the ideology of cancer, which he tragically succumbed to at age 39.

Opinions

The author suggests that Dave's focus on quantity over quality in his work may not be a sustainable or healthy approach to business.
There is an implication that Dave's extreme measures to increase productivity, such as eliminating personal interactions and self-care, are excessive and detrimental to his well-being.
The narrative criticizes the idea that perpetual growth is a necessary and positive goal, drawing a parallel between Dave's relentless drive for expansion and the destructive nature of cancer.
The author seems to advocate for a more balanced approach to work and life, emphasizing that personal value and identity should not be solely derived from one's productivity or business success.
Dave's situation highlights the potential dangers of overworking and the importance of recognizing that constant expansion is not always beneficial or conducive to a fulfilling life.

Expansion and scale. Quantity over quality.

Dave spent every free hour he had building his internet empire. So much of that time was spent in promotion. He kept a spiral notebook on his desk where he organized his relentless pursuit of scale.

He kept track of all his social media activity and the resulting stats. He measured growth to figure out what produced the greatest results. It was all about numbers and quantity over quality.

It took a few years but he finally reached 100,000 followers, or ‘friends’ as they were called on some platforms. The number of visits to his websites were growing and the advertising revenue very slowly grew.

He developed digital products to sell and that income was also growing though the revenue was paltry in relation to how much work he put into it.

So he began getting up earlier and earlier in the mornings so that he could have extra time before going to his job so that he could be even more productive. He spent hours before work and the entire evenings after work writing and coding and promoting and building and marketing.

And he kept looking for more ways to increase his productivity. Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. He even began taking his smartphone into the bathroom with him so that he could be productive while he pooped.

To squeeze more productivity time into his day, he quit cooking his meals. He ordered all his meals delivered. When he added up all the time he spent preparing food and going to the grocery store each week he realized that if he quit doing that he could squeeze three to six more hours of productivity into that week. Of course, having all his meals delivered drastically increased his expenses but the tiny bit of extra productivity would surely increase his income to cover that.

Dave wished he could quit his day job so that he could be even more productive in building his empire, his brand. If he did not have that damn job he could be productive for eighteen hours a day, every day. But his empire was not yet making enough revenue to be able to do that.

Dave wished that he could write and code and promote and market in his sleep. That way he could be productive twenty-four hours a day. His empire would really start growing then.

The time he spent emailing, texting or talking on the phone with relatives was not productive so he quit doing that. The one exception was uncle Stan who actually bought several of Dave’s digital products so he kept that connection open.

Dave also quit dating and meeting friends at bars. He quit all sports activities with his buddies. He stopped going to the movies. He stopped watching TV. He stopped inviting people over to his place for evenings of entertainment and camaraderie. And he stopped taking vacations. None of that stuff is productive.

Dave did not fully realize it but he had created a rule for himself that he maniacally obeyed. That rule was that if something, anything was not productive in the building of his brand empire then he simply had no time for it. Nothing had value unless it productively added to his empire. He believed that his empire would not grow unless he put 100% of his energy into growing it. And no size is ever big enough. To scale meant constant never-ending expansion.

Dave was his empire. That is what he identified with as to who he was. It required perpetual growth.

What he did not realize is that perpetual growth is the ideology of cancer. Dave did, however, finally realize that his obsession with productivity was so very similar to cancer but it was too late when he realized it. He finally realized it in his hospital bed just a few days before he died of cancer at the age of 39.