What if some of the pressure you feel to “be productive” has less to do with getting good work done, and more to do with making sure people can see you doing it?

In this episode of Thoughts Unlocked, I read a little bit of Chapter 2 from my new book idea, called Misdiagnosed, and explore where our obsession with visible productivity came from. It starts with a stopwatch, a pile of pig iron, and Frederick Winslow Taylor’s attempt to measure human work like a machine.

That made sense when productivity meant moving 47 tons of iron. But what happens when the work is thinking, creating, solving problems, or building strategy? You can’t always see those hours.

If you’ve ever felt guilty for thinking instead of doing, or worried people might assume you’re not working because they can’t see what you’re doing, this one is worth listening to.

Are we rewarding people for the work they’re actually good at or for how easy their work is to see?

Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 03:18 – The Stopwatch That Changed How We Think About Productivity 05:43 – Why Invisible Work Gets Misunderstood 06:38 – When Thinking Doesn’t Look Like Work 07:43 – Why So Many People Feel Pressure to Look Busy 10:34 – The Productivity Mentality We Still Carry

Website: skotwaldron.com