Get Everything Done

In reading Cal Newport's "A World without Email", he argues against the presumption that everyone must be "responsive" in the manner that he deems the "hyperactive hive mind." His point early in the book is that not only do "makers," in the sense of Paul Graham's Makers vs. Managers, require long periods of deep thought to be best at what they do, but also, modern managers, administrators, and support staff incorrectly presume that responsiveness is more important than strategic decision making (which takes time, space, and clarity).

To highlight this point, he brings up the story of George Marshall, Chief of Staff for the United States Army during World War II, and extremely well-respected for his ability to handle an enormous task during the time. He apparently cultivated a number of the most successful American commanders and leaders to come out of that era, as well as having an extreme reputation for extremely effective and rapid action. The particular case study highlighted by Cal Newport is this one:

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA437156

I've read it, and I think there are many very interesting elements in the paper that were not highlighted by Newport. However, the general assessment rings true: Marshall entered his position dealing with a slow, ponderous, bureaucratic monster that was drowning in trivia and constant interruptions, and apparently rapidly and effectively eliminated waste and trivia, reduced the demands on his time, and improved his ability to focus, all while navigating extremely tough political and logistical concerns that were set against him doing just that.

In my own case, I was rereading Newport's Email book and subsequently dove into Marshall's story in an effort to examine it in the light of our recent conversations here about whether it works to reduce inputs and scale back "responsiveness" (c.f. -- discussion about Ivy Lee) as well as further thinking over what makes time surfing so appealing to me as a system, despite my fear regarding it. Thus, I was, in large part, examining Marshall's methods against Time Surfing to clarify the compatibility of the underlying processes and principles.

What I think was interesting about this exercise is that it highlighted a few interesting commonalities between the two:

* There is a strong emphasis on intense focus and concentration followed by intentional and deep relaxation in both.

* Both emphasized a serialization of work as the basis of success

* Both integrated a rather extreme form of trust; Marshall made decisions and then trusted his staff to make it happen without oversight or constant updates -- he embodied a surprisingly small amount of control. Similarly, in Time Surfing, you spend an intense, focused mental effort to establish and commit to a plan of action in your rational mind, and then, once you commit, you trust that your subconscious will integrate that successfully in your daily action.

* Both create processes and environments around themselves for creating a calm and focused mode of working. Time surfing does this by closing loops, clearing the environment, and having specific processes for dealing with and integrating things that are on the mind and that come in from the outside, which are rather specific and rigid. Marshall restructured the entire Staff element of the Army to create the correct working conditions, as well as establishing extremely strong protocols for how briefings/meetings were conducted and limiting the number of people who had the ability to get time with him.

Have any of you read the report on Marshall and have any comments on it? I think Newport's main point about it is that often it is the capacity to make very good decisions, very rapidly, that is the most valuable, and making sure that this is arranged so that there is plenty of time for doing that will make the difference between a stressed and frazzled existence putting out fires and a strategically lived existence where action is taken rapidly but encompasses long reaching vision and planning.