My Upcoming Book (If everything goes well)

My Upcoming Book (If everything goes well)

The beginnings of my new book on productivity and the evolution of it lie below. This is the first draft of many; however, I will be posting the progression of this book from 1st draft to shelf-ready on this blog. Join me along the way if you'd like. Also, I would love any feedback as I have hardly a single idea of writing a book.

Here it is!

The Evolution of Productivity

By Kyle Shipp

Prologue
Since the dawn of time, humans have developed preconceived notions about their future. Ranging from AI implants and downloadable personality traits to rocket ports on Mars, we all have an innate desire to witness the world through the eyes of these preconceived notions, allowing us to ultimately perceive the world in a way we once thought insurmountable. However, through the exponentially increasing evolutionary strides that the human experiment has undergone, we are much closer to achieving these so-called “impossible” notions than ever. And, this is increasingly so. 

 In contrast, we often reminisce about the past to provide some insight on how to fulfill previously achieved aspirations. Humans have also looked back to encounter methodologies used by Neanderthals who defended their kin from a bear, killing it with a stone, or more concurrently, successful entrepreneurs who climbed the hierarchy of competence in their fields. By reflecting on our past behaviors, we see a trend in the evolution of productivity.

 One of the major shifts in productivity occurred during industrialization. With the rise of factories and cheap, unskilled labor replacing tasks completed by previously skilled and proficient labor, productivity took on a whole new meaning. The work itself was valued more than the worker. Though this idea reaped large benefits on behalf of big businesses and corporation owners, we have since learned through decades of poor working conditions and countless injuries in the workplace, that society need not solely care about the number of hours a worker clocks in, but their well-being too.

 We have since substantiated a new deviation from that of “typical” productivity. This recent trend has stirred the focus from labor and profit to genuinely advancing the human experiment by advancing the field of science. However, with this overarching goal in mind, humans cannot seem to agree on one thing: What does productivity mean regarding the individual and our own self-interests? Although as selfish as it sounds, we are biologically and psychologically hardwired to desire more. In a world with limited resources and unlimited desires, however, the fundamental economic problem of scarcity arises. 

 We are forced to make decisions, propagating another question: What is the most efficient use of our time concerning productivity. Productivity, for many people, means different things. For Buddhists, for example, it’s nirvana. For Christians, it’s faith in God and the relentless pursuit of perfection. For others, it’s the pursuit of an idea that they believe to be productive or at least benefit mankind. Therefore, in a world of glorified morning routines and bullet journaling, productivity boils down to relentlessly pursuing the aspirations you, yourself, deem worthy, outlining them into specific actions under the umbrella of the goal in its entirety, and attacking. Although broader goals necessitate a wider complexity of steps to be taken, productivity, in short, is synonymous with prioritization. 

 I can remember when I would play video games for hours on end, fail to complete my homework for school, and then have to endure an endless lecture from my mother on how “[my] priorities aren’t straight.” Yeah... a lot happens in a week.

 This book will guide you through prioritization, how changes in productivity have revolutionized the world as we know it, and how you can be more efficient in managing your time, effort, and resources to better suit your goals.

Chapter 1

From starving hungry laborers in lock-ins to reduced working hours, productivity has endured vast transformation throughout many different periods. To dig further into the depths of how productivity has, in itself, transformed as well as how it has transformed entire cultures, civilizations, and world powers, let’s begin in ancient Greece. 

 With many fables, lectures, and heroic accounts of bravery instilled in Grecian literature, ancient Greece was the breeding ground for the fundamental concepts of modern productivity. A host of information regarding productivity lies in the philosophies and moral codes of the stoics. Still practiced today, stoicism--