Hot take: That 'minimum effort to maximum result' advice is garbage for most of us

I spent like 3 years following all those productivity hacks about doing the bare minimum and getting the best outcome. I bought into it hard, even had a spreadsheet tracking my 'effort ratio' or whatever. Then I tried to build a simple bookshelf for my apartment in Austin using that mindset. I rushed through measuring and cut a 2x4 three inches too short. That moment of staring at a useless piece of wood made me realize the shortcuts were just excuses to be lazy. Has anyone else found that the 'work smarter not harder' stuff backfires when you skip the basics?

3 comments

3 Comments

kellygrant12d ago

Built a bookshelf with that "minimum effort" mindset? Sounds like you ended up with more of a book-destroying shelf. I tried the same approach to meal prepping once and ended up with three days of chicken that tasted like regret and cardboard. Cutting corners usually just means cutting things three inches too short, apparently.

nina_taylor12d ago

Is a lopsided bookshelf or some dry chicken really the end of the world though? Sometimes you learn more from a wobbly shelf than a perfect one, honestly (and chicken is just chicken). Feels like the real lesson here is just that cutting corners means the corners get cut, but that's not exactly a tragedy.

ward.anna10d ago

Wait, you're saying dry chicken is fine? I actually gagged a little reading that. Dry chicken isn't just chicken, it's punishment for your taste buds. I'd rather eat a lopsided shelf than a plate of cardboard meat. Are you telling me you'd actually enjoy that?