Marijuana Trumps Blackberries for Productivity… and Amazon Challenge 24 Comments

Written by Tim Ferriss Topics: E-mail Detox, Low-Information Diet, The Book - 4HWW

This guy gets more done than your CTO
(photo credit: Indian Gypsy)

My first article for Huffington Post made it onto the homepage today: Marijuana Trumps Blackberries for Productivity. Here is some food for thought:

Millions of Blackberry users in the US were left without their favorite drug from 8pm EST Tuesday to 6am EST Wednesday last week, when technical problems at service provider Research In Motion cut off wireless e-mail access. Some fumed, but others took a deep breath of relief. The brief escape was relished by a growing number of users who have realized that this digital leash often kills productivity instead of increasing it.

Not convinced? Let’s compare Blackberries to the top anti-productivity product of all-time: good old-fashioned marijuana.

In 2005, a psychiatrist at King’s College in London administered IQ tests to three groups: the first did nothing but perform the IQ test, the second was distracted by e-mail and ringing phones, and the third was stoned on marijuana. Not surprisingly, the first group did better than the other two by an average of 10 points. The e-mailers, on the other hands, did worse than the stoners by an average of 6 points.

In a digital world of infinite distraction, it is “single-tasking” — shutting out interruption instead of facilitating it — that will save us. What’s the alternative? Checking e-mail once every five minutes, then every minute, then every second? It’s not a scalable coping mechanism.

The world doesn’t hiccup, let alone end, if you check e-mail twice a day instead of twice an hour. If it does, it usually means that your work culture rewards overwork to counter its own ineffectiveness. This is predicated on burnout and not a game worth winning. The next time you get the Crackberry urge, consider the option of being productive instead of being busy. Or, if that’s too abstract, consider grabbing a joint instead — you’ll probably get more done.

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AMAZON CHALLENGE: The 4-Hour Workweek has been hovering around #105 for four days on Amazon, and now it’s officially on-sale! Please help me break the #100 barrier — I can’t let The Official Guide for GMAT Review beat me! If you’re even remotely interested in automating and outsourcing your life, I guarantee you this book will open your eyes to some amazing new options: Please help me break the #100 barrier!

Posted on April 24th, 2007

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24 Responses to “Marijuana Trumps Blackberries for Productivity… and Amazon Challenge”

Billy April 24th, 2007
4:00 am

Blackberry and email cocaine.

My boss is a coke head when it comes to email. I had the tragic situation where he made me sit and explain why emails were coming to his blackberry and not to his PC and vice versa.
Michael Sherman April 24th, 2007
9:41 am

Tim,

I did my part and ordered from amazon. Can’t wait to get the book. And, I hope you smash the GMAT Review book and whatever else is in front of you!

Happy book launch.
billy April 24th, 2007
10:15 am

Bought it on Amazon.co.uk? Does that count?
Productivity: The Berry and the Weed « Changing Way April 24th, 2007
10:27 am

[…] 24th, 2007 In a digital world of infinite distraction, it is â€œsingle-taskingâ€?… that will save us. That’s what Tim Ferriss tells us. He backs it up as follows. In 2005, a psychiatrist at […]
tom smith April 24th, 2007
11:08 am

Firstly, where is the link to the dope head research, anyone can say that “there’s some research that…etc”. I heard some research on Radio 4 once that said people who smoked marijuana were better drivers because paranoia set in and they slowed down ….no link though :-)

Secondly, having read this and agreed, I went to my Apple Mail program and found that the least frequent setting is only one hour!
Jordan M April 24th, 2007
12:03 pm

Err, I bought it on Amazon but it says it won’t arrive for another 3 or 4 days so I went to Borders and picked it up today. I think I might send the extra copy to my i-banker friend - he needs it
Tim Ferriss April 24th, 2007
12:49 pm

Thanks so much to all for the support, and please keep it up! Jordan, thanks for rescuing another i-banker from soul-crushing work death. Tom, here is just one link — Google pops up quite a few — to studies, or reports of them in the UK, at King’s College. They seem to have a penchant for studying how e-mail lowers IQ and kills your brain: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/22/email_destroys_iq/
Sonal B. April 24th, 2007
3:37 pm

As of now, 4:37pm EST your book is at #15 on Amazon’s sales rank!
eric April 24th, 2007
8:42 pm

here’s the story on BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4471607.stm
Jeff Gardner April 24th, 2007
10:14 pm

I was so impressed with what I read on Amazon.com about your book (testimonials and reviews), I bought 3. I know 2 business friends who could use it. Can’t wait to get it. Sounds like you’re talking to me! Hope this helps you move on up at Amazon.com! Have a great one! Best, Jeff
Mark Frisk April 24th, 2007
11:30 pm

Okay. I’m in. Looking forward to reading your book.

It’s at #10 on Amazon at the moment, BTW.
Aaron Bennett April 25th, 2007
1:24 am

I’m looking forward to read your book and start implementing your genious ideas and I’ll will be promoting you to my network of ppl. Your blog is great - keep it up!
Tim Ferriss April 25th, 2007
3:40 am

Thanks so much to all of you! More to come soon in the next post…
Paul Campbell April 25th, 2007
6:07 am

Tim,

I listened to the podcast of your presentation at SXSW, having been previously inspired by Bertrand Russell’s “In Praise of Idleness”:
http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html

I’m currently hovering with my productivity levels, but I’ve managed to master a 20 hour work week, according to Russell’s advice.

I’m following your zen for the email checking and the peace of mind is like a calm sea after a rough storm. I don’t even think the auto-responder is necessary - I’ve been replying twice a day for two weeks now and I don’t think anybody has noticed anything in the difference.

Now I just need to filter out the noise from the blogosphere and get myself off of Netvibes!
Taylor Clan » Blog Archive » CrackBerry May 3rd, 2007
2:22 pm

[…] Â http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/24/marijuana-trumps-blackberries-for-productivity-and-a… […]
Richard Lanoue May 8th, 2007
1:23 pm

I bought the book at B&N brick and mortar store. I picked it up, read the introduction and immediately headed to the cash register. Devourd the book in 1 sitting. AM now going thrugh the book and implementing the inital steps like getting a Passport and Clear card.
I am simple » Marijuana Trumps Blackberries for Productivity May 8th, 2007
5:21 pm

[…] Source […]
Jim (PFT/SCT) May 8th, 2007
5:30 pm

As a counterpoint to the referenced study, do a Google search on “continuous partial attention”. This seems to be a new skill which many attempt, but only some do well.

I’ve been on conference calls with co-workers and customer employees at the same time as having an out-of-band chat online (eg, IM, IRC) with these same co-workers (excluding the customer) so as to better prepare a response to the customer. I’m sure some of you have done this yourselves. But my manager has surprised me on multiple occasions where he can seemingly converse on the call with flawless composure and awareness, at the same time as carrying on a text-based discussion with us in a chat room. I can type pretty quickly, but my attention tends to shift either to what I’m typing/reading or to what I’m saying/hearing. (For those of you who suffer from PHBs, I understand your frustration, but regrettably I won’t be sending my manager to take over your department. ;-) )

So yeah… continuous partial attention. Check it out.
Sharon Stein McNamara July 7th, 2007
12:49 pm

Dear Tim:

I just finished your whole book and I am impressed. I work in a service job (as a psychologist) and I now realize that I will never make the kind of money I want to make unless I create a product. I could write a book, design a T-shirt, or sell some kind of biofeedback tool, but your book was a shift in consciousness for me. I do contain my service work to only three days a week of direct client time. (I believe that alone is what keeps me sane in an insane job). Do you have any advice for the new entrepreneur who is moving from service to product based work? Also, I was curious because you give hints in your book but then never tell the full story of your own biography… Did you ever finish your thesis at Princeton? Do you do coaching on marketing? I would be interested. Thanks for your contribution. —Sharon, Mother, psychologist, entrepreneur
Marijuana Rules over Blackberry | Cube Rules December 6th, 2007
12:16 am

[…] Four Hour Work Week blog (and also a book on an unrelated subject) offers up the reality: Smoking marijuana is more productive than being addicted to your Blackberry. Single Tasking is […]
Depression, Web 2.0, Social Networking and Making Money Online « Hone Watson Bookmarks December 13th, 2007
8:02 pm

[…] advocates a low tech diet. Tim also advocates firewalling your attention span after revealing that marijuana can lead to better productivity than a […]
ephi February 2nd, 2008
6:07 am

Hi Tim!

Got your book on December 2007 from the local imported book shop in Indonesia. I couldn’t get through chapter three, though, the awful smell coming from the book is disturbing me. I don’t know if this is a problem with the others as well. Please let the publisher know and use another printer next time. It’s a hassle for me to return the book since the book shop doesn’t have another copy and sending back to the US will cost a great deal.

Great book so far!
ephi February 2nd, 2008
6:19 am

Also fail to indicate that the book I bought is actually the English version. Not the (possibly) upcoming Indonesian version that you mentioned here. BTW, I never heard of any Indonesian publisher with that name before.
Jeff June 16th, 2008
1:06 am

Well no duh the stoned group did better. Being stoned is just a state and not something you have to make a deliberate effort to do or be. With a blackberry you have a habit of making the effort to answer it. When you’re stoned, you’re stoned. You don’t think about making the decision to be stoned or that you try to be stoned, you just are stoned and think about things with a slightly altered mind.

If someone listed me a series of numbers and asked me to repeat as many as I could, no doubt I would probably remember more when I was drunk or high then I was crafting words to say in an email and then transferring those words through a small blackberry keyboard that requires more attention to use correctly. The difference is your not trying to concentrate on something else when you’re high/drunk.