9 popular tips that actually hurt productivity

1. Copy the habits of successful people

Steve Jobs could eat only carrots for a week and then go hungry, Friedrich Schiller kept rotting apples in the table to stimulate his creativity, and the current Apple CEO Tim Cook starts the day at about four in the morning.

However, copying their habits does not make sense: they alone do not guarantee that your life will change for the better. Think how many more people get up early or follow a strict diet, but do not achieve significant success.

By putting successful people on a pedestal, we are hurting ourselves.

It starts to seem to us that they are constantly at the peak of productivity, that they succeed in everything, which means that we need to strive for this. Naturally, this is not the case. Even Benjamin Franklin, who always had a list of virtues with him, did not always fit the schedule and was annoyed by the mess in his papers.

What to do instead: Customize the methods of successful people for you. When you see a person whose life you like, be inspired by his example, but do not deify him. Remember that he also has weaknesses.

Try to look at life from the perspective of those who inspire you. Experiment with their approaches to productivity. Adjust what works for yourself, and feel free to refuse the rest.

2. Try to get the most out of every minute

We used to think that we always need to do as many things as possible and get them done as quickly as possible. In fact, this is not consistent with human nature. We simply cannot be continuously focused. According to the research data of The State of Work Life Balance in 2019: What we learned from studying 185 million hours of working time, we spend only 3 hours productively per working day.

Plus, by trying to make the most of every minute, we're hurting creativity.

“Productivity and creativity require opposing strategies for managing attention,” says psychologist Adam Grant, author of The Originals. How nonconformists move the world forward. " Productivity grows when we filter out distractions and unrelated thoughts. And creativity, on the contrary, is when we turn off filters and allow ourselves to be distracted."

What to do instead: Determine what time of day you are most productive. If you force yourself to work when the body simply cannot be productive, a good result will still not work. Watch yourself and understand what times of the day work the easiest for you.

Then build your day around them. For example, do basic tasks in the morning, and leave routine tasks that do not require much attention in the afternoon. And don't forget to disconnect from work in the evenings to give yourself some rest.

3. Set big goals

Self-help books and articles are usually encouraged to pursue your most ambitious dreams and "live your best life." But if you set too big a goal (run a marathon, write a book), when you are not ready for it, you can get the opposite result.

The action leading to the goal (running, writing) may seem too difficult, too intimidating, and you will abandon it altogether.

This is also confirmed by research: when people think too much about the final goal, they are more likely to give up earlier when thinking about goals undermines goal pursuit. And this applies to a wide variety of activities - from yoga and exercise on simulators to creating origami and rinsing teeth.

What to do instead: start with small but regular steps. Make yourself a feasible routine, and then lower the bar a little more. For example, your goal is to write a book. You can try to write 500 words every morning, or you can simplify the task and stop at 300 words five days a week.

You can always do more if you want - as long as the initial plan doesn't seem too complicated. The simpler the task, the easier it will be to stick to the plan and move towards the goal.

4. Use as many techniques as possible for productivity

More often than not, they only waste time. Especially those aimed at quantitative (crossing off as many items from the to-do list as possible) rather than qualitative results (completing the tasks that will most affect the achievement of the goal).

Take the Inbox Zero system, for example. At first glance, it is useful, because its goal is to make sure that there are no letters left in your inbox in the evening. But it takes a lot of time to create a complex system of shortcuts and check the box throughout the day.

As a result, you have order in your mail, and you are not close to achieving important goals.

Moreover, creating folders and shortcuts doesn't even help you find Am I wasting my time organizing email faster? the necessary letters. At some point, trying to optimize every action starts to do more harm than good.

What to do instead: Limit yourself to a few applications. Prioritize and break big tasks into small steps. Then choose a couple of apps or techniques you need to track your progress. Don't try new things every week. Refuse what does not help to move towards the goal, even if it is on everyone's lips.

5. Reward yourself

It would seem, what could be more natural than assigning yourself a reward for achieving a goal. This is actually not a very reliable method. We are more productive when we are driven by intrinsic motivation. For example, people tend to learn harder Predicting long-term growth in students' mathematics achievement: The unique contributions of motivation and cognitive strategies and achieve more when they are genuinely interested in the subject and want to master it, rather than when they seek to get a good grade and reward for her.

What to do instead: look for intrinsic motivation. Think about your values, about what is most important to you right now. This will help you prioritize and understand what skills you need to learn.

After that, focus on the process, not the end goal.

As Austin Cleon, author of Steal Like an Artist, says, focus on the verb, not the noun. “Many people want to get a noun without doing the verb. They want a job title without the necessary work…, - he writes. "But the verb will lead to much more interesting results than just dreaming about a noun."

6. Protect willpower because it is limited

The theory of the exhaustion of willpower has long been recognized. According to her, when we resist temptations (for example, to eat something tasty or go to social networks), then we waste cognitive resources and then perform worse tasks and hardly make other decisions.

But a few years ago, the theory was called into question because the original research failed to replicate The End of Ego-Depletion Theory? … New evidence suggests that willpower depends on many more variables, including context and cultural background. Reverse ego-depletion: Acts of self-control can improve subsequent performance in Indian cultural contexts. Moreover, people who consider willpower unlimited demonstrate Ego depletion-is it all in your head? implicit theories about willpower affect self-regulation less signs of self-depletion.

What to do instead: Replace willpower with habits. If an action requires willpower, make it a habit. For example, if you want to write, take Julia Cameron's advice and write three pages every morning. Write whatever comes to your mind, and don't worry about the beauty of the sentences - this way you will learn how to create texts even when you don't feel like it.

7. Visualize goal achievement

It is often advised to imagine in detail how you cross the finish line in a marathon or get your dream job. In theory, this should help to tune in and recharge. But that doesn't always work. According to research by Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy, visualization does not inspire us to try harder, but rather relaxes: we got pleasant sensations in the process, so we don't want to try further.

In addition, in reality, obstacles and surprises await us, which do not exist in fantasies, and this further discourages the desire to do something.

What to do instead: Dream, but try to imagine obstacles in advance. Try critical visualization. Imagine the difficulties and difficulties that you may encounter along the way. Think about how to deal with them. For example, decide what to do if you miss an interview for a coveted position or have to postpone a long-planned trip. This will help not to cling to one specific result and will make the road to the goal more realistic.

8. Be busy all the time

We all complain about being too busy, but at the same time we continue to hammer our day to the eyeballs. On the one hand, this is due to the modern culture of work, on the other - the belief that we will achieve more if we take on more commitments.

We even have a certain amount of fun adding things to the calendar, making to-do lists and crossing out items from them. But the long list of tasks is anxiety and stress. And being busy and being productive are not the same thing.

What to do instead: Free yourself from the desire to constantly occupy yourself. Don't try to do as much as possible. Both the quality of your work and your health will suffer from this. To break this habit, use the following methods:

Highlight and focus on your three most important things for the day.
Take a break from electronic devices. For example, do not use them within an hour after waking up and an hour before bed.
Notice to yourself if you want to do something, simply because you are used to acting immediately (this is especially true for entrepreneurs).
Remind yourself that sometimes it's best not to do anything.
Don't settle for everything just out of politeness, value your time.
In the morning, consider how to spend your day so that it aligns with your values and brings you closer to your goals.

9. Adhere to a strict regime

We usually imagine superproductive people waking up at four in the morning, drinking a protein shake and doing everything before the mere mortals got out of bed. Then they go in for sports and generally do not waste a minute.

Perhaps someone really succeeds, but for most of them, such a strict regime will only hurt.

Psychologists point out that obsession with productivity is fraught with unpleasant side effects. The most common is being overly critical of yourself. Harsh inner criticism often discourages the desire to do something and can even cause depression A review of client self-criticism in psychotherapy.

What to do instead: be kinder to yourself. We are productive when we feel light and open. If you focus on criticism, the feelings will be reversed. So instead of berating yourself for not living up to expectations, support yourself and acknowledge the difficulties that come your way. Instead of repeating, “I’m so undisciplined with my finances,” say, “I always record expenses, although I hate doing it. And I am more disciplined in other areas of life. Self-acceptance helps Self-Compassion Promotes Personal Improvement From Regret Experiences via Acceptance to do so much more.