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Quite often, it seems that we live in a society obsessed with hustle culture. It’s an idea that there’s always more to strive for, especially in regards to career – more money, higher title, and things like that.
There’s a whole discourse about the pros and cons of hustle culture to be had, but since it’s a rather overwhelming one, today, let’s focus on just the idea it promotes – productivity.
Wikipedia describes productivity as “the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure,” but that’s a rather abstract way to put it.
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When we think of productivity in relation to the aforementioned hustle culture, we see it as the ways an individual can achieve as much as possible in the shortest possible time, using the least amount of energy.
If you Google something along the lines of “how to be productive,” you’re guaranteed to find plenty of advice, ranging from actually helpful to tips that have the opposite effect.
That’s what we’re focusing on today – poor productivity hacks. In our list, you'll find plenty of tips that netizens deem to be not only unhelpful but, in some cases, even harmful to efficiency (or a person’s well-being).
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For example, a suggestion that people should wake up around 4 AM or so to achieve the most. In the short story presented in this list, a cyber citizen revealed that such a schedule only made them exhausted by the middle of the day and not productive.
Interestingly, a study conducted by the University of Westminster found that people who wake up extremely early (they put a time stamp between 5:22 AM and 7:21 AM) tend to have higher levels of stress hormones than those who let themselves have leisurely mornings.
Additionally, people’s bodies are usually more aligned with either early or later wake-ups – you know, the old-world tale of the early bird vs the night owl.
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So, it’s always better to listen to your body and try to align your day schedule with your body's needs as much as possible, instead of forcing yourself to be a productive early bird – that path simply might not be for you.
Another thing you can find mentioned in today’s collection of poor productivity hacks is the to-do list. That’s a rather surprising one since these lists tend to be a staple in discussions about efficiency.
Well, they are so often mentioned for a reason – to-do lists can actually be a good way to increase your productivity. They can help to organize tasks, see what needs to be prioritized, and things like that. Besides, crossing things off of them is relatively satisfying, as this action sends a dopamine boost to the brain, making people want to do that more and more.
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There are hacks where you pinch here and pinch here, then do this motion and you can fold a shirt in less than a second.
Or a product you can buy or make, where you lay a shirt in it, then fold up the sides and end and it folds the shirt perfectly every time.
Such time savers!
Except they're not, because every single g*****n time, they start with the shirt laid out all nice and flat. Just getting shirts to that point is the majority of the work. When you pick up a shirt out of the dryer, it's all crumpled and tangled up with other clothes and might even be inside out or partially inside out. My the time you get it all nice and ready to fold, your job is already practically done. Instead of laying it flat, you could just put a fold in it *as you set it down*. Now the job is done. No hacks required.
At the same time, making a perfect to-do list doesn’t mean you’ll finish all the tasks you put in there. As researcher E. J. Masicampo put it, “They do not go far enough toward committing us to doing the work.” Basically, they give us enough room to postpone tasks, which can be quite harmful for overall productivity, unless you commit yourself to finishing your list.
Since we don’t want to spoil you anymore, for more (un)useful productivity hacks, you have to check out our list. Don’t forget to upvote while you’re doing so and maybe even write some additional examples in the comments, if you have some!
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This often just means that you will make some or no progress on your hardest task, and not accomplish the small and easy tasks that slip to tomorrow, the next week, etc.
I find that I can actually track the items I need to do if I do the small stuff that takes very little time first. Then I tackle a hard task, until I get blocked or bogged down. Then I'll complete a medium task and reattempt some progress on the hard task.
Just the time to track all the items you don't accomplish is staggering. Then it feels like the weight of impending doom as you now have so many things to do.
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