7 Productivity Myths You Believe That Are Sabotaging You

Are you constantly trying to be more productive but feel like you’re not getting anywhere?

Feel like you’re spinning your wheels, ending the day feeling frustrated with yourself?

Here’s why:

Most productivity advice is just noise.

It’s overcomplicating what’s simple.

Confuses and slows you down instead of helping you accomplish tasks.

Sells you hacks and tips that do nothing but drain and keep you in a loop.

Despite your best efforts, you’re most likely falling for a myth that’s working against you instead of for you.

Most people I speak to don’t have a work ethic problem.

They’re smart. Disciplined. Ambitious.

But they’re stuck in an invisible loop.

Then they start blaming themselves and think they might never be successful.

But it’s not their fault. And it’s not your fault.

You fell for bad advice.

The advice you believed would help you is sabotaging you.

But now it’s time to unlearn this advice and focus on principles that work and will help you achieve a higher level of productivity.

The 7 Productivity Myths Holding You Back (And What To Do Instead)

Myth #1: Being Busy = Being Productive

You’re doing 10 things a day, but not moving the needle.

You’re like a hamster on its wheel, doing a lot but not getting anywhere.

You fill your time and day with tasks. Tasks that aren’t impactful or important but that make you feel and look busy.

Being busy isn’t the same as being productive.

It’s confusing activity with progress.

Productivity isn’t about doing more. It’s about getting more and better out of less.

You can do less but still get a lot out of that.

Instead of following toxic hustle culture advice, start focusing on doing activities and tasks that move the needle forward.

Out of your 18 tasks, that might only be 3 tasks. Tasks that will move you 2 steps closer to your goals.

You don’t always need to be doing something.

The cost of being busy all the time is never making real progress towards your goals.

Myth #2: More Apps And Tools = More Productive

Productivity overdose is real.

And you know that too much of anything is a bad thing.

More apps, more tools, more dashboards. More, more, more.

Now I love tools and systems, but as quickly as I was collecting these tools, I noticed I spent less time on what mattered.

I spent more time making the digital planner ‘perfect’ rather than focusing on solving real problems for myself and my clients.

I spent more time building out the focus mode on my phone rather than putting it on aeroplane mode and in another room.

I spent more time watching YouTube videos on how to be productive than sitting at my desk and working for an hour.

I spent more time customising the Notion dashboard than doing the actual work.

Tools that were designed to help me quickly became distractions.

Instead, I took a step back and focused on the basics:

• What do I need to do?

• When am I doing it?

• How can I do it better?

Once the basics were covered, I looked at the tools. But this time I took a different approach.

When I was looking for a new tool or app, I asked myself:

• What do I need this app or tool for?

• How is it actually going to help?

• Do I have another tool or app that can do the same thing?

Start with what you have, and then you can optimise.

But sometimes a good piece of paper and a pen are fine.

Myth #3: You Get More Done When You Multitask

You’re writing a post, checking Slack, responding to WhatsApps — all at once.

This sounds productive, but it’s the exact opposite.

What you think is multitasking — doing multiple tasks at once — is task switching, rapidly switching from one task to another.

This gives the illusion that you’re doing multiple things at once, but it kills your momentum.

Task switching has been shown to:

• Drop your productivity by 40%

• Make your ability to focus weaker

• Lead to tasks taking 2x as long

• Lead to more errors and mistakes

Instead of trying to get everything done and get nothing done, focus on single-tasking.

Focus on one task at a time.

Do that task to completion and then move on to the next.

Think of single-tasking as the Focus of One:

• One task/objective

• One focus block

• One tab

If single-tasking feels too strange, you can try batching.

Instead of replying to your emails sporadically during the day, read and respond to your emails all at once.

This could also look like having themed days.

As an example, instead of trying to do everything in one day, you might do long-form content on Mondays and short-form content on Tuesdays.

This way you’re reducing your task switching and increasing your focus, which leads to better creativity, higher quality work and better productivity.

Myth #4: Time management is king

I used to believe that managing and planning my time down to the second was the peak of productivity.

If I know what I’m doing at exactly what time, I’ll get everything done and be productive.

However, the reality was something else.

No matter how planned out my calendar was, there were times when things just didn’t go to plan.

And the biggest problem wasn’t when unexpected life things happened, it was the days when it was just me and the calendar.

You can plan every hour of your day, but still get nothing meaningful done.

Because the issue isn’t your schedule.

It’s your energy.

You can’t make the most of your time if you’re low on energy.

Learn to manage your energy, not just your time:

• Work with your chronotype

• Schedule your work around your peaks and dips

• Take breaks (we’ll touch on this in a moment)

• Move your body and eat food that energises you

• Sleep well

Without energy, all the time in the world means nothing.

Myth #5: Working longer = getting more done

If you’re still trying to grind your way to results, you’re fighting reality.

Working longer hours doesn’t lead to more output and results.

Just like we discussed in myth 4, you can have the time, but without the energy, it’s nothing.

Your brain isn’t designed to work 12 to 16-hour days.

If you want to get more and better work done, you need to treat your brain like a phone battery.

It needs to recharge.

Instead of working long hours, try:

• Aiming for 4 - 5 intense hours, instead of 10 - 12 dragged-out hours

• Take breaks in between. The best thing you can do is move your body.

• View rest as a necessity for productivity, not a reward

Myth #6: The first draft has to be perfect

Most people never start because they are waiting for the ‘perfect’ time.

Most never finish until it’s ‘perfect’.

You might think you’re a perfectionist, but you might really be a procrastinator.

You stall. You tweak. You wait for the “right time.”

Perfectionism is procrastination in disguise.

Nothing in this world is perfect, but that’s what makes the world so beautiful.

Instead of trying to make everything perfect, aim to get it done.

Done is better than perfect.

You can’t improve a blank page.

You can’t improve something you never share.

• Give yourself permission to suck. You’ll suck in the beginning (this is inevitable), but from that you can only get better.

• Aim to get it done, not perfect.

• Iterate and improve.

The more you do, the better you get.

Myth #7: Some people are just naturally productive

No one is born with perfect focus.

No one is born with ironclad discipline.

No one is born naturally productive.

What looks like someone who is “natural productivity” is someone who’s explored and experimented with systems, routines and boundaries.

Sure, some people have personality traits and work styles that make it easier to be productive, but to get to a certain level, they had to learn and develop.

Like many other things in life, productivity is a skill, not a talent.

You can train yourself to:

• Stay focused for longer

• Follow through consistently

• Be productive at a high level

By building a high-performance system around your brain, lifestyle and work that works for you.

It’s easy to get lost in all the noise out there.

But I hope by busting these 7 myths, you’ll begin to question and go deeper with common advice to find the principles and what works for you.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed it.

See you in the next one.

— Shana