r/manprovement Oct 20 '24

5 Habits That Ruin Your Productivity

5 common habits that harm your productivity and how to fix them. No unnecessary words.

The quality of your life is a reflection of your ability to focus. This article has a simple form of: Bad habit → tips to fix it.

1. Small distractions

“The secret to success in almost all fields is large, uninterrupted blocks of focused time.” ― Ryan Holiday

The foundation of productivity is focus. And focus is like the surface of water, even a small pebble can disrupt it. Create your environment to serve you, not the other way around.

That means:

  1. Identify your distractions (phone in most cases). Track what you do for one day. Note down every activity and the time you spend on it. Have you ever tracked calories? It’s surprising how much (or little) you eat when the numbers are here. The same case may be with time. Also, put a screen time widget on the home screen of your phone.
  2. Reduce. Why not eliminate? It will result in failure. Most of us can’t just switch behaviors like a… switch. Declutter your digital space, keep only the notifications you absolutely need, focus mode, phone in a different room. The end goal is to shift your mindset so you're so focused on your goal that you won’t even want to reach for your phone. But if you struggle with focus, these steps will help.
  3. Keep track in real-time. Create a simple Excel sheet. I have one where I record each work session. It automatically sums up my total time and gives me a nice, satisfying visual graph. We like numbers, and what we like even more is seeing numbers growing.

2. Wondering around

“If a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favorable.” ― Seneca

This is directly tied to the first habit, if wondering around is the vehicle, small distractions are the fuel.

I start right after I do this, and that, and that, and... it's already evening.

The simplest way to avoid wasting time is to create a plan and a schedule. Every idiot can do that though, the hard part is sticking to it.

How to make it easier for yourself:

  • Plan for realistic circumstances, not for dreams.
  • Eat the frog - the most important task, the one that moves your life forward the most, first.
  • Adjust - if your initial system of planning and doing doesn’t work, change it. It will change during your journey anyway as you progress and realize new things.
  • Set time blocks for specific tasks. Set an intention in your mind too: for this time I will focus absolutely and only on the task before me.
  • Your breaks should generate obligations. Don’t start something you know you won’t be able to finish during a break.
  • Don’t think, start. Just sit down and start doing the most important thing of the day.

Stop Horsin’ around, or you end up like BoJack.

3. Too much theory, not enough practice

“Knowledge without practice is useless. Practice without knowledge is dangerous.” ― Confucius

You need balance. Reading books is useless if you don’t intend to take lessons from them. Listening to podcasts is useless if you don’t implement what you learn.

Real learning often happens through doing. Actually, real learning can’t happen without doing (not including some rare cases maybe). A strong foundation of knowledge is valuable, sure. There comes a point though, where accumulating more information becomes counterproductive. As with many things in life - the key is balance. The most successful people are rarely those who wait for the perfect preparation. They are those who took action and figured things out along the way. This is also usually the faster way.

Knowledge without action is like a fancy car with no gas – it goes nowhere.

4. Multitasking

“Multitasking is the ability to screw everything up simultaneously.” — Jeremy Clarkson

It gives you the illusion of faster progress, it’s slower in reality. Switching between tasks is not like flipping a light switch, more like turning a big ship. Your attention lags behind and needs time to catch up.

Focus on one thing at a time.

5. Scrolling first thing after waking up

“Action isn’t just the effect of motivation; it’s also the cause of it.” ― Mark Manson

Last but not least, the easiest way to ruin your day. What I’ve found works best is to prevent this from happening instead of fighting it. If you have a slow morning, it’s veeery tempting to check your notifications, and that’s where it all starts.

Grab your phone first thing after opening your eyes. Check Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, watch some “fast food essay” on YouTube. Eat a big, heavy, sugary meal. Now about 2 hours passed, great! You can now start your day and do… nothing, your brain will run like a rusty engine and your attention span will be short like a soap bubble's life. How do I start my day then?

Bonus

Don't work when you're too tired, just go to sleep, the quality of what you do will be shitty and full of stupid mistakes that will have to be fixed tomorrow.

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