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are we the addicts of the productivity porn?
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Posted by Dellu
Apr 9, 2019 at 05:20 PM
This post in reddit really made me to question myself; and the time I am wasting by tinkering with these productivity tools.
Q:
>I spend more time looking at articles and reddit posts about how to be productive than actually being productive and it is freaking me out.
A:
>This whole sub is full of people like you. Luckily you have some self-awareness so you have a chance!
>Just do the things you need to do. It’s hard to work out what that actually is, but look at the big picture and that’s probably a combination of sleep, healthy eating, exercise, study or work.
>If what you’re doing isn’t impacting those things directly then you are wasting your time.
>Use only a notes app or a calendar. Using multiple apps or paid subscriptions is just evidence you’ve been captured by the productivity industry, who want to sell you stuff, not make you more productive.
>You don’t need a system, you just need to do the stuff that matters.
>People that are successful don’t use dumb apps. They make a list of things that need done and they score off the list.
>They don’t look at fancy charts and graphs of how they spent every second of their day. If you are doing this you are failing.
Posted by Paul Korm
Apr 9, 2019 at 06:58 PM
I agree with the Reddit answer. There’s a strong dose of unhealthy self-regard in a lot of the “productivity” forums, books, podcasts, and so on. When I see folks writing about their “workflow” I think, “ugh, we’re not machines”.
On the other hand, the workplace is increasingly difficult. With its constant demands for results, multitasking, and pervasive lack of training on basic work skills. So, it’s easy to see how people grasp at branches, hoping to get themselves out of the stream.
Posted by Beck
Apr 9, 2019 at 10:09 PM
I tend to think we humans are engineers at heart. Were it another time, we’d be tinkering with refining the design and implementation of other things.
Posted by jaslar
Apr 9, 2019 at 10:28 PM
When I first discovered some (then paperbased) time management systems, it was a revelation. So naturally, I went overboard, planning not only my work day, but my home life. Calendars and tasks! I got so much done, then, about a week into it, realized I was also becoming desperately unhappy.
Now I try to hit a balance. I make lists of stuff I really thought I ought to get to, and tried to do 1-3 of them every day (with a smattering of things that are urgent, but not necessarily important). That left time to invite my soul, to smell the roses, to do things whose purpose was not productivity, but appreciation.
Yet here I am, with all you other CRIMPers. Kudos to whoever came up with “productivity porn.”
Posted by Jeffery Smith
Apr 10, 2019 at 01:05 AM
I’m just such a sufferer. Today, a meeting slipped through the cracks and I could not find the email requesting it. If I had just one productivity app and one email app, it wouldn’t have taken me an hour to establish that I have no idea if I wrote it down. I am inundated in spam, spent half an hour trying to decide between IMindmap, Scrivener, or Curio to use as a corkboard. Tomorrow, I’m going to decide on 1 productivity app (Things, probably), 1 calendar (Fantastical), 1 email app (Mail), and…......Tinderbox, or Evernote, or DevonThink, or Curio, or Notability to keep my notes. I’m leaning toward Tinderbox.