4 Ways You're Faking Productivity đŹ (and how to fix them)
Around here, we define productivity as giving your best time and energy to what matters most by doing the right things at the right time. But here's the thing -- you very well could be faking productivity by making yourself look busy without making actual progress toward your goals/vision đ
Keep reading this post to learn:
â 4 ways youâre faking productivity
â How to switch these fake productivity strategies with Hustle Sanely-approved ones
I define productivity as giving your best time and energy to what matters most by doing the right things at the right time. Thatâs important for you to hold onto as we debunk these productivity myths.
(01) Youâre faking productivity by: Having a long AF to-do list every day.
Girl, stop putting your life task list on your daily to-do list...PUHLEASE!
Overloading your daily to-do list is SO freaking overwhelming and leaves you feeling defeated at the end of the day when itâs not all done.
Not only does this crush our mental health, but it robs us of the ability to be strategic in planning our days. And planning our days strategically is what allows us to give our best time and energy to what matters most.
I feel like people come from a good place when they put every task in their brain on their daily to-do list. They donât want to forget anything so they make a big old to-do list. Not only that but I feel like with big to-do lists, we are tempted to keep writing and re-writing them as if that will help us? But with a big daily to-do list, you canât see what your priorities are. Itâs just a bunch of clutter that has you running like a hamster on a wheel.
When you donât know your priority tasks, youâre tempted to fill your day with low-value tasks just so you can be doing something. Which cool, you have a lot of checkmarks on your to-do list but did you really get anything of value done? Not all tasks are created equal.
TRY THIS INSTEAD: Have a daily Focus 3 planned out and using a catch-all task list.
A 2-for-1 solution...youâre welcome. Your Focus 3 tasks are your 3 most important tasks for the day. Tasks that you want to give your best time and energy to. Having a daily Focus 3 positions you to do needle-moving tasks that matter and make actual progress toward your goals instead of being a check-chaser...aka someone who wastes their energy grabbing at the small/tedious/easy/not super important tasks just so they can quickly put a check next to them and pushes their important tasks to the side because they seem big and daunting.
Plus it builds momentum. When you get your Focus 3 tasks done, you feel on top of the freaking world and that paves the way for you to knock out other tasks that might not be as important, ya feel me?
Then the catch-all task list, Iâve talked about it before but this is like a master life/work to-do list. It keeps you from having that long AF list as your daily list but still provides a place for you to keep track of tasks that need to be done over time. I have mine broken into personal and professional.
Iâm telling yâall - to-do lists can play mind games with you if you donât use them well! Thatâs why Iâm a fan of having a daily Focus 3 built into my daily to-list (that is never more than like 10 tasks long) and if I think of something else that needs to be done, I pop it on my Catch-All Task list.
I use my Catch-All Task list to help me determine my weekly top 3 tasks which I use to help me determine my daily Focus 3 tasks. Itâs a beautiful flowy system that allows me to make REAL progress toward my goals without feeling like Iâm spread too thin or forgetting anything.
(02) Youâre faking productivity by: Doing random tasks at random times.
As in, you donât have a game plan for your day. You might have a general idea of what needs to be done each day but you donât really know how youâre gonna get it all done.
Not only that but you are kind of in âputting out firesâ mode all the time. I know you may think that answering every email the moment it comes in or dropping everything to respond to a text is being productive but it's not. Treating everything like an emergency derails your focus and sure, you might feel good about having no emails or whatever but your high-value tasks are getting pushed to the back burner.
When we operate like this, itâs SUCH a waste of energy because you are spending your brainpower trying to create a plan from moment to moment and that keeps you from putting your best foot forward for each task.
Yâall know Iâm all about routines and habits and thatâs because they help us get what needs to be done done efficiently and done well.
If you just blindly go into your day without knowing which tasks pair well together, which tasks youâre better suited to do in the morning versus afternoon versus evening based on your energy - you are selling yourself short by making things harder than they need to be.
TRY THIS INSTEAD: Use energy audits and time blocking.
I hope yâall know by now that Hustling Sanely is not just about time management but also energy management. As in, checking in with yourself to create a plan that works the best for you and your life. There is no one size fits all approach to productivity.
Some people do their best creative work in the morning and others thrive in the evening for that kind of thing. There isnât a right or a wrong way to operate but it is important for you to figure out what types of strategies work best for you - thatâs where an energy audit comes into play.
Ask yourself questions like:
- When do I feel like I have the most brainpower?
- When do I feel sluggish?
- When do I feel the most creative?
- When do I have the most physical energy?
Once you have a handle on what times of day you do certain types of tasks best, then you can start time blocking. Time blocking sounds fancy but all it is is giving one task or type of task your focus for a certain amount of time. By focusing on a single task at a time, youâre able to get more done because youâre actually doing each task instead of worrying about when everything will get done.
I think of time blocking as giving all of your daily to-dos a home for the day. Everything has its place, its zone, and that means that you can work within each task without your mind wandering to other tasks.
Time blocking allows us to be fully present, again, producing better quality work quicker.
To time block, you literally just decide what time youâre doing what. And remember - use your energy audit to help you! If you have way more physical energy in the mornings, schedule your workouts for earlier in the day rather than trying to do them at night. Youâll get a better workout and just be in a better headspace overall, ya know?
(03) Youâre faking productivity by: Overworking.
Hustle culture is SO annoying because it tells us that to be âsuccessfulâ and you canât see me but Iâm doing air quotes around successful - that we have to grind all the time. That is BS. I can tell you from experience that all grinding does is muffle out your passion flame. I freaking LOVE what I do but if I overwork, I start to lose creativity and in extreme cases, drop my big picture vision. And that does not fly around here.
When I first started doing Hustle Sanely full-time, because of how much I love what I do and the fact that my work is so easily accessible because I do a lot of my job anytime, anywhere, from my phone, I was in a constant state of working without realizing it.
Like think about this, if there is a snack platter sitting out, I donât know about you but pretty much every time I walk by, I grab a bite. Iâm always grazing because the plate is there, right? Well, this is how I was working - I would pass by Instagram or my email or whatever and just air quotes again âpop in for a few minutesâ - like my brain was always buzzing, even if at a low capacity. Well hereâs the thing, that is creating this sneaky underlying sense of burnout. I wasnât ever truly resting. And I think full-on rest is imperative for us to maintain solid mental health because rest refuels us. And the energy that we do tasks with matters. Like if you are burned the eff out from overworking, youâll see that in your work.
TRY THIS INSTEAD: Set daily or weekly ârest hoursâ.
Pretty much the opposite of work hours - I want you to set daily/weekly rest hours. Like, schedule them in as non-negotiables.
In my current season, I schedule in Monday and Tuesday evenings and absolute rest. Mondays I clock out of work by 3:30 and go to the gym at 4:15. Then after the gym, Adam and I play pickleball with friends. Tuesdays, I clock out of work by 6 and we have friends over for Taco Tuesday. Then I take one full day completely off work (the day varies from week to week honestly) for me to recharge - Iâm an introvert so alone time is my jam, lol.
Whether youâre a student, business owner, 9-5er, whatever...you need time to be completely resting and recharging so you can do your studies, run your business, or do your job well when youâre there instead of always operating from this underlying low-grade burnout, ya know?
I know itâs not always possible to completely separate work life and home life. I donât think thatâs realistic because sometimes something will pop up for work when youâre home and youâve got to take care of it on the spot or vice versa - youâre working and something personal comes up that you have to attend to. Totally normal and fine. Remember - our schedule and routines are tools, not chains.
So instead of putting this pressure on yourself to be âperfectâ (more air quotes, lol) have a few set times that are your ârest hoursâ and make sure you communicate those to people who may be prone to interrupting them if they donât know otherwise.
When youâre Hustling Sanely, you need to be operating from a place of rest not being fake productive and trying to do all the things in order to earn rest.
(04) Youâre faking productivity by: Doing a booty ton of different types of tasks every day.
This can be TERRIBLE for your energy! When youâre having to switch gears all day every day, itâs a good way to deplete yourself and be exhausted from the inside out. Now obviously we all have certain responsibilities but Iâm telling you to control what you can control with this okay?
TRY THIS INSTEAD: Use batching to give your days themes and help preserve your energy.
Some of my themes:
Mon: Writing + Creative Projects
Tues: One on One Coaching Calls + Interviews
Wed: Writing + Creative Projects
Thurs: Group Coaching + One on One Coaching Calls + Video recording
Fri: Open Loop Day
Open loops are just those little, need to be done, but donât need to be done in the moment kind of things that tend to build up. Like organizing your work files, getting your oil changed, finalizing a proposal thatâs due in a few weeks, a home project, etc.
I designate the majority of Fridays to be the day that I work on closing open loops - because the more open loops we have, the more brain space weâre wasting on them. Iâve found that tackling multiple opens loops at once works well because a lot of open loop tasks donât take too terribly much time but they just take up space on your catch-all task list.
Now like I said, we all have responsibilities - so I start each of my workdays by spending 30 minutes checking in with the BFF FB group, Voxer (the app I use to communicate with the gals on my team), and my email inbox -- these admin tasks are my on-ramp tasks to get me in work mode then from there, I plan my day based on tasks that fit into the daysâ theme.
Create routines based on the work/life maintenance stuff that you have to do every day (like feeding your family, getting your kids to practices, etc.) so you can spend the other parts of your day focused on tasks that move the needle forward on your goals.
If you enjoyed this post, tune into episode 090 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to listen into this topic:
