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“Getting Up At 4AM”: 28 Well-Known Productivity Hacks That Are Actually Huge Time-Wasters
One of the things that our society seems to be extremely concentrated on is being productive. We're always urged to do as many things as possible, do all of them well, and things like that. So, it can get pretty overwhelming pretty fast. That's where various efficiency hacks come in.
The only problem with them is that not all of them are as useful as some claim them to be. Today, we're going to debunk some of these tips by using opinions from netizens who posted under a viral thread. So, let's jump in, shall we?
More info: Reddit
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#1
Driving to an office for in person time at a job that is largely in front of a computer screen.
Big Chungus 8 months ago
I actually think I am more productive in the office than remote, but to each their own. I would prefer to teleport though as opposed to driving.
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#2
I stopped reading productivity books and stopped watching productivity YouTube channels completely. Made a massive difference. Productivity “content” is a massive trap that makes you feel productive without actually doing anything worthwhile.
#3
Getting up at 4 AM because all those productivity gurus swear by it. Ended up being exhausted and unproductive by 2 PM. Turns out my natural rhythm of waking up at 7 works just fine, and I actually get more done.
DennyS (denzoren) 8 months ago
4am...nope. Even when you hear actors etc working out at 4am, remember they have chefs, caretakers, nannies etc, and no full-time 9-5 every day.
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.
#4
Open office design.
SouthernGal 8 months ago
This is largely financially driven. Four to five people can fit in the same space as one private office, greatly reducing the number of square feet required for office space.
#5
“That’s the way we’ve always done it”. Conversely, change for the sake of change is a massive waste of time.
#6
Commuting to an office for "collaboration". We're all sitting in cubicles on video calls to each other that could be done from home. Instead, we must commit hours of our personal time to commute each day and back, pay for gas, monthly parking, etc. I'd rather be productive working from my desk at home with my dog nearby.
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).
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.
#10
Making the perfect to-do list… then spending the whole day admiring it instead of actually doing anything.
#11
Imo spending too much time color coding and organizing tasks then lead to procrastination.
#12
Using apps that help you use apps less. There's just no good solutions out there for me and I've wasted a lot of time trying to find the right one. Just use your apps less.
Bacon Tentacles 8 months ago
The only goal of those apps are to make you use OTHER apps less, and their app more.
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.
#13
Not understanding Activity is not Productivity.
#15
Any "hack" about folding tshirts.
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!
#16
I recently have found that utilizing AI when it comes to data projects ends up with me making more adjustments through the program, then actually receiving any decent output. I could’ve done most of it by myself and half the time.
Bacon Tentacles 8 months ago
As a software developer, I use AI for the really mundane stuff that I can never remember and always end up googling anyway (regular expression for an email address, parsing a date, etc) or repetitive boilerplate stuff (scaffolding CRUD operations). But even then I take it with a grain of salt and test the heck out of it.
#17
# Doing your hardest task first.
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.
Big Chungus 8 months ago
I always do my quickest ones first, so later I can focus a lot more time on the harder stuff
#18
I'm not convinced that brushing your teeth in the shower has ever saved anybody any time.
MushroomHead22 8 months ago
it hasn't, but i do it because im an idiot and drool toothpaste on my shirt. might as well do it in the shower where i can clean it off.
#20
Those 5 minute morning routines that somehow take 2 hours.
Puppy Dancing! 8 months ago (edited)
This is an impossible standard, it takes me more than 5 minutes to leave the house even when I am ready to go, just tying my shoes takes a few minutes. Get my purse and keys, let out dogs, grab my snack or lunch, get dogs in, give them treats , close them up , lock up, pull out car, and in winter let's put on hat gloves boots sweater and jacket, with work stuff like shoes in a bag. Seriously. 5 minutes not including cooking/eating, getting dressed, packing lunch, showering, makeup, foot care, skin cream, feed dogs.
#23
Vast majority of kitchen gadgets, once you add up the time to get them and clean them it's usually faster to just use the knife you're already holding.
Kari Panda 8 months ago (edited)
Can‘t agree with that one. Sure, there are unnecessary gadgets, but I wouldn’t say that applies to 'the vast majority'. Plenty of items are useful, especially if you a) use them a lot or b) aren‘t skilled and they make your life easier or c) are physically handicapped and they make your life easier.
#24
Time boxing. It takes too long to do and isn’t usually necessary anyway.
Phantom Phoenix 8 months ago
Time boxing? Who's taking the bets? My money's on time; it will KO all opponents. Every. Time.
#25
VLOOKUP , for the life of me I cannot get it to work and I always spend way too much time trying to do it.
Ace 8 months ago (edited)
Wha? Oh, it's an Excel thing. Why people choose to build huge elaborate systems and models using a a spreadsheet I've never understood. But 30+ years in IT showed me many such examples, some of which I've had to use as a template for a proper system when the author of a company-critical spreadsheet that's never been properly, often not even improperly, documented leaves the company.
#26
Cleaning your entire house before starting the thing you were meant to be doing because 'you need to be in the right headspace.' In reality you could've finished the main thing in that time
#27
having multiple tabs/applications open on your computer. make a list of tasks to complete and focus on 1 thing at a time until completion.
Puppy Dancing! 8 months ago (edited)
To complete many tasks you need several windows. Like if I was to do a research paper, I need to have many tabs open to look at original data, tabs open to look at diagrams, tabs open to look at prior studies
#28
Making your bed. It's the same as straightening your shoes when you get home.
Puppy Dancing! 8 months ago
Making my bed seals in the sweat and then my bed is damp when I go to sleep. I peel my blankets back, evaporate all day, dry bed at night
What do you think ?
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