Being productive is the secret to staying on top of your work and becoming a successful professional. If you want to boost productivity, there are numerous tips and tricks to apply.
However, blindly believing in myths that don't hold true will refrain you from maximizing your productivity. Let's explore some productivity myths and the truth behind them.
1. Multitaskers Are More Productive
It is one of the most prevalent myths about productivity. Multitasking in personal life is possible because you don’t have to give 100% attention to all the tasks. Nevertheless, divided attention is not something that'll work in business. Instead of multitasking, practice task-batching to get more things done within a short time.
Group similar tasks one after another in Google Calendar and perform them together. You can also color-code tasks to highlight similar work for easy differentiation. With visual time management tools like HourStack, you can track how much time it takes to finish a task or a batch of tasks. Analyze one week's data and then you'll be more accurate in grouping similar tasks in batches.
2. Rising Early in the Morning
Waking up early in the morning may make some people super-productive, but this might not be the best option for you. You may be a night owl who is most productive at night. It doesn’t matter when you wake up. Completing the toughest task at the beginning of working hours will make your day more productive.
Clockify app lets you find out your most productive hours of the day using the timeboxing method. Time tracking software Toggl Track is another beneficial way to check out the time taken for tasks that’ll help you become more productive.
3. Remote Work Impacts Productivity
The majority of people believed working remotely would provide the best productivity opportunity since there is no one to supervise them. However, the global shift towards working from home proved that you could be equally productive even from home.
Whether you're working from home or office or both as a part of the hybrid working model, you can offer the best performance using Google Workspace.
It has a complete collection of 24/7 accessible tools you need while working remotely. Using the project management tool Basecamp will make sure you have an uninterrupted workflow.
4. Working More for Higher Productivity
Working more hours equals more work—this notion is a myth. If you work for long hours, you’re bound to have lower productivity and worse performance. When you work at a stretch for hours, the concentration tends to decrease.
Thus, productivity does not correlate with long working hours. You can be more productive even after working for shorter hours with frequent breaks.
Time Doctor is a time tracking app that you can use to track down your productivity and how much time you take to complete each task. Desktime is another app you can try to identify your inefficient habits that impact productivity. The app can also help you automate time tracking.
5. Working Under Pressure Increases Productivity
To some people, working under pressure might trigger creativity. For others, however, strict conditions create more possibilities of errors and inefficiency. The extra cognitive load makes it difficult to perform better and finish the work within the deadline. Therefore, you should either shift to less complex tasks or take breaks more often.
Try Pomodoro Technique that promotes a 5-minute break after every 25 minutes of work with the help of the Todoist app. It lets you take even longer breaks after multiple tasks. PomoDone is another useful app that works with the principle of Pomodoro.
6. Doing All by Yourself Makes You Productive
As a freelancer, you're your own boss. However, when it comes to office productivity, taking responsibility for everything on your own is not the best strategy. Instead, delegate the tasks among the team members based on their capabilities to complete the projects before the due date.
If you're working on a project and want to automate task management, Teamwork is a good choice. This all-in-one project management platform allows you to assign tasks among teammates and showcase who is responsible for which task. Trello will also assist you in reaching the new productivity peak by collaborating with your colleagues.
7. Daily Work Routine Constrains Productivity
Contrary to popular belief, setting up a daily work routine is useful for your productivity. Having a specific daily routine aligns your life and keeps it in a perfect flow.
To keep your productivity at the pick while tracking and managing your daily habits, use Streaks. By using this app, you can include good habits into your everyday routine. It also reminds you if you fail to achieve any task goal.
If you want to start building new habits, Loop Habit Tracker is the app for you. It alerts you to do the tasks daily so that you can have a routine life.
8. Meditation Is a Waste of Time and Productivity
That is not true. You become stressed and exhausted in the daily race to become more productive. You can overcome stress through meditation and increase patience, tolerance, imagination, and creativity.
With the help of the meditation app Insight Timer, you can choose from an extensive library containing more than 45,000 free guided meditations. If you don’t have much free time, you can try Aura for mindful meditation with tracks as small as 3 minutes. It also lets you meditate based on your current mental state.
9. Productivity Has Nothing to Do With Healthy Diet and Sleep
Remember, you're what you eat and how you sleep. Both diet and sleeping are directly connected to your wellbeing and ensure the energy and attention necessary for productivity. So, start building healthy eating and sleeping habits for improved work performance.
MyFitnessPal app has a database of over 6 million food items and 4 million food barcodes. So, you can keep track of your calories while you purchase anything. Log all your meals in this app and get insights on calories, cholesterol, fiber, and other nutrients.
You can use the Sleep Cycle app to analyze your sleep and let the app wake you up during the lightest sleep phase.
Unfollow the Productivity Myths for Better Performance
Productivity doesn’t come pre-installed. You need to develop, improvise, and enhance it through practice. Treating productivity like another essential skill will let you grow a new mindset about it.
Steer clear of these productivity myths and follow the suggestions to see the changes flourish. Partnering up with task management apps can help you streamline your routine tasks at work or home for sustainable productivity.