Why you need to stop googling productivity hacks

I like a to-do list like anyone else, and to be honest, I'm pretty overwhelmed at the sheer amount of apps designed to increase productivity. Yeah, the whole conversation does appeal to my (slightly anal) organised (chaos) side. Especially when you add in funky looking day planners and downloadable pdfs.

But please, can we just stop with trying to up 24 hours in a day to 48 million?!

I mean seriously. Let’s chill out.

A couple of years ago, I really believed that every hour of every day had to mean something. I had to be achieving things all the time. Multi tasking wasn’t just my best friend. It was my super duper BFF who I did EVERYTHING with.

I was going a million miles an hour, and everything was urgent, everything needed to be done yesterday. Everything was NOW, NOW NOW.

Jeez, I’m getting exhausted just thinking about it.

Productivity hacks were my jam. Anything to make my day more productive and more successful.

I would crash out in my bed at night, already planning my hundred and one tasks for the next day, not taking time to see what I had achieved. I wasn’t celebrating my small wins.

Also, I wasn’t really achieving much more than adding knots to my belt towards my eventual burnout.

Of course, I like a day where you get the things done that you wanted to. I mean, it feels good. It feels satisfying. (I now focus on getting 3 things done a day, and I give myself time to get sidetracked. And happily so.)

But, come on, being productive doesn’t have to be so masochistic. It doesn’t have to mean neglecting to eat, sleep and love. It doesn’t have to leave us ill and leave us constantly feeling inferior.

And besides, when complete overwhelm kicks in, the one thing that’s really going to help is the one thing that feels completely counter-intuitive.

Taking time out

Getting some perspective, stepping away and coming to the realisation that things will not crash and burn like we think they will if we take the afternoon out.

So please, stop googling how to be productive. 

Stop reading those Buzzfeed lists on how to increase your output.

Stop being so damn hard on yourself.

Stop thinking that every minute has to count - that you have to achieve something or get something done every second of the day.

Every minute counts, of course it does, it’s life! But I guarantee you won’t regret spending time with loved ones and making memories.

Let’s start a new conversation. A conversation about the need to take time out and stop glorifying being horrendously busy.