Your Productivity Apps Are Making You Less Productive

I love looking at productivity apps. I love the bright color-coordinated dashboards, the sleek interfaces, and the promise of organization.  Each application offers support and guidance, testimonials from highly successful people, and the allure of doing more faster. I don’t use any of them.

Instead, I use a large, grid notebook organized by date where I jot down task lists, notes from calls, product specifications, design ideas, blog outlines, and all my to-dos. From day to day reminders to long-term professional plans, all my ideas are written in that notebook. For me, physically writing down my thoughts keeps the ownership of my tasks in my hands and not in the hands of a browser extension or productivity algorithm. While external organizers might work for some individuals, creation and awareness of my own schedule is the key to unlocking my productivity. 

Throughout the pandemic, many have struggled to stay on top of their productivity as the work-from-home days start to feel monotonous and household chores distract people from their inbox. It’s no surprise that email organizers, the “Inbox 0” method, and push notifications have all gained popularity throughout the last year as solutions to the constant conversation around remote productivity. While those tools are admittedly intriguing, I encourage everyone to proceed with caution on integrating those platforms too deeply into their day to day. Productivity apps can quickly become less “tool” and more “crutch” as users lean into the gamification of their inboxes. Plus, while the apps might be helping you feel immediately productive, you may actually be making more work for yourself in the long run as your attention to detail falls by the wayside in exchange for decluttering your inbox. Your motivation may start to stem from just getting things done, not getting things done properly. Your rush to send that last email or submit a project without a spell check or once-over might feel tempting in the moment, but you may be risking errors in the meantime. So, while my notebook might not be the sleekest solution, it allows me to quickly look through my week, month, or year and see key markers of my productivity and avoid falling victim to “winning” my to-do list. It empowers me to lead with my own metacognition - my individual process of thinking - rather than leaning into a process already set up for me.  Here’s how:

1. My notebook is relentlessly honest.  At the end of each day, I have a task list where I can see what’s left on my checklist. Since my notebook isn’t programmed to be intelligent or write itself, it is up to me to copy those tasks over to the next day’s list.  While this is a daily expenditure of five to ten minutes, it allows me to quickly punch out a few tasks that are faster to get done than copying to a new day in my notebook (like sending out a quick thank-you note). Similarly, noticing I’ve been continuously pushing off a task is an opportunity for reflection on why, and to understand my own patterns in a contextualized way that other programs and systems can’t.  Maybe I’ve been putting it off because I need more information, or maybe I have other to-dos that are higher priority. Whatever it may be, a program can only remind you to do something, not tell you why it’s important or what additional information you may need to get it done.
2. My notebook needs to be opened to be used. Once something is in my notebook, I can relax knowing it’s firmly written down and I don’t need to think about it constantly.  For me, this is very important to work-life balance.  I have a list of tasks to do, but I can avoid obsessing over my tasks because I know I already wrote them down with a thoughtful plan. Unlike with apps, I can be on my phone without receiving stressful notifications from my notebook reminding me to send one more email. When my notebook is open I am working actively, which is unsurprisingly not the case when I’m using my phone. 
3. My notebook helps me celebrate my efforts and accomplishments.  There is no better historical record of all the work I do than those pages.  The further into filling out the pages I get, the heftier the weight of finished tasks feels and acts as a physical reminder of my accomplishments.  A productivity app or program will gladly send you every minor accomplishment within the platform as a way to keep you engaged and feeling good about your work, but that likely isn’t representative of your real world performance - which only you can measure.  

In short, while productivity apps can act as a valuable tool, they need to be just that - a tool to help your individual process.  Gamified systems that make feeling productive the goal, rather than actual real-world productivity, detracts from your ability to truly thrive. Instead, lead with awareness of your own thought process to boost your ability to execute tasks and maintain productivity long-term. If you’re struggling with productivity, try beginning with solutions first like physically writing down your to-dos, planning work breaks in your day, and other ways to start thinking about how your unique brain makes decisions.  The best productivity hack you can start with is thinking about how you think.

*If you enjoyed this article (and read this far!), please share and follow on LinkedIn, Twitter (@akhilasatish) and Medium (@akhilasatish). Thank you so much!

*If you're curious about using your metacognition (the "how" of thinking) to boost your productivity, check out Meseekna's Productivity Course.