Here’s why productivity advice never works

Confessions of a former productivity advice poster boy.

Image generated by the author with Microsofot Copilot

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Productivity is the key to realize our potential.

If we rely only on our instincts, we end up neglecting the meaningful things. They are always too challenging. We default to what’s easy. That’s why it’s so hard to get fit, learn new skills or improve our relationships.

The urge to fulfill my potential is physical for me. It’s a fire in my belly.

So, I’ve always been a sucker for the advice of productivity experts and their success stories. I bet you too have read a million tips like: wake up at 5 a.m., meditate, journal, eat healthy, exercise, use time-blocking, go to bed early, etc.

Until a few years ago, I was the poster child for productivity advice. But my son revolutionized my perspective.

Take morning routines, for example

Before Leonardo, I had the perfect, long, tested morning routine. Now, the only thing I can guarantee every morning is 15 minutes of yoga.

If you have a child or know someone who does, you know the fierce disregard they have for your routines and habits. But Leonardo’s effect was particularly disruptive:

• he wakes up early,

• he goes to bed late-ish,

• he’s extremely energetic and proactive the whole time he’s awake,

• he often needs our presence while he does his things.

So, in the morning, there's no trick. I'm with him from 6.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. To just approximate my old productivity level, I would have to delegate him all day.

But I didn't go in and out of hospitals for five years, trying to have a child, just to see him in the evening when he's exhausted and angry. He already spends 8-9 hours between kindergarten and my parents almost every day.

So, I have to accept what Leonardo gives me. And he’s just one child. I can't imagine what could happen if he had special needs or if I had more than one child or if I had some rigid obstacle, such as a fixed work schedule.

That's why productivity tips mostly don’t work

I accepted it, yes, but only in my mind. My gut makes me feel like a failure. I keep being jealous: why are so many people so much more productive than me?

So, I investigated my productivity mentors more closely. I realized that many of them have obvious advantages:

• they have a job that leaves them a lot of time during the day,

• they don't have children,

• they don’t have a spouse,

• they have created massive income sources early in their lives so that, even if they now have a family and children, they can achieve a lot with little work,

• they, unfortunately, neglect their family.

These experts aren’t lying. They just don't realize that their conditions don’t apply to everyone. Or sometimes apply only to a minority.

Well… sometimes, they just lie

Then there are the snake-oil salesmen.

They only show you their best days. Or they design a productivity system on paper and sell it without testing. Or they have tested it, but only a few times, and cannot guarantee that it works.

When they realize their advice doesn’t work, they don't tell you. They can’t ruin their brand.

Unfortunately, I have the impression this phenomenon is more frequent than I hoped.

So should we throw away all productivity advice?

No. Even now, at the mercy of Leonardo, I still consider myself quite productive. But I have to reconsider my routines every few weeks.

I can’t apply any of the systems I have studied by the book. I take a piece here and a piece there, run experiments, see what works and what doesn’t, and constantly update my personalized system.

More than 15 years spent studying productivity, and myself, point me to dynamic match between the situation, the optimal strategies, and my skils and inclinations.

This is what you can do too. You don’t need to squeeze yourself to burnout. You don’t need to blame yourself for falling short of an impossible ideal.

Instead:

• keep studying productivity advice, possibly from people in a situation similar to yours,

• take what resonates with you and experiment with it,

• keep tinkering with your personal productivity system.

To your productivity!