16 Things That Are Running Your Productivity Without Realizing It
We all know that productivity is the key to success in any field. However, it’s not always easy to stay productive and keep up with the demands of our work.
In this article, I will discuss 16 things that can ruin your productivity and how you can overcome these obstacles.
1. Phone Apps:
Apps are a major distraction and can make you lose focus. The average person spends over two hours a day on their phone, and many of these apps are just distractions.
2. Social Media:
Social media is another major distraction that can kill your productivity.
The average person spends over an hour per day on social media, and it’s easy to get caught up in the endless scroll of posts, stories, and videos.
Further Reading: How To Stop Social Media Addiction
3. Emails:
Email is another productivity killer that people often don’t realize they’re using too much of their time on.
It’s not just about checking email; it’s also about all the time you spend thinking about emails when you’re not checking them or reading them or writing them or replying to them or deleting spam.
4. Instant messaging:
Instant messaging is a way of communicating with people in real-time that has become very popular in the past decade, but it may not be as productive as you think.
We spend most of our time in these conversations engaging in one-word responses or typing out full sentences about what we’re doing.
There are apps for this, but they’re not the answer to your productivity woes.
5. You’re not prioritizing your work:
It’s easy for us to just do what we have to do, but that doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing you should be doing.
Make a list of what needs to be done and rank them based on priority before beginning work on anything else.
Further Reading: How To Write a To Do List For Maximum Productivity
6. You’re not getting enough sleep:
A lack of sleep can lead to a variety of health problems and decrease your productivity levels.
Make sure you’re getting at least 7 hours of sleep each night — or more if needed — so that you can feel refreshed and ready for the next day.
If you’re really struggling, try a few of these easy sleep hacks to help you get back on track:
- Turn off your phone (or set it to “Do Not Disturb”) and your computer at night. This can help prevent light from influencing your circadian rhythm and interrupting sleep patterns.
Change the temperature in your bedroom by 2 degrees Celsius in the evening before bed. While this might not seem like a big change, it can help regulate your sleep cycles and make you feel more comfortable overall.
Further Reading: 10 Powerful Evening Habits For a Better Sleep
7. You’re over-scheduling your life:
Making time for rest is important to prevent burnout and increase productivity levels, but so is maintaining a balanced lifestyle that includes exercise and socializing.
Try to start the day by putting yourself in an activity that gets you outside and moving.
If you don’t want to get your exercise in before work, try doing it during a lunch break or at the end of your day.
Further Reading: Top 6 Tips for Effective Planning
8. You’re not eating enough
The importance of a healthy diet cannot be stressed enough and if you’re not getting enough sleep, and aren’t getting enough exercise, it’s time to take a look at where your diet is lacking.
It may be that you’re eating too many processed foods or eating too much “junk” food.
Try cutting back on these foods and adding more whole, natural foods to your diet. You’ll be surprised by the results!
9. You’re not getting enough exposure to sunlight:
If you’ve been indoors designing all day, it’s important to get some sunlight in your life.
Find an area of the office that gets natural light and take a five-minute break outside at least once an hour.
Spending time outdoors will also help improve your mood and increase productivity levels!
10. Your subconscious mind
Our subconscious mind can be at work when we’re not even aware of it.
While you sleep, your brain is still working and processing information from the day before. This is why you should always have a good night’s sleep before starting your work for the next day.
11. Your thoughts
thoughts can be a huge influence on how productive you are and what kind of mood you’re in during the day.
It’s important to stay positive and keep your goals in mind to maintain motivation and avoid distractions that can lead to procrastination.
12. Your environment
Where you work and where you live can have a huge impact on your productivity. If you’re busier, more distracted or uncomfortable in the place you work, it can be hard to stay focused.
If you’re not getting enough sleep, it can also lead to a lack of motivation and a poor mood.
So how do we stay motivated?
- Breaking down tasks — it’s important to break down large tasks into smaller parts so you can complete them faster. Doing this will make you feel more accomplished and less overwhelmed
- Create accountability — when you have people who know what you’re working on, it makes it easier to stay motivated as they’ll keep a check on your progress and offer feedback
- Identify triggers — find situations that make you feel inadequate or start to feel frustrated and see if you can come up with a plan to avoid those triggers
- Start small — it’s important to start off slow and work your way up. Don’t try to do too much at once because it’ll be more difficult for you.
13. your poor mindset
Your mindset is the most important thing when it comes to productivity.
If you’re feeling lazy, unmotivated, and stressed, chances are you’ll be unproductive because of your negative mindset.
What’s important is to focus on what we want and how we want it to turn out. Focused thoughts lead to more focused actions which in turn lead to more focused outcomes.
Further Reading: 15 Success Mindset Ideas To Be Successful In Life
14. Your bad habits
Bad habits are what we do that we know are not good for us.
They can be anything from eating the wrong food to spending too much time on social media or even smoking cigarettes.
These bad habits are often developed over time and they become a part of us.
I have learned that bad habits can affect our productivity in many ways. It is really hard to break them and sometimes you don’t even know they’re there until you start feeling the effects of them on your work life.
Further Reading: How To Break Bad Habits
15. Not knowing how to do something
It’s not just about the things you know how to do, but also about the things you don’t know how to do.
If we are too fixed in our ways, we might not be able to get anything done.
As a matter of fact, it is advised that people should try something new every day.
It might be as simple as trying out a new recipe or taking up a new hobby. The more we learn and explore, the more productive we will become.
16. Procrastination:
Many of us are guilty of procrastinating when we should be working hard on a project or task that needs to be completed.
We’ll put it off for later when we have time to do it.
But by putting work off today, we are less likely to complete the task in the future and end up having to do more work tomorrow and next week as well.
Further Reading: 10 Top Ways To Stop Procrastination Quickly And Get Productive
