We’ve all fallen for the hype around trendy productivity hacks. But after testing these methods myself, I found that some productivity methods seem better suited to selling books than improving daily life.
1
Time-Blocking and Timeboxing
As one of the most popular productivity techniques, time-blocking was also one of the first I tried. But to be honest with you, it was a complete disaster. I encountered the numerous downsides of having a rigid routine, such as constantly feeling overwhelmed. Moreover, I relied on every day being perfect; if I was off by a few minutes, it would automatically cause a backlog.
I then tried timeboxing. This is similar to time-blocking, but instead of blocking specific tasks, you allocate time to a certain type of assignment. For example, I dedicated time to freelance work in general rather than a particular client project. While better, I still didn’t like being confined in this way.
While I still work roughly the same hours each day, my routine is more fluid. I get more done as a result, and I’m also much happier.
2
The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique usually involves working for 25 minutes before resting. I needed to bake some screen breaks into my routine because I would stare at my computer for six hours straight, and then wonder why I couldn’t get anything done later in the day. However, the Pomodoro Technique didn’t work in its normal sense.
My main problem with this tactic was that 25 minutes is not—in my opinion—enough time to get meaningful work done. At that point, I’m only just hitting my stride with a task. The stop-start nature was too much, and I just became frustrated.
To tackle the Pomodoro Technique’s downsides, I instead take a break every hour (or when I write 1,000 words). If you’re going to try this tactic, I recommend increasing the timescales—especially if you’re prone to procrastination.
3
Building a Second Brain
I was on a huge productivity arc some years ago, and that’s when I discovered Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain book. However, while I love Forte’s advice on YouTube, the second brain method didn’t work for me. Instead of simplifying my life, I felt overwhelmed and didn’t even finish the book.
I tried several apps to build a second brain, too, but this didn’t help. Soon after, I discovered the “Just Use Apple Notes” meme (which pretty much summed up how I felt at the time).
To be honest, I actually think that building a second brain is a great idea if you’re a researcher or in another kind of academic field. However, I don’t think that my personal needs require something so complex.
4
Eating the Frog
Eating the frog is when you complete the day’s most difficult task first. The idea is that your day becomes much easier once you’ve done the thing that you dislike the most. I used to always try to eat the frog, but it only worked around half of the time.
I took some time to think about why this was the case, and I realized that eating the frog works if I have a personal project or something I like doing. However, if I don’t like something, I find it better to finish something else and tick it off my to-do list. Then, I can focus on the other task without distractions.
Becoming more of an essentialist and only doing tasks that move the needle forward helped me not need this technique. For example, I only check my emails twice per day. Moreover, I deliberately put less on my to-do list; if every hour is filled, I burn out quickly.
5
The Eisenhower Matrix
You can prepare to-do lists using the Eisenhower Matrix by dividing tasks into four sections: Do now, Do later, Delegate, and Eliminate.
While the concept is great, I spent too much time obsessing over where tasks should be and subsequently getting very little done. For me, it was another way to procrastinate.
Like eating the frog, I instead found it easier to identify the consistent tasks that would help me reach my goals. For example, what moves the needle forward as a freelancer is to write, edit, pitch, and build relationships. Everything else is a “nice-to-have” rather than a necessity.
6
Planning My Full Week’s To-Do List
I went through a stage when I would plan my entire weekly to-do list in advance. While I thought this would help me focus better, I couldn’t concentrate any better in practice. Moreover, I found that planning my entire week in advance meant I couldn’t adapt to changing scenarios.
Since I’m a freelancer, my day-to-day schedule isn’t always the same. Moreover, I may need to react to a certain story with short notice. Both of these resulted in me feeling stressed all the time.
I should point out that I can definitely see the benefits of planning your full week in advance if you’re a student or employee. It’s also good if you own a business with repetitive tasks. However, you need to decide if you fall into those categories and then experiment to see if you actually benefit.
7
The Triage Technique
The Triage Technique is quite similar to the Eisenhower Matrix; you prioritize your tasks with the aim of focusing on what’s important and saving time. But while I think it could work for some people, it did very little to improve my daily life.
Once again, this tactic was just a form of procrastination. Not to sound too arrogant, but I’ve been obsessed with productivity for enough time to know what I should and should not be doing. All the Triage Technique did was make things more confusing and did not save me any time.
If I need to prioritize a task, I’ll simply mark it as urgent on my paper to-do list. Previously, I’ve added a priority marker in my to-do list app; many tools, such as TickTick and Todoist, let you do this.
I recommend exploring a variety of productivity techniques to discover what works best for you. Although I found success with some methods, I also spent a lot of time on tactics that weren’t suited to my needs.
