Feeling unproductive can damage our self-worth, motivation, and quality of life. But there are many factors that can hurt our productivity–how do we find the actual problem?
Let’s look at some of the common reasons you might be unproductive, then go over strategies that can help.
Reasons You’re Unproductive
Here are some of the biggest troublemakers when we’re being unproductive.
1. Lack of clear goals
Failing to set clear, actionable goals can make it hard to focus, prioritize tasks, or gain any feeling of accomplishment. It’s important to set goals for both your personal and professional life to know that you’re making progress toward something.
You might try learning about SMART goals or choosing a yearly theme to give yourself some guidance.
2. Overwhelm
Feeling overwhelmed in the current world, economy, and political climate is perfectly understandable WITHOUT adding the additional pressure of work/school, family, health issues, and everything else. Add those things in, and it’s like, duh–we’re overwhelmed.
To fight overwhelm, make a good plan to achieve what needs to be done. Break your tasks into smaller steps and focus on one at a time. You could try the Ivy Lee Method to keep yourself focused and remove decision fatigue.
3. Poor time management
Don’t feel bad if this is your problem–the number of people who are naturally good at time management is staggeringly low. If you suffer from procrastination, missed deadlines, and task pile-ups, this might be your issue.
Common advice dictates you create daily and weekly schedules, use this time management tool/app or another, Just Do It. But I think some education has to happen first. Here are some resources to get you started:
4. Distractions
Are you distracted? This could be environmental distractions, like noise, people in the room, or social media. Internal distractions also throw a wrench in productivity, like worrying, daydreaming, or thinking about a different activity instead of focusing on what’s in front of you.
Try to identify and minimize those distractions, like by optimizing your work space, blocking certain sites, scheduling regular breaks, or sending the kids to grandma’s.
5. Lack of motivation
It’s hard to slog through a boring or frustrating task when you don’t feel motivated to do so. Try finding your “why” for each task, even if it’s just a tiny part of a bigger goal (e.g., you hate scanning documents, but it’s part of your internship, and your internship may eventually lead to a job in a field you’re passionate about).
You might also incentivize yourself with rewards for completing tasks and ensure you’re taking enough breaks.
6. Mental or physical health issues
Conditions like anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, or chronic fatigue can significantly impact your productivity. This can be frustrating and demotivating, hurting your productivity even more than the symptoms themselves are.
If this applies to you, the first step is giving yourself a break and practicing self-care. Don’t beat yourself up over things you can’t control–it just makes the problem even worse. Seek professional help if relevant, and make sure you’re tending to your basic biological needs, like sleep, water, nutrition, sun, mindfulness, and movement.
7. Unrealistic expectations
If you set goals that are too ambitious or unreasonable, you’ll just disappoint yourself and eventually hit burnout. Unrealistic expectations can also come from outside sources–try not to internalize those. Dealing with your own inner critic is hard enough!
Try to set realistic, attainable goals, and give yourself some flexibility to adjust them as you need to. And tell your mom to buzz off.
8. Perfectionism
If your problem is perfectionism, you already know. The desire to do EVERYTHING perfectly and particularly will obviously lead to your accomplishing less, because perfection is a subjective, moving target that doesn’t actually exist. So try chillaxing.
9. Lack of skills/knowledge
If you’re doing something new or difficult, you may just feel unprepared or not have the necessary skills to perform it. This is common for students moving from high school to college, or for people starting a new job or becoming a parent.
Invest time in learning and skill development. You might seek a mentor. Be sure to give yourself the grace and patience you need to learn new things, even if it’s something you feel like you should already know.
10. Environmental factors
This is the worst one, because it’s usually not in our control at all. An unsupportive or abusive environment will make productivity difficult. Obviously, you should do what you can to create a positive environment for yourself, but this can also be difficult, depending on your circumstances.
Try to set up a work space for yourself with quiet, good lighting, and the chillest vibes you can access. Here are some tips for building an effective work station.
Strategies to Improve Productivity
Here are some basic tenants for being a productive person. These should lay the groundwork for you to be a successful little bee.
1. Routine and consistency
I cannot overstate the importance of consistent effort. Doing just a little bit of something every day will give you huge results.
A routine is good to give you direction and help you plug into your task quicker and more effectively. You might consider a morning routine, an end-of-day routine, and/or a work routine.
2. Prioritization
Sometimes we aren’t as productive as we could be because we’re prioritizing the wrong tasks. Get intentional and mindful with how you structure your day, build your to-do list, and prioritize your tasks. Try the Ivy Lee Method if you need some extra guidance here.
3. Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness techniques can improve your focus and reduce stress, both of which contribute to productivity.
4. Accountability
Get someone else involved. This could be a work buddy–for example, I have writing partners who write in the same genres as I do, so we can swap work and feedback and keep each other motivated. Or maybe you can find a mentor or coach. If not, a friend works!
5. Self-compassion
I hate to bear the bad news, but this is the most important one. It’s also the hardest. Be kind to yourself and recognize that everyone has struggles, and most people feel like they’re doing worse than everyone around them. Focus on making progress. Don’t compare yourself to anyone but yourself. And even then, tread carefully. Comparing yourself to a time when you were more mentally or physically fit will NOT help, lemme tell ya.
Maintaining sustainable productivity basically comes down to mindfulness, being intentional, and giving yourself some grace.
