Busting through fallacies, productivity pundits have been telling us
An interesting fact about human mind is that it is highly porous and susceptible to whatever information you feed it. In fact, it can build a story around anything and accept it with full conviction — as long as you believe that information with your heart and soul. Even if it’s false.
So, next time you badmouth somebody or tell an untrue statement, think twice. For you might be setting that person to fabricate misleading and damaging stories around that person.
Want to move from traditional ways of managing project towards a smarter way? Try ProofHub .
Let’s now circle back to our topic of discussion.
What I wish to bust through this post are the ages old philosophies related to productivity we have been told. And how we have all have been believing it. I think it’s about time we started questioning everything. Every single belief system, every single adage we have been told and truly evaluate for ourselves, just how true those things are.
For example -
Keep your personal and professional life separate
Unless there’s a switch you can turn off every time you enter office and turn on when you leave it, I fail to see how you can separate the two things.
In fact, if you come to think of it, we spend more time at office surrounded by and interacting with colleagues than we do with our family. So, whether you like it or not, your professional life covers a huge chunk of your personal life. The kind of interpersonal dynamics that happen at work are much stronger than the ones at home. Acting like an emotionless robot who is programmed to maximize nothing but productivity; well, that does not sound very humanly. Not to me, at least.
This is not to say that you should reveal everything about your outside-of-work life to everyone. But, your professional life eventually becomes personal. And, all the concepts of relationship building apply alike to your colleagues as well. In fact, the more meaningful relationships you share with people at work, the more you will feel like coming to work instead of dreading it every day.
Technology (social media and mobile phones) is satan disguised
Overuse of anything is bad; whether it’s something as mainstream as caffeine or sugar or something as new as technology. But, to say that technology and social media is like a slow poison — I think we should reevaluate that. Technology is not a satan. If anything, it has only eased the challenges of business and professional world. Now, it’s up to us how we use it. We can choose to chain ourselves to social media, and mobile phones all day long. Or, we can use them for progressive stuff like sharing useful information, or marketing a product, or getting our word out as a professional. It’s all about striking that balance and healthy usage.
Work hard and long for hours
We can walk. We can run. We can do both the things. Everyone knows that. But, ask yourself — for how long can you keep running? An entire day? Nope. After a while you will be exhausted and out of breath. The same ideology applies to working hard and long hours. Sure you can keep working for 100 hours a week. But, for how long? It won’t be long before you are exhausted and drained. Eventually ‘slow and steady’ is the only mantra that will stick with you for life.
I know when people advocate working hard, they are actually trying to emphasize on the importance of persistence and perseverance. But, it’s not hard work; it’s consistent work. Do not think that toiling hard or slaving away at something non-stop until you drop on the floor will yield productivity.
Caffeine gives you productivity boost
Well, so does marijuana. But, the boost that caffeine gives you is not really a boost. It’s actually temporary relief from the withdrawal, which is caused by caffeine itself in the first place. This is how caffeine consumption works -
It’s like putting on a pair of tight shoes, just to enjoy the relief of taking them off.
That’s what caffeine does to your mind.
I would also say that it’s not something that productivity gurus have been telling us, but something we all do and believe.
If you are genuinely looking for ways to cut caffeine out of your life and find a replacement of it, then I suggest making meditation and regular mindfulness a part of your life. Because, the high you will receive from these practices is much, much more powerful than caffeine. In addition it will benefit your entire being, instead of slowly damaging it like caffeine does.
That sums up a few common productivity tips (not all), which I found to be untrue. I would love to know what other common fallacies that you have busted through during your life and career. Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments.
“Want to become a leader that gets things done? Start using ProofHub ”
*********
Vartika Kashyap is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She currently runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.
*********
If you liked reading this post, here are some more which you are surely going to love -
Originally published at www.linkedin.com.
