Productivity App Will Make You Unproductive

If you spend some time scrolling LinkedIn, you'll see suggestions for organizing and optimizing your workflow to improve your productivity, from incentivizing your behavior with rewards to having a daily meditation.

The common thread in most recommendations is installing and using a productivity app, either a note-taking app, distraction blocker, or a to-do list manager with all the bells and whistles that come with it. Don't get me wrong; using those apps could help you in some way, but after doing it for a couple of years, I decided to delete all the productivity apps from my computer and phone at the start of the year.

Surprisingly, I became more productive because of it.

Overloaded.

One thing I discovered when using those programs is that you'll squander hours organizing, prioritizing, and planning projects and then claim that time was spent on valuable work, despite the fact that prioritizing doesn't get the job done.

Tagging jobs with every possible category, changing colors and icons, and date-blocking for a simple work note. Months of my life were wasted, which I could have spent doing actual work.

Switching between apps is inconvenient, and I achieve less and am frustrated more frequently than I'd like to admit, especially with all of the notifications I receive from it. Finally, I decided to start over and evaluate everything.

Back to basics

Instead of a dedicated journal or a to-do app, I switched back to a physical pen and paper for all my notes and tasks, and I found it more effective and rewarding.

I found pen and paper way less distracting; it allows mistakes and makes me retain information for longer, what I write becoming more personal and emotional, and the feeling of switching to a blank page is something that a digital screen cannot replace.

I stopped using distraction blocker apps and simply stood up and walked around anytime I felt bored or unfocused. I stopped thinking about how many steps I'd taken and moved from a smartwatch to a simple watch that only told the time.

In the end, I discovered that the amount of work I performed was slightly more productive, but I was far less worried and happier by the day. The lesson is no matter what tools you use, ask yourself this:

Did I accomplish what I wanted to? If not, what stopped me?