Productivity 'Hacks' That Actually Waste More Time Than They Save

I see life "productivity hacks" in simple, useless ways.

We're all trained to believe that there are surefire ways to save precious seconds.

THAT'S A LIE!

It's like believing that when you're driving, you realize you're not going to make the green turning light, so you think... "Genius that I am, I'm going to go through the regular green light and find the next U-Turn."

Then you hit opposite traffic OR a litany of turns that FORBID U-Turns.

Then you end back at the same damn light from the opposite direction.

And the next turning light you could've just been patient to wait for is letting people through.

NOW... you've lost time.

That always burns my butt!

That doesn't scream productive to me.

Redditor TATA-kicks-C wanted to hear about the ways we've discovered how we don't utilize our time properly when we thought we were, so they asked:

"What productivity hack actually wastes more time than it saves?"

A Massive Trap

"I stopped reading productivity books and stopped watching productivity YouTube channels completely. Made a massive difference. Productivity 'content' is a massive trap that makes you feel productive without actually doing anything worthwhile."

- michellezssa

"Most productivity books are just 100 pages of anecdotes on why reducing distractions and sticking to plans helps with productivity. Elaborating in great detail how some ancient philosopher reduced distractions by locking himself away in an empty room, and why this means you should put your damn phone away."

- 3rik-f

Let's Slumber

"Getting up at 4 AM because all those productivity gurus swear by it. I ended up exhausted and unproductive by 2 PM. Turns out my natural rhythm of waking up at 7 am works just fine, and I actually get more done."

- DesirableCupcake

Tired Sleep GIF by Big Brother AustraliaGiphy

The DO List!

"Making the perfect to-do list… then spending the whole day admiring it instead of actually doing anything."

- becksyxx

"I find to-do lists very productive. Crossing out tasks that are done and seeing the list become shorter feels good. Also, yeah, don't spend too much time on it initially, have it be a work-in-progress throughout the day. Add stuff when you think of it."

- RedditTherHun

"I call mine the Ta-da list. Every time I cross something out, I give myself a little 'ta-daaaa' like a magician, and it always makes me smile."

- griffnuts__

Basics

"Information is rarely the obstacle: we often know what to do and when, and being productive is basically sticking to that. No amount of reading, training, or whatever BS will make it easier to deny the path of least resistance."

- Weary_Divide5563

"The issue is people think they are looking for the solution, when in fact they are looking for the motivation to execute the solution."

"And you cannot read the motivation for the solution. The only thing you can do is drink a coffee with me right now, RIGHT NOW!! I am preparing myself a cup 5 minutes after posting this. You want one?"

- 2Siders

"I mean, there's organization, and that's a different thing. Setting time limits on your meetings will allow for more focus since there's less time to waste with BS. It means they get back to productive work sooner and are focused on tasks they're given."

- garlicroastedpotato

MultiFail

"Multitasking - congrats, you’re now bad at two things at once."

- PeachyGlowBabe

"Don't have the link on me, but there was some study that came out recently that said it's basically impossible for humans to multi-task. You can only fully concentrate on one task at a time, and the only way you can do multiple things is if one of the tasks becomes unconscious, like being able to speak while walking. If you have to concentrate on both, you'd fail at both."

- Popular_Course3885

Rest Up

"Not getting 8 hrs of sleep."

- mrfantastics

"My GPA went way up in college when I stopped doing late-night study sessions. Sleeping enough is so much more important than a few extra hours of whatever it is you think you're doing to be productive."

- Mikeavelli

black and white sleep GIFGiphy

Useless

"Vast majority of kitchen gadgets, once you add up the time to get them and clean them it's usually faster to just use the knife you're already holding."

- 21JG

"What people don’t get about kitchen gadgets is that they’re either for doing a thing a bunch of times, or they’re for disabled/elderly people."

"The melon baller isn’t for someone who eats a melon once a year, max. It’s for melons, George, who makes and consumes a frankly ridiculous amount of melon balls. You don’t need it if you won’t use it."

"That easy peeler isn’t for you, someone who has no issues doing it the normal way. It’s for someone with severe tremors in their hands, making it dangerous or even impossible to use a normal peeler. If you don’t have a problem, you don’t need a solution."

- ShiraCheshire

Check the Code

"Vibe coding."

- cytranic

"It should be common practice to just call it what it is, AI-generating code. I thought vibe coding was someone like just coding the first thing that comes to mind and fixing/organizing it later. Just typing by vibes alone, not using the fraud machine."

- hypercombofinish

"I have vibe coded for smaller projects and bits of code, but even then, it takes a while to check that the code does what I expect. Often, it doesn't, and now I have to figure out why. It's still helpful as a guide on a small scale, but God help anybody trying to vibe code a large project or something to be sold."

- Ggeng

Use. Less.

"Using apps that help you use apps less. There's just no good solution out there for me, and I've wasted a lot of time trying to find the right one. Just use your apps less."

- A_D_H_DAN

"As someone who began to spend way too much time watching YouTube shorts, I found ScreenZen on Android allows you to block specifically shorts while still allowing you to use regular YouTube unrestricted. I'm very happy to say that even just a 5-second pause before allowing me to watch shorts has been very effective at keeping me away from the brain rot... lol."

- Xipos

Just Speak

"Saying the letters of certain acronyms instead of the actual words."

- inaudibleuk

"Acronyms only increase productivity if everyone in the group understands them. You shouldn't use them except in situations where you know everyone involved will understand them. The rest of the time, you are just adding confusion to the situation. Best case, you only kill a little time while someone asks you to clarify."

"The worse case, and what generally happens, everyone else pretends to understand to not look stupid and Googles it later so much of what you are saying is lost because they can't follow up. You should always ask if you're using an acronym because it's efficient with your audience or because you think it makes you sound smart."

- ericscal

You've Got Mail

"Inbox Zero. Much easier to just not read your emails!"

- SteveintheCleve

"I've got a 33yo Hotmail account I started when I was like 13yo ot something dumb that I almost never use anymore, last time I looked (couple years ago, I have an autologin script that'll keep it alive forever but it is the recovery email for my gmail account so I do use it sometimes and have to keep it going) it had like 5-6 million unread messages."

- Jimbo_The_Prince

"If it was really important, they’ll follow up lol."

- ae232

Stay Home

"Driving to an office for in-person time at a job that is largely in front of a computer screen."

- SilencedObserver

"Sometimes, I'm more productive when I come into the office because of 'parallel work'- basically, being around other productive people motivates me to be productive. I've also found, despite being an introvert in every way, that I need at least a little social interaction during working hours 1-2 days per week. Sometimes, I'm more productive when I work from home because having someone else in the room with me will be distracting."

"The problem is that my commute is 30 minutes by freeway, and I usually can't tell which one I actually need until after I've wasted several hours."

- RinTheLost

Too Much Culture

"So many things in office culture. Open floor plan, no personal/permanent desks, working in the office when you could work from home, team building activities, the list goes on. I would be a lot more productive without all of that."

- 1porridge

Office Space GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy

Simple Folds

"Any 'hack' about folding t-shirts."

"There are hacks where you pinch here and pinch here, then do this motion, and you can fold a shirt in less than a second.
Or a product you can buy or make, where you lay a shirt in it, then fold up the sides and end, and it folds the shirt perfectly every time. Such time savers!"

"Except they're not, because every single goddamn time, they start with the shirt laid out all nice and flat. Just getting shirts to that point is the majority of the work. When you pick a shirt out of the dryer, it's all crumpled and tangled up with other clothes and might even be inside out or partially inside out. By the time you get it all nice and ready to fold, your job is already practically done. Instead of laying it flat, you could just put a fold in it as you set it down. Now the job is done. No hacks are required."

- svenson_26

See you on FaceTime

"Commuting to an office for 'collaboration.' We're all sitting in cubicles on video calls to each other that could be done from home. Instead, we must commit hours of our personal time to commute each day and back, pay for gas, monthly parking, etc. I'd rather be productive working from my desk at home with my dog nearby."

- Thick_Caterpillar379

Zoom Love GIF by Global CitizenGiphy

I have never understood the "going into the office" culture as a must.

I do think we've lost some of the basic human connection by staying at home.

That is an unfortunate side effect.

But traveling and commuting when unnecessary is more stressful than it needs to be.

In fact, most of this list induces stress as opposed to eliminating it.

Just do it the right way.

THAT... will save time.

What other hacks can you think of?