Trying To Be More Productive Is An Excuse To Avoid Making Hard Choices
"We love the idea of productivity hacks because it is so seductive to think that you are just one adjustment away from achieving outrageous success."
You wake up ready to dominate your day.
You open Todoist (or whatever to-do app you use).
You have 28 tasks on the go. 28 steps to feel like you aren’t gonna waste another day.
An ambitious goal. But you think you can do it.
“If I read 7 pages of that business book”
“If I type 176 words per minute”
“If I walk 1.3x faster than usual”
“If I ignore my wife and kids”
“If I get fast food for lunch”
“If I write for 13 minutes”
Now the day is almost finished. You look back at your to-do list.
You still got 25 tasks.
“Where the f*ck did time go?”
You won’t accept you took the gift of life for granted. So you keep staring at your phone. Trying to figure out how to get it all done.
Then you remember you have a bunch of other priorities.
And the entire day you wasted? There’s no catching up. Gone.
You still need to be a great parent. To be an amazing employee fighting for that promotion. And don't forget the 2-hour running session to train for that marathon next year.
You grow up thinking you can pile priorities like you’re playing Jenga. That you don’t have to pick what’s important for you. That you can find the time to do everything you want in life.
“You can do it! You can cram 26 hours of activities into a 24-hour day"!”
And if you can’t?
Well, it’s your fault for using a shitty “productivity” system!
But that’s like banging your head against the wall. Getting a headache. And instead of stop banging your head, you take an aspirin to cure your headache.
In the 1950s housewives got excited about washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other time-saving devices. But… these devices didn’t save any time. The amount of work stayed the same.
Why?
Because the expectations changed. Clean shirts now had to be in perfect condition. The floor couldn’t have a bit of dust. And everything else followed the same rule. A clean house in the 1920s wasn’t the same in the 1950s.
So even if you can find the perfect system to fit everything into your day, you will still feel pressured to fit more. You’re never gonna be satisfied with how many things you’re doing. You’ll still feel like you’re not doing enough.
And the goalpost will keep moving forever like an oasis in the desert.
The sinking inbox
One of my goals last year was to be on top of my emails.
Not all of them. Just the important ones, like newsletters I signed up for.
Just like banging my head against the wall, I never questioned the amount of newsletters I got every week. It didn’t matter. I wanted to read them all. FOMO (fear of missing out) was hitting me hard.
1st week was fine. I was “motivated”. My #1 priority was inbox zero.
2nd week… not so great. 3rd and 4th was a dumpster fire.
You see, the problem is not just being on top of your emails. It’s the volume of emails you have to be on top of.
I was getting too many emails. And to be able to read them all, my life had to be smooth as a Swiss clock. I had to use any 67 seconds of downtime to read emails.
And if something goes wrong, you lose precious catching-up time that’s not coming back. And now you need to carve out even more time to stay up-to-date. Meanwhile, new emails keep hitting your inbox.
As I reached my 4th week, I felt I was trying to stop the Titanic from sinking, armed with a small bucket.
Worse of all, I was reading on auto-pilot. I stopped learning. It was about going through the next email. And the next. And the next. I was setting my time on fire and was too blind to see the smoke.
And that’s the problem with 99% of productivity systems.
It’s a solution to a much deeper problem. You keep speeding things up because everyone around you is doing the same. And you keep doing it until you reach extremes, like watching TV shows at 3x because you need to be “productive” (if you need to do that, just stop watching the f*cking show).
The problem is you don’t stop to question why.
Why are you trying to do 28 tasks per day, if only 3 of those will move your life forward?
And the answer is simple. You can’t prioritize.
No… Apps are not the solution to your problems
Notion is an amazing tool.
When I found out about it I thought “Where have you been all my life?”
I saw my entire life in it. The “Life OS” page, as Notion lovers like to call it. And since Notion can expand to infinity and beyond, my imagination was the limit.
And then… I quit after 2 months.
Don’t get me wrong… The tool is amazing. But the endless possibilities for customization are crap for my stupid brain.
I spent countless hours designing pages I never opened again, instead of focusing on what mattered (writing and moving my life forward),
And that’s the problem with every new app.
The belief you’ve been doing it all wrong and there’s a better, more efficient way to:
Communicate with friends
Consume books
Enjoy food
And every promise is centered around one thing. To give you the tools to fulfill your true potential. To push you beyond your limit. To do more with your time:
Forget talking to 5 real friends. Now you can “connect” with 472 friends.
Forget reading a single paper book. Now you can listen to any book on the planet at 3.5x speed.
Forget going to restaurants. Now you can order from the comfort of your couch anywhere without having to pause Netflix.
And despite having 728 followers, reading 148 books per year, and ordering takeaway every weekend, you still feel you’re not enough. Like you haven’t squeezed enough into your already crammed day.
But the thing is… You can’t do it all.
And new apps aren’t gonna help you fix this issue. Sure, you can save 5 minutes here and there. But it’s a distraction from what matters.
A way for you to fool yourself into thinking you won’t have to choose. But sooner or later, you’re gonna have to.
Accept you can’t do it all
We love the idea of productivity hacks because it is so seductive to think that you are just one adjustment away from achieving outrageous success.
— Evan - In Defense of the Unoptimized Life
It doesn’t matter which productivity system you use.
You cannot do everything.
You can’t go to every birthday party. You can’t read every book recommended by influencers. You can’t connect with every friend you have.
You gotta choose. It’s hard. But you gotta stop and do it.
Because if you don’t, life will choose for you. And you’re gonna hate yourself for it.
What can you do to feel you achieved something today?
Focus on that. F*ck the rest.
Thanks for reading Brain Relay! I send this email for free every Friday. If you would also like to receive it, subscribe below!
Got a question for me? Leave a comment below. Or hit me up on X (Twitter).