5 THINGS YOU'RE DOING THAT SEEM PRODUCTIVE, BUT AREN'T, MEMORIZING YOUR TO-DO LIST, PUTTING THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK AT THE TOP OF YOUR TO-DO LISt,

1. 5 THINGS YOU'RE DOING THAT
SEEM PRODUCTIVE, BUT AREN'T
THESE HABITS ARE GOOD INTENTIONED, BUT COULD BE SABOTAGING YOUR
PRODUCTIVITY.
BY VIVIAN GIANG
In our always on, always busy work culture, it always seems there’s never
enough time to get everything done.
That's why at some point, most of us will find shortcuts to maximize our
efficiency to get ahead. After all, if we all need to get to the same
destination, you don’t want to be the one taking the long road. Unfortunately,
sometimes we’ll adopt systems and strategies that don’t actually propel us
forward the way we think they do.
Below are five seemingly productive things you’re probably doing that are
actually doing more harm than good.
1. MEMORIZING YOUR TO-DO LIST.
If you’re the kind of person who thinks making a to-do list is a waste of time,
your strategy might be what’s wasting your time. According toDavid Allen,
renowned author of Getting Things Done you need to write things down or,
more importantly, you just need to keep tasks out of your head.
Why? Because "your head's designed for making intuitive choices about
stuff,” he explains in a video interview with Fast Company in 2008. “Not for
remembering and reminding.”
When you have all of this information in your head, your psyche doesn’t
know the difference between priorities and you’ll end up getting scattered or
overcommitting to things. Instead, Allen says writing things down is the best
way to tackle your tasks.
2. PUTTING THE MOST IMPORTANT TASK AT THE TOP OF YOUR TO-DO
LIST.
Most people will put the most important thing at the top of their list, but this
will actually make you not want to do it, especially if you’re a procrastinator.
John Perry writes about playing the procrastinator’s game in his famous
1996 confessional essay "Structured Procrastination,” which was later

2. expanded into the book The Art of Procrastination.
The Stanford professor explains that the reason why most of us put very
important tasks off is because we’re all perfectionists in a way. We imagine
how amazing the finished product will turn out because we know we’re
capable of high standards. But the bar has been set so high that we keep
putting the task off until we eventually run out of time and scramble to finish.
Instead, Perry says you need to move the very
important task further down on your list to mentally
trick yourself to not dread the specific task so
deeply. You’re basically warming yourself up with
other less important tasks before tackling your very
important task. He writes:
"DON’T PUT
YOUR MOST
IMPORTANT
TASK UP TOP SO
THAT IT LOOMS
AND
INTIMIDATES
THE WORK
ETHICS OUT OF
YOU."
“The trick is to pick the right sorts of projects for the top of the list. The ideal
sorts of things have two characteristics, First, they seem to have clear
deadlines (but really don't). Second, they seem awfully important (but really
aren't).”
In other words, you don’t put your most important task up top so that it looms
and intimidates the work ethics out of you.
3. RELYING ON A TASK-MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE.
It might actually be OK for you to use a task-management software if you’re
not someone who has major issues with productivity outputs. But if you are a
bona-fide procrastinator, “collecting” softwares can end up hurting your
output levels, says Allen.
The reasoning is simple: Note-taking and archiving softwares allow you to
collect notes that can either be from formatted text, a handwritten note, a
voice memo, or even a photo you took. All of these collected notes can be
sorted and filed away for later usage and that’s exactly the problem, says
Allen. While writing tasks down means you see it as actionable steps,
merely collecting information means all that stuff will go back into your head
because you won’t know what to do with the information after you collect it.
If you use a task-management program, Allen advises to clear everything
collected every 24 to 48 hours.
4. DELAYING MAKING DECISIONS.
In his book Getting Things Done, Allen says that “if it takes less than two
minutes to do it, do it now.” Delaying decisions might make it easier on you

3. at the moment, but it’ll also have a chance of blowing up later on down the
road.
Vivian Rosenthal, founder and CEO
at Snaps tellsFast Company that making quick
decisions is how she conquers her biggest
roadblocks. In fact, Rosenthal believes you need to
trust and hone your intuition so much that you
should be able to make any decision in nine
seconds or less.
"TRUST AND
HONE YOUR
INTUITION SO
MUCH THAT YOU
SHOULD BE ABLE
TO MAKE ANY
DECISION IN
NINE SECONDS
OR LESS."
When you put off a task, it loses its meaning and you end up spending
more energy revisiting that task and figuring out the meaning, or priority,
attached to it. Instead, you need to be able to quickly integrate information,
make decisions, assign it to a system or person, and move on to the next
thing.
4. SAYING “YES” TO EVERYTHING.
You might think that saying “yes” to everything makes you an easier person
to work with, but doing so also makes you an unproductive person to work
with. The truth is, we’re all busy people with too much on our plate.
Those who are focused and keep their eyes on the bottom-line will become
the most successful. If you commit yourself to every little thing that comes
your way, your path will be scrambled and you won’t get anywhere on time.
While saying “yes” is much easier than saying “no,” doing that latter will keep
you focused and on track. There’s a good strategy to saying “no,”according
to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, which split 120
students into two groups that started their answer differently when saying no
to something. One group turned tasks down by saying “I can’t” while another
group turned things down by saying “I don’t.”
The study found that the group who said “I don’t” were able to turn down
tasks significantly more times than the group who said “I can’t.” The word
choice has a lot to do with your sense of control, which sends a message to
your brain and affects your behavior the next time around. If you say, “I can’t
do that for you,” then you are reminding yourself that you have limits and
saying “no” is something you’re forced to do. On the other hand, if you say “I
don’t have time to do that for you,” you are telling your brain that you have full
control of the situation and choosing not to do something because you’re
empowered to do so.

4. 5. THINKING YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MULTITASKING.
It doesn’t matter how many studies have been published telling us that our
brains can’t do multiple things at the same time, we still multitask because it
gives us a false sense of accomplishment.
But the truth is, human brains weren’t built to multitask. UCLA researchers
found in a study that your brain is "dumbed down" when you multitask
because you’re using a different part of it that “adversely affects how you
learn.”
Instead, a good strategy to adopt is to perform tasks in sequences, called
“set shifting,” which is the practice of switching consciously and completely
from one task to the next instead of doing everything at once. This will allow
you to use your brain at high capacity for each task, but you can only think of
the task you’re currently working on.
If your productivity isn’t where you want it to be, know that you don’t have to
be
the most highly motivated, passionate, high-performer to get things done.
Get smart with your time and work practice and you’ll find it easier to “get in
the zone” and up your productivity game.