In pursuing productivity and efficiency, it’s crucial to make reality checks. Do I manage my time, or does the work manage me? Do I sacrifice my personal life and health for my work goals? Does my productivity approach and tools help, or am I using them out of habit?
Having been in the productivity app space for over a decade and interviewing hundreds of our smart, savvy users, we’ve realized that only a balanced, sustainable productivity approach can benefit the long run. This means that you can be genuinely productive only if productivity is built into your life in a sustainable, healthy way, and you don’t have to sacrifice your well-being or personal life for it.
As for me personally, I experienced a classical millennial burnout trap. I got a dream job in a cool company but also an infinite list of responsibilities and a very vague definition of success. So I worked hard, then I worked harder, then a bit more. I anxiously jumped between tasks, projects, and initiatives, not giving myself any breaks. Hence, I got a classic result: burnout and apathy, with my professional and personal lives falling apart. If this sounds familiar to you, I highly recommend reading Ann Helen Petersen’s famous article ‘How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation’ or her book ‘Can’t Even.’
Although the trap of being busy rather than productive is real, there are pretty simple ways to prevent this from happening to you. Here, we've outlined some common habits to avoid, which will help keep you focused.
Keeping a smartphone on your desk
Yes, we all do this, checking the smartphone while working (around 144 times a day!). It’s a 21st-century plague and the biggest time-wasting trap ever created. Overcoming this habit and putting your smartphone aside - not on your work desk - will help you save precious attention and time for what matters.
Start small: leave your smartphone in another room for 2 hours. Notice how often your hand will automatically reach for it. Also, notice how much easier it will be to focus on your tasks.
Reacting to every message and email
With a smartphone out of the way, one needs to keep oneself busy. So, the next thing we do is check for new Slack messages and emails every 15 minutes. Which, again, disrupts the focus time and makes our brain jump between tasks and contexts so many times a day. In 2021, US users spent approximately 149 minutes daily checking their work emails! It’s much more efficient to allocate an email check-in time 2-3 times a day and a dedicated time for work messages.
Start small: block out time in your calendar and Slack for focus work so that colleagues can see when you are busy. Use Spark Home Screen to organize your email routine and spend less time checking emails.
[Too much] Multitasking
Let’s be honest - most of our jobs require multitasking. True luxury nowadays is being able to do one thing at a time, with no distractions and no rushing anywhere. Read an article rather than just skimming through. Test out several tools before choosing the one that truly benefits your workflow. What you can do for yourself, regardless of the busyness and nature of your work, is reduce multitasking to the absolute minimum. This way, you will ensure a more efficient use of your time.
Start small: use the Pomodoro method to focus on one task during one session. The Pomodoro method means using a kitchen timer to set up working intervals of around 20-30 minutes with short breaks between them.
Not planning for the day
One time, when I had just gotten a promotion and was overwhelmed with the number and scale of projects I needed to do, a colleague of mine gave me precious advice I still use today. He said: ‘Start with planning tasks for your day. Review your KPIs, goals, notes, and tasks, and decide what you will prioritize today. Then do the same tomorrow, and so on.”
The trick here is to allocate a bit of time every day to step aside, see the bigger picture, and ensure you are moving in the right direction.
Start small: check your general goals and create a realistic plan for tomorrow.
Skipping lunch
Or having a sad desk lunch. Or stuffing yourself with caffeine and sugar instead.
Having a proper meal is as important as purchasing an ergonomic chair, getting the best productivity apps, and setting goals. Your work productivity shouldn’t come with the price of your health and well-being. That’s counterproductive in the long term (hello, gastritis!). A recent Sharebite study found that 51% of employees say that lunch breaks help them focus on work and be more productive.
Start small: plan a small walk to the nearest cafe for a treat-yourself lunch this week.
Working overtime
It’s ok to work overtime occasionally, especially if you are close to the deadline on a big project or have finally caught that state of flow when you are truly engaged in work. However, if you do overtime regularly and work under pressure, it’s a direct path toward burnout and a higher risk of heart disease. Be conscious about how often you must stay late at work and how much that disrupts your personal life.
Start small: set up clear boundaries at work and define when your working time ends and begins. For example, set an ‘Out of office’ hours blocker in your work calendar.
Using apps with no system in place
We are huge advocates of productivity apps - after all, this is how we make our living. We also know that using them without a clear goal and system won’t help. First, you need to develop an approach and a workflow, then - find a proper tool to implement it. “The key is to build a healthy foundation and layer a tool on top.” Francesco D’Alessio, the founder of ToolFinder, said in one of our Sustainable Productivity Talks.
Start small: What apps do you use daily? Make a list and think about what can be replaced or what you might add for a more streamlined workflow.
Have you tried all of Readdle's apps? They are built with sustainable productivity as a core principle and are trusted by millions of users worldwide:
- PDF Expert - for easily reading and editing PDFs
- Spark - for more efficient email workflow
- Documents - for managing all the files
- Calendars - for effortless scheduling and planning
- Scanner Pro - for taking high-quality scans
Hopefully, this list can help you reevaluate your everyday habits and build new ones that are more sustainable and healthy. We'd love to hear your productivity tips - why not join our community on Facebook and X and share your thoughts?
Yevheniia Dychko 
