People Who Get An Insane Amount Of Things Done Avoid These 6 Unproductive Habits Like The Plague
Don’t confuse activity with productivity.
Engin Akyurt | Unsplash I once spent the whole week working on my first website. I was excited — I had just bought a solid domain name and paid for faster hosting, and then I spent the next seven days doing nothing but decorating it in fonts, colors, themes, layouts, and spacing.
Little did I know, Google didn’t care at all. Meanwhile, I saw websites that looked like crap get hundreds thousands of clicks. By the end of the week, the actual work was still sitting there. Eventually, I let the whole thing go and abandoned it after a year. But during that time, I picked up stuff on how to write better content, how search engine optimization works, and what makes people click.
And now, after a few years and a whole lot of trial and error, here we are. A lot of us are busy, just not with the right stuff.
People who get an insane amount of things done avoid these unproductive habits like the plague:
1. Doing everything except what really matters
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There is just a kind of person who can clean the entire house, sort through the junk drawer, and answer six emails. But did they complete the document that's due tomorrow? No. Did they work on the website they wanted to complete? No.
But check out those socks, rolled up like sushi. This is a productivity trap. You’re busy. You even look busy. If somebody came into the room, you’d look very busy. But almost none of it matters.
- Checking off small tasks feels good, but may be empty.
- Busyness can hide procrastination.
- You’re doing something, but not the important thing.
There is a certain satisfaction in crossing off 14 things on your to-do list, even if none of them were the things you were supposed to do.
2. Confusing hustle with progress
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We’re all about the hustle. It’s essentially a personality characteristic now. “We’ve got to hustle now, right now, or we’ll be broke in five years. Gotta escape the rat race and all that blah blah blah….”
- Hustle is effort, not necessarily direction.
- Working more doesn’t mean achieving more.
- Speed doesn’t help if you’re going the wrong way.
Hustle is a verb. Progress is an outcome. Progress does not always mean hustle. You could be moving at top speed in the wrong direction and not know it.
Even if you’re heading in the wrong direction, at least pick up some skills you can use later. That way, it’s not a total waste. Otherwise, you’re just burning hours for nothing.
3. Craving clarity more than taking action
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Have you ever come across someone who tells you, “I just need to get clear on what I want.” What most people want is this: watch tons of tutorials, courses, make sense of everything, and wait for all the stars to align. That’d be neat, huh?
There’s this saying in programming: if you don’t solve problems and questions consistently, you’ll never escape tutorial purgatory.
- Clarity will not come from courses and videos unless you take action and feel it for yourself.
- Action leads to clarity, not the other way around.
- Perfectionism often masks indecision.
Clarity is wonderful. I enjoy knowing where I’m heading as much as the next fellow. The issue is: the majority of people do not require clarity. They’re scared to make a decision.
4. Getting confused by choices and overthinking every one
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There is paralysis when there are too many options; this is called analysis paralysis: Do I build a website, or do I just use social media? Is Substack better than Medium? Should I create a podcast? A blog? A YouTube Video?
Heck, people like me can’t even decide what Netflix show to watch before my food gets cold or which game to play on holiday. Too many options can lead to zero action.
Overthinkers have a gift. They can make the most ordinary decision a game of psychological Jenga. Make one misstep and the whole tower comes tumbling down.
- Here’s my drill: Pick something.
- You can fix it later. Nobody’s looking at your every step, waiting for you to embarrass yourself with Comic Sans instead of Helvetica.
5. Believing you’re just not wired for discipline
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Along the way, somehow we managed to get it into our heads that you were born with discipline. Like freckles. Or a gluten allergy. They repeat it over and over: “I’m just not a disciplined person.”
- Habits form through repetition, not willpower.
- Fewer choices = more consistency.
Nobody’s born disciplined. No baby’s ever been born ready to sign up for a five-year plan and a 6 A.M. strict exercise routine.
Discipline is something you do. Repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly. Until it doesn’t hurt anymore and is second nature.
And by the way, those who “seem” disciplined, they’re not exerting willpower. They’ve simply made fewer choices. Set up a simple workflow that they follow. Get tired of your lies enough to build some boundaries.
6. Ignoring your mental and physical health
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This one does add up: You can’t outwork burnout.
- Health is not optional. Caffeine is not a cure for chronic fatigue.
- You can’t hack your way out of chronic fatigue with additional cups of coffee or additional self-help podcasts.
- You can’t “positive thinking” your way out of adrenal fatigue.
Confusion, mood swings, disrupted sleep, anxiety, stress. Those are warning signs. Skipping meals, cutting back on sleep, and skipping exercise because you “don’t have time.” That’s not discipline. It’s self-sabotage to some extent. And productivity is not worth anything if it’s going to cost you your mind.
Aditya Singh is a writer covering psychology, self-improvement, and productivity. He has over 100k+ reads across various writing platforms.
