I'm a /r/productivity lurker like most of you, someone who, over the last few years, delved deep into productivity content, watching people like Ali Abdaal, Matt D'Avella, Thomas Frank, Tiago Forte, James Scholz, Cal Newport - I tried all the different to-do apps, methodologies, read books, tried to change my schedule to be studious, etc.

PART 1 - PREMISE

• Professionally, I recently hit some enormous workplace milestones over the last year that helped me secure a very good job. In many ways, I did improve my productivity and deep work over the last few years. In many other ways, I did not. What I did learn was that most of my recent professional success had very little to do with anything related to the content I consumed, the methods I tried, or the obsession with "productivity." The smallest, simplest, least complicated changes made the biggest differences. I am primarily concerned for the younger people here who are obsessed with this idea of perfection that does not exist, and those who are caught in the endless content consumption loop of productivity porn and "shiny new object syndrome." YouTube does not show the reality of life, especially for your perceived "productivity gods."

• Productivity is a personal measurement of efficiency unique to you. Productivity is also a business, marketing, and content area that is used to make money off of you and grab your attention. There is a difference between someone who uses productivity to improve their job in supply chain logistics, in restaurant management, in software engineering, in studying organic chemistry and math... versus someone who uses productivity to make videos about productivity, to write notes about taking notes, who manages their time to sell courses about managing their time.

• This post is aimed at showing how these flaws persist in mainstream productivity advice and content creators, and why you, a normal human being, are doing just fine.

PART 2 - THE REALITY OF PRODUCTIVITY CONTENT CREATORS AND BUSINESS FUNNELS

• Productivity content creators do not make money like you and I do. Their job is to sell something to you. They want you to watch their videos, to provide ad revenue, they want you to purchase their courses, they want you to sign up to their content marketing email newsletters, they want you to buy their books, they want you to buy their merchandise, listen to their podcast where they get sponsorships and further funnel you to sign up to their lists, etc. This is not inherently bad. The reason I mention this is because you as an individual need to understand that we are all human, but you are falling for "the product" in your pursuit of perfection.

PART 2, CASE 1 - MASS APPEAL PRODUCTIVITY YOUTUBERS

• Ali Abdaal is a Youtuber whom I used to watch many years ago. When he was studying medicine, I took his advice a lot more seriously, because he was applying strategies with the intention of improving his retention, knowledge, and exam ability in medicine. Most content creators rehash the same common strategies from Atomic Habits, the 80/20 rule, GTD, but I am singling out Ali Abdaal because he is the most prominent example of a YouTuber who took these individualized videos on themselves into a mass-market YouTube channel.

• He is now a multi-million Youtube subscriber channel, he quit medicine, and his videos are very clearly marketed towards an average Youtube audience. His goal is no longer to make money as a doctor, but rather, to make money as a content business. Why do you think his "productivity system" changes every few weeks? He makes a new video about it, and it gathers clicks. He is the definition of "shiny new object syndrome" - not in that he is not successful at what he does, or that he does not have a strong work ethic, but rather, you, the consumer, watch his videos and set yourself up thinking this productivity system is all you need to match his efficiency, when in reality, he isn't even using that system for more than a video, maybe a few weeks, he will just change it when he gets his next idea. (Remember Zettelkastens? Remember his resonance calendars and second brain system, etc. etc.)

• Individual systems work for individual people, and this is why this obsession with copying YouTubers will not work for you. I am trying to be so clear that YouTubers like Ali Abdaal are brilliant and accomplished people, but he is a shining example of someone who has had thirty different productivity systems, doing exactly what YOU are doing, in changing everything all the time. The difference is, he is making a video out of it, getting clicks, accomplishing his goal, and moving on, without it affecting him any more. You are trying to tie it to your student life or work life and getting frustrated when you fall off, when it doesn't stick, because your circumstances are different.

PART 2, CASE 2 - SHINY NEW OBJECT SYNDROME

• The Keep Productive YouTube channel is basically a rebranded channel of what used to be a similar concept. The channel would talk about productivity strategies, bring on guests to show their workflow across different productivity apps, but for the most part, has now become a central channel where they just talk about different and new apps, updates, app tier lists (low effort content that just drives clicks). Inherently, there is nothing wrong with this. However, I wanted to draw attention to a project by the founder, where he spent a long period of time on his own productivity methodology called "The Bento Method" (which is not really particularly different from the 3 tasks on an index card system that is quite old). There were many videos, explanations, time to hype this up for app sales, and essentially, the validation was: this is a Youtuber who obviously spends his time researching and practicing productivity, right?

• It flopped. App is clunky, doesn't do anything special, sure, there are some users who have positive reviews, but is fundamentally is a project that is inherently flawed. Why is this important? The Youtuber is trying to release a second version (go read the comments), and lo and behold, you need to pay for it separately, with new "courses," and they won't be changing that despite all the complaints about poor quality from the initial release.

• I don't really care about the app itself, but I point this out to show the premise in action. This is a YouTube channel that is all about productivity. The YouTuber, founder, or whoever leads the project, very clearly hasn't been able to use the productivity principles he makes videos about to deliver a product launch, which is what normal people like you and I use productivity for in our day-to-day lives. That is the difference. We aren't using productivity methods to create a new productivity method and monetize it.

• This is what you, the struggling student or worker or person hoping to get your life back on track needs to understand. The so-called productivity guru can't do it. Neither can you. You are human. We are trying to get a little bit better every day.

PART 2, CASE 3 - PRODUCTIVITY AUTHORS AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISE YOUTUBERS, A.K.A. "THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A BLOG POST"

• This post is getting long, so I will be more brief in these sections. Everyone has heard of Cal Newport, the author of various productivity books.

• Cal Newport is a tenured professor. His advice can be great, and I personally have found value in some of the principles I learned from learning how important it is to reduce my electronics use greatly, set aside consistent time for uninterrupted, focused work, etc.

• My biggest gripe with all of these books is, holy shit they are excessively filler content. All of these books could have been a blog post. But why aren't they? Cal Newport would not make nearly as much money if these books were just blog posts. Also, remember, as a tenured professor, he makes a big deal about being productive enough to find time to write all of his books while teaching his classes, but for those of you in education... he is tenured. His job security allows him much more freedom to write, and while I won't delve into this because it is off-topic, he isn't a god among people. He's a smart guy who applies some principles into overly wordy books, and that allows him to be a well-known author with strong financial security alongside his professorship. He monetized his ideas correctly - I simply advise you to save the hours and hours of your time and just read the damn summaries.

• On the other side of the spectrum, there is Tiago Forte, the person behind the "Building a Second Brain" book and methodology, who has turned his system into a big Silicon Valley esq business where he sells cohort courses for thousands of dollars.

• I believe you can find value in the basics of Tiago's teachings, which hammer simplicity and slightly differ from GTD. His PARA system is more of a digital framework to help you learn how to give everything "a place." You want a notes app? Great. Stick to one, stop changing it.

• My main issue with Tiago Forte and the entire "Building a Second Brain" system is that, while I am sure the value exists for this niche group of folks who love it, holy hell do I believe it is a needless complication. If you need to archive all of the content you consume, if you need to record every quote you ever hear, if you actually find yourself in a situation where you want electronic record keeping of everything you're touching on a daily basis, by all means, give this man your money, follow the system, etc. All I will say is that Ali Abdaal used to preach about this system, and, lo and behold, it doesn't exist for him anymore.

• I believe 99% of you struggling with your productivity need to use your phone and apps less, and this very complicated workflow that is marketed to sell courses and cohort spots is simply the extreme end of productivity porn.

• This final section of authors and business systems was mentioned because while I think the individuals here have more rigid systems that they practice, follow, and preach, they are needlessly complicated for many people, and can be massively, massively summarized or ignored altogether. They are still in the business of selling books, courses, and newsletter signups, be aware of that.

• Almost all of our productivity problems have simple solutions.

PART 3 - ALL OF THAT, SO WHAT?

I wrote all of that out for the sole reason of trying to explain the premise that you are a person with different productivity goals than any author, content creator, or productivity businessperson. We look for efficiency to be better at our jobs, not to be better at talking about productivity. To be better at our day-to-day productivity, the solutions are often 100x simpler than any of the advice we read here.

The greatest productivity changes I made for my own professional success are extremely boring. Eat, sleep, exercise with regularity, do focused work every morning. I go to bed at the same time every day so that waking up early is second nature and not an issue. I make sure to eat with some regularity in my schedule so that it doesn't throw me off course. I exercise four times a week to help reduce stress. This doesn't need to be complicated. Maybe you like weightlifting at the gym, maybe you want to take a 20 minute walk around your neighborhood, maybe you have a pull up bar to do some calisthenics in the corner, maybe you do a boxing or yoga class or play pickup soccer.

Because my energy levels are pretty normal and I feel healthy, it makes it easier to do non-distracted work. I don't always work in front of a desk, and sometimes, I'm running around the city or driving. Either way, I purposefully do not use a million apps or systems. I have my calendar, I have a basic scratch pad to remember some things, but for the most part, that's it.

I try to work every day, as early in the morning as possible, without looking at my phone and keeping it as silent as possible (allowing certain people to get past Do Not Disturb) and I try to be as consistent as possible in doing "x" hours of work every morning without interruption.

It is so vague when I type it out like that because I'm not doing a ten part system, I'm not recording things in seven different apps and tracking every breath, I'm literally just committing to going to bed on time (to make waking up easier), and not looking at my phone to get distracted for a few hours every morning. Doing even just two hours of serious work in the morning, let alone four in the day (no one is doing twelve hours of deep work per day) is already solid enough that you will see improvement.

In fact, I considered not even writing what I do, because the purpose of this post is not to say "copy me." What works for me won't always work for you. You need to have a serious conversation with yourself about what your problems are. Are you spending too much time on your phone? Put your phone down and work without looking at it. Too much video games? Unplug the console and leave it in your closet for a week. Are you simply waiting until the last day to start something? Start it now. Are you getting poor sleep? Go to bed at 8 PM today, and leave your phone in the other room.

All of those solutions are so easy to write out and imagine, but we don't want to do them. No one in the world can help you have the discipline to get started, and you need to stop relying on anxiety of a deadline to get you started.

The purpose of this post is to say "don't copy the productivity YouTubers, don't buy their shit, and stop spending your time on this subreddit hoping for a shortcut."

You are human, and it is ok to feel behind, but at the end of the day, "productivity" simply comes from you telling yourself. "Welp, time to get started, and stay focused."