How to Be Productive in Life, Everyday (Without Another Stupid Life-Hack)
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One moment, you’re working on a project. The next, a phone call comes in.
You get distracted and read an email. Then, forgetting what you were initially working on, you start a completely different task.
Someone stops by your office to chat until you end up at lunch — a lunch you’re likely working through.
Your afternoon is riddled with meetings, which are interwoven with more interruptions.
Every time you sit down to work on something of value, an urgent email comes in, the phone rings, a meeting reminder chimes, or there’s a knock on your door. And, that’s not even accounting for personal distractions.
Social media, text messages, and breaking news demand your attention with clickbait headlines too enticing to pass up. By the end of the day, you’re exhausted from nonstop interruptions and continual effort, but feel as though you haven’t accomplished anything.
For all the running around, you have nothing to show for the things that matter — important work projects, family, hobbies, side-hustles. They’ve all atrophied from lack of attention.
It’s enough to make you scour the Internet for life-hacks; tricks to optimize your time and expand your energy.
Where are the life hacks that actually work?
In the search for destroying distractions and becoming a productivity monster, I did. Each hack seemed to contain some bit of wisdom, either because it was a novel concept or because it was used by the rich and famous.
We are attracted to the idea of massive success and are eager to try anything or follow anyone in order to find the time and money to do what we want. Thus, if Elon Musk advocates meditation, our desire to be a self-made millionaire compels us to tangle our legs into lotus position for an hour every morning. If Dwayne Johnson wakes up at 3 a.m. to crush weights for four hours, we feel momentarily motivated to do the same. Each life-hack presented to us is like a glittering…
