‘What productivity hack actually wastes more time than it saves?’ – 23 time-saving ideas that are doing the exact opposite

The internet has created many terrible things, and one of them is the trend for sharing life hacks. You know, allegedly helpful tips for doing things that we already know perfectly well how to do. They’ve been discussing one particularly infuriating aspect of this on the AskReddit page, after user TATA-kicks-C asked:

‘What productivity hack actually wastes more time than it saves?’

It turns out there are a lot of ideas for increasing efficiency that just turn out to be a big old faff, like these…

1.

‘I stopped reading productivity books and stopped watching productivity YouTube channels completely. Made a massive difference. Productivity ‘content’ is a massive trap that makes you feel productive without actually doing anything worthwhile.’
–michellezssa

2.

‘Getting up at 4AM because all those productivity gurus swear by it. Ended up being exhausted and unproductive by 2PM. Turns out my natural rhythm of waking up at 7 works just fine, and I actually get more done.’
–DesirableCupcake

3.

‘Open office design.’
–EmceeStopheles

4.

‘Implemented by people that keep their office doors shut.’
–ironcladtrash

5.

‘Multitasking – congrats, you’re now bad at two things at once.’
–PeachyGlowBabe

6.

‘Getting those aesthetic study notes with different coloured pens and highlighters.’
–GlamorousCupcake

7.

‘Vast majority of kitchen gadgets, once you add up the time to get them and clean them it’s usually faster to just use the knife you’re already holding.’
–21JG

8.

‘I’m not convinced that brushing your teeth in the shower has ever saved anybody any time.’
–SharkGenie

9.

‘Using apps that help you use apps less. There’s just no good solutions out there for me and I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to find the right one. Just use your apps less.’
–A_D_H_DAN

10.

‘Driving to an office for in person time at a job that is largely in front of a computer screen.’
–SilencedObserver

11.

‘Saying the letters of certain acronyms instead of the actual words.’
–inaudibleuk

12.

‘Making a to-do list, in certain instances. My boss takes more time making a list (that never gets anything crossed off) than if she had just started working in the first place.

‘I mean, I might jot down 1-3 important tasks I have to do within the next day or week, but I’m talking a 20 tasks long list of really minute, unimportant things.’
–Firekeeper47