6 Dangerous
Productivity Myths

Myth

Procrastinating kills your productivity.

Reality

Of course, wasting time scrolling through social media when you're supposed to, say, finish an article on deadline, is a waste of your time. But sometimes putting things off can lead to new and inspired ideas. According to Adam Grant, author of Originals, Steve Jobs was a major procrastinator. "The time Steve Jobs was putting things off and noodling on possibilities was time well spent in letting more divergent ideas come to the table," says Grand. "As opposed to diving right in with the most conventional, the most obvious, the most familiar."

Myth

Only write things on your to-do list that you can accomplish.

Reality

The whole point of a to-do list is to accomplish everything and throw it away, right? But according to productivity company iDoneThis, about 41% of items on a to-do list never get completed. And that's okay. Psychologist Art Markman writes in Fast Company that "there are helpful benefits to the simple act of drawing up a list of top-priority tasks—whether or not you actually accomplish them." He says that simply writing down what you need to do prompts you to think about all the steps necessary to do it.

Myth

You need to clear your inbox everyday.

Reality

The goal of "inbox zero" obviously works for some people but for others, it just becomes a huge pain in the ass and pulls you away from other, more important tasks. According to Laura Vanderkam, author and productivity guru, organizing and emptying your inbox isn't necessarily the best use of your time, because other people's demands are controlling what you work on every day. "Better to realize that anything you haven't gotten to after a week or so will have either gone away or been thrust back upon you by follow-up messages or calls." The key to managing email is to designate specific times of the day for reading and responding to it and to differentiate between emails that can be handled quickly and those that require more time.

Myth

You can power through your slumps.

Reality

You may think that you have to hunker down, Red Bull in hand, and power through a big task to complete it. Put your nose to the grindstone and ignore the creative and productive blocks. However, a study by the Federal Aviation Administration found that short breaks lead to a 16% boost in focus. So try working for 90 minutes at a time with short breaks in between. Stepping away from your work to clear your head, even if it's just for a quick walk around the block, can jumpstart your brain and leave you feeling reinvigorated.

Myth

People who are good multitaskers get more done.

Reality

Thankfully, this myth is getting busted more and more as of late. Multitasking is an illusion. Research has repeatedly shown that people will always get more accomplished if they concentrate on one task at a time. Jumping frequently between tasks—or believing that you are actually doing more than one thing at once—will just slow you down and likely lead to mistakes that will need to be corrected later. Of course, there are some positive manifestations of multitasking such as refining your elevator pitch while cleaning your apartment or listening to an informative podcast while you torture yourself on the treadmill.

Myth

Knock out the easy stuff first.

Reality

Spending valuable early hours on simple or menial tasks can be just as harmful to your overall productivity as getting sidetracked at the watercooler or mindlessly scanning your social media feeds. But plenty of psychologists and experts assert that it's typically far better to kick your day off with something larger and more meaningful—or even a task that you're dreading. That way, you'll tackle challenges when you're at your most creative and prepared.