10 Habits That Negatively Affect Your Productivity

We must admit that working hard does not mean that we are productive. You must have known people who, despite working hard, could not achieve the results they wanted. In fact, maybe you are one of those who suffer from this problem. Even then, you don’t need to worry.

In this article, we will share with you which habits you can avoid and be productive. Like this; You can become aware of your habits that you were not even aware of until now, but that reduce your performance and cause you to achieve results well below your capacity, and achieve your goal by removing them from your life. Let’s not make you wonder any more and get started right away.

Habits that reduce your productivity

1. Writing a lot of goals on the to-do list:

When you prepare a to-do list that goes on and on and on without determining your goal and priorities, things will become bigger in your eyes, you will be demoralized and your productivity will decrease. Therefore, preparing a to-do list will only benefit you if you prepare it correctly.

2. Doing the wrong job at the wrong time:

Observing the hours when your productivity is high and matching your priority tasks to the hours when you are most productive will help you a lot. It is very important to achieve the results you want, not to spend your most productive hours on non-priority tasks and not to leave the most important ones to the end. 

Forcing yourself to start work without full focus will also cause you to feel pressured and stressed, which will negatively affect your productivity. When you take a few minutes to clear your mind and start when you feel ready, you may find that you work much more efficiently.

3. Doing more than one thing at the same time:

Doing more than one thing at the same time, called multitasking; Although it is perceived as a positive feature today, it leads to inefficiency in any of the simultaneous tasks. 

Focusing on a single point: By preventing distraction, it will protect you from having to do the same job over again, and it will prevent loss of time and allow you to complete more work as you wish.

4. Being a perfectionist:

Being an extreme perfectionist and drowning in details; It will cause you to be unable to take action or to be late, causing you to miss the things you really need to spend time on. Paying attention to details will only contribute to your success when done in moderation.

5. Trying to do everything alone: ​​

Accepting that you cannot do everything and knowing how to get help when you are busy or having difficulties, stopping insisting on doing it alone; It will play a big role in increasing your productivity.

6. Being addicted to social media, trying to respond to emails immediately:

It is clear that our social media and phone addiction poses the biggest threat to our productivity. Looking at every notification and responding immediately is one of the main distractions. Another fact is that we are all bombarded with e-mails today. 

If you do not have an e-mail that you are waiting for and need to reply to immediately, not reading and replying to e-mails while you are working will also positively affect your productivity.

7. Not being able to say no:

Warren Buffett, “The difference between successful people and very successful people; “Very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything,” he says. 

Being able to say “no” to offers that will put you in a difficult situation by spending time at that moment and accepting that this is not a situation to feel guilty about will also be very important for your productivity.

8. Taking little breaks and not moving, or taking too many breaks:

Skipping breaks in order to do more work is one of the biggest mistakes made. Being able to set break times correctly becomes equally important. 

Just as taking a break when you are fully focused on work instead of taking a break when you need it, or taking little to no breaks and not moving at all has a negative impact on your productivity, spending almost the entire day with breaks will have the same negative impact. 

9. Not removing distractions from the work desk:

Removing anything that will distract you from the work desk, such as files on other subjects, or accessories that are not needed at the moment; It will calm your mind, make it easier for you to focus, and therefore increase your productivity.

10. Poor nutrition:

Habits such as skipping breakfast, working during lunch or eating lunch while working, consuming more tea and coffee than necessary to recover are among the habits that negatively affect your productivity.

Especially; Giving up excessive caffeine consumption, which causes stress, anxiety, heart palpitations, stomach problems and insomnia, will be one of the steps you need to take to become much more productive.

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