5 Productivity Killers and How to Overcome Them

When people think of “productivity killers” today, they often think of external distractions.

No, it’s not Michael Meyers creeping under your covers—think of it like the lure of having friends, entertainment, and information centers at your fingertips at all times, or having your kids (human or furry) crave your attention when you start to focus.

But what about those times when you tune out all distractions, tie yourself to the beast, but still feel like you wasted a lot of time?

This is because the most dangerous productivity killers are not lurking around you, but rather calls that come from inside the house.

But don’t panic—that means you don’t have to go far to solve it!

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the habits that are hurting your productivity, and how to get around them for good.

1. Self-Doubt

Spending so much time worrying about whether you are good or not Can doing something gives you the answer: you don’t accomplish anything by thinking about doing it, or worrying about whether you can do it.

Self-doubt disguises itself as a form of protection—key word: disguise. When people who doubt themselves start to fall back into their comfort zone when faced with a big task, they forget that real growth, success, and self-confidence come from real life to tell the story.

The secret is, you don’t have to truly believe that you are invincible, you just have to do it. Self-doubt is like a ghost: the more you believe in it, the stronger its power, and the harder it is to kill. Rather than taking your anxiety as a sign of self-doubt, refuse to feed the beast completely just by taking the first step.

And if you’re not sure where to start, never doubt the power of asking for help.

👉 Write down this quote:

Everything that seems like a barrier to you is very thin. You can break down any barrier, but our barriers seem insurmountable when viewed from ground level. You have to reach the heights to see how easily every obstacle that stands in your way can be overcome.” —Liz Ryan

2. Perfectionism

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” —Leonardo DaVinci

You don’t have to be an artist to get value from that quote; There are bound to be times when you set aside your impossible standards in order to complete a task and start a new one.

The trick of perfectionism is that it masquerades as objective excellence; take off the mask and you’ll see that perfectionism is just a fancy word for using the fear of disappointing others as your motivation.

As someone who is prone to both perfectionism and panic attacks, I realize that they are the same animal. My having a panic attack on a plane doesn’t inherently reduce the likelihood of an accident: it just makes my experience on the plane worse.

Likewise, me spending ten hours on something that could have been done just as well in five hours doesn’t inherently make the end result better: it just means I now have less time in the day to complete my other tasks. The most important thing is to stay focused on growing 1% every day and demonstrating that skill self as it develops.

👉 Write down this quote:

“I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” —Michael Jordan

3. Poor Boundaries

It’s amazing that people are talking more and more about the importance of having and enforcing healthy boundaries with friends, family, and partners. But what about healthy boundaries for your work?

It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you have to say yes to everything that is thrown at you in order to appear like a capable, self-starting employee. But here’s the secret weapon most managers won’t tell you: setting expectations and advocating for yourself is how you truly demonstrate your value at work because that’s when you Actually get more things done.

Bottom line: it’s impossible to feel productive with too much on your plate, period. Instead of wondering if you’re not an employee because you feel overwhelmed by your tasks, get past the self-doubt and simply observe that you have too much on your plate!

Learn from the situation and apply the lesson next time—That how you appear like a capable, self-starting employee.

👉 Write down this quote:

“I can’t ask anyone else to stand up for me if I don’t stand up for myself. And once you stand up for yourself, you’ll be surprised when people say, ‘Can I help?'” —Maya Angelou

4. Rejection

When we are faced with a lot of unfamiliar work, we are usually tempted by resistance: the seed that becomes the source of procrastination.

“I’ll do this over the weekend.”

“I can finish it in an hour.”

“Just let me finish this episode and then I’ll be ready to go.”

Procrastination relies on your ability to deny yourself the essentials you need to complete a task to the best of your ability: limited but limited time, and a clear, relaxed mind that can work without hindrance.

Be honest with yourself about your priorities and give yourself credit for honoring them. If denial is normal, then procrastination is what happens when they try hard. Once you get used to identifying when you’re in denial about work, the less likely you are to justify it. Just think of it as your wooden pole.

👉 Write down this quote:

“You cannot escape the responsibilities of tomorrow by avoiding them today.” —Abraham Lincoln

5. Poor Self Accountability

The ultimate boss of productivity killers: lack of responsibility for your actions (and inactions).

I think of this as an amalgamation of every previous productivity killer because this is the catastrophe you will face if you can’t beat the others: The more you doubt yourself, set impossible standards, disrespect your boundaries, and justify procrastination, the more you weaken the mental muscles that hold yourself accountable for completing tasks and achieving your goals.

But what if you, dear reader, find yourself having difficulty with self-accountability? Take it from someone who can relate: the first step is identifying it, the second step is getting help.

Luckily for you, you don’t have to travel very far to get that help…

ClickUp, an all-in-one productivity app, has become my personal secret weapon for breaking bad habits that make healthy, non-fear-based self-accountability feel impossible to master. Breaking down my goals and projects into visual, flexible tasks not only helps me be more productive but also makes me less intimidated by the idea of ​​doing the work necessary to get results.

👉 Write down this quote:

“Accountability is the glue that binds commitment to results.” —Bob Overseer

Conclusion

If you’re a genre nerd like me, you’ve probably heard of the visual theme of this article: horror films.

If you think about it, horror movies and productivity killers work in similar ways; the impact on you is real, but not without your consent first.

If you have the means to identify movies from reality, you have the key to identifying productivity killers before you get caught in their clutches.

ClickUp has helped me beat productivity killers like lost notifications, losing track of subtasks, or scrolling through millions of tabs to do a single task…but what’s really made me stronger is identifying and overcoming obstacles in my mind.

Combining that personal knowledge with the right free productivity platform, I feel ready to take on anything.

Even real zombies.

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