10 Habits that Prevent Maximum Productivity

Do you find it difficult to achieve high levels of productivity? Find out which 10 habits prevent maximum productivity and address them now!

10 Habits that Prevent Maximum Productivity

Do you want to know which habits are killing your productivity? Do you want to learn more about habits that prevent maximum productivity?

By identifying these 10 habits that prevent you from achieving maximum productivity, you’ll be able to spend less time on your to-do list, and more time on the things you love!

Working at maximum productivity will allow you to spend less time on your tasks and more time on the activities you prefer. So, instead of spending countless hours on an assignment or project, you would be able to finish that early and spend the remainder of your time pursuing your passions or having quality time with friends and family.

By working at maximum productivity, you’ll be able to:

• Spend less time on tasks
• Have more time to yourself
• Work more efficiently and effectively
• Produce more high-quality work
• Achieve better results

Personally, I struggle a lot with productivity. However, recognising these bad habits have helped me a lot in developing new habits that enable me to live my days more productively.

As a young adult still in university, being more productive has allowed me to spend so much more time on my hobbies and passions, rather than sitting at my desk and working on homework day in and day out.

Hopefully, with these tips, you’ll be able to spend more time doing what you love!

Related:

• 18 Tips to Achieve Higher Levels of Productivity
• Healthy Habits Before Bed to Wake Up a Better You
• How to Achieve a Balance Between School and Your Personal Life

So, what are the 10 habits that prevent maximum productivity?

1. Not believing in yourself

One of the most important factors that determine your ability to achieve maximum productivity is your mindset. Too underconfident and you risk performing at a low quality, too overconfident and you run the chance of doing more than you’re capable of.

You have to believe that you are capable of anything, that if you try your best, you will succeed. A positive mindset will give the boost you need to continue pushing forward despite obstacles thrown your way.

2. Not being consistent

Good habits form through consistency. Only through consistency can you train your brain to remain focused on the task at hand.

This consistency applies to all areas of your life. A consistent sleep schedule, meal schedule, study schedule and work schedule are all important areas that can help you get into a good routine. This way, your brain knows when you should be studying or working instead of wandering off and leaving you daydreaming.

3. Not using the right tools

One of the biggest habits that prevent maximum productivity is not using the right tools. With the right tools, you can eliminate so much wasted time that you could’ve spent on yourself instead.

As a student, I know that I spent so much time editing and re-editing my essays. Especially with any creative writing task, grammatical tense was my biggest enemy. Perhaps it was my own fault for not knowing what tone and atmosphere I was going for, but Grammarly definitely saved my butt when I kept using different tenses within the same paragraph.

This was time wasted that I could’ve spent with my friends, with my family, or I could’ve even spent that time studying for my upcoming exams. I can’t do anything about that now, but YOU can save yourself the trouble by installing Grammarly on your browser. You’ll be surprised at how much time you can save with one teeny little extension.

Imagine a tool that detects tone…

As a young adult looking for jobs, I found myself spending so much time worrying about grammatical mistakes in my resume or in the emails I sent to prospective employers. I think I actually spent about 30 minutes per email just staring at the screen, reading it over and over again in my head and out loud. Wondering if I was conveying the right tone. If I sounded too forward, too mean or too desperate.

I don’t even want to count those hours I spent worrying over the tone of my emails. But I’m so glad I never have to worry about it again because Grammarly now has that feature built-in.

I remember the day I saw that emoji pop up at the bottom of my screen. I was like a child who had discovered her presents on Christmas morning.

No longer did I have to pretend that I was a potential employer reading over my own email and asking myself, “If I was a hiring manager, would I hire me?” Because let me just say, it made me feel a little bad about myself.

So, I can’t even express my relief that Grammarly does it for me now. I just look at that emoji, and if that emotion fits with what I’m trying to convey, then I’m happy with it. I simply fix up all the grammatical errors that Grammarly has caught for me, and I press send.

Related: Why You Need Grammarly if You Write Anything | Improve Your Writing with this One Tool

4. Not eliminating distractions

The key to being highly productive is to focus all of your energy on one task. Unless you’re a super multitasker, most of us can’t focus on more than one task at once. I know that if I tried to multitask, it would take me a lot longer to complete my tasks than if I had completed them one at a time.

We’re so digitally connected in our society that it can be incredibly difficult to eliminate all distractions. I like to prevent disturbance from my phone by leaving it in another room. This way, shorter notification tones can’t distract me but I’ll still be able to hear if I receive a call.

If you need your laptop for school or work however, it can be difficult to prevent yourself from straying off task. I know it’s so easy to zone out and the next thing you know, you’re checking email, scrolling through social media or watching cat videos on youtube.

If you find yourself on social media a lot, try deactivating or signing out of your accounts, even for a short while. Trust me when I say that it makes all the difference in the world. Even if you subconsciously navigate through to Facebook or Instagram, seeing that you have to log in to access content can be just the barrier you need to stop yourself and return to your task.

5. Not giving yourself breaks

Am I the only one who falls asleep after looking at their homework for a short while? One minute, I’m looking at equations in my notebook, and the next thing I know, I’m face-down and snoring away.

Everyone needs a break every now and then to recuperate and recharge their batteries. While you might feel like you’re wasting time if you’re not spending all of your time being productive, but breaks are super important in ensuring that you perform at 100%.

If you keep working without giving yourself a break, you run the risk of completing tasks at subpar levels. You would achieve much better results if you take breaks when you need them and by doing so, you’ll be able to achieve higher levels of productivity.

Just like a battery, your energy levels drain as you go through your day. Taking breaks every now and then can help you recharge and get yourself up to 100% again.

6. Not letting yourself truly relax

Just as taking frequent breaks is important for maximum productivity, being able to truly relax is so important in ensuring that you don’t overwork yourself or stress out too much.

Taking breaks is all good and well, but if your mind is still on your tasks, are you actually giving yourself a break?

Allowing yourself to relax is also giving your brain a chance to absorb information. So, if you’re studying for a test or an exam, these breaks to relax are actually super beneficial for your memory retention.

7. Trying to do too much at once

Do you ever feel like there’s so much you have to do that you end up trying to do them all at once?

I’m majorly guilty of this. I’m not sure why I think it’s a good idea to start everything at once but not actually managing to complete even one of them. If you’ve been through this, then you know the stress of seeing a long to-do list and the urge to just do them all at once.

While you might feel productive by starting every task and being able to tell yourself that you made an effort, the time wasted by switching between each task and familiarising yourself with the process again would be much better spent on completing one task at a time. That way, you’ll be able to put it aside, knowing it’s completed, and start fresh on a new task.

8. Not tracking your progress

Tracking your progress to see how far you’ve come is important in helping you maintain the right mindset. A healthy and positive mindset goes a long way in helping you retain high productivity levels.

Tracking your progress can also be a great motivator. If you feel like you’ve been unproductive for days on end, seeing how far you’ve come can get you out of your funk pretty quickly.

You’re also a lot more likely to procrastinate if you don’t know how much you’ve actually accomplished. Especially since taking that first step for an assignment or project can be extremely daunting.

It honestly still surprises me how productive and motivated I get once I take that first step. Even just writing one sentence can be enough to get my engine going and the next thing I know, my fingers are flying over my keyboard, much like they are now.

So, the next time you’re working on a huge task, make sure that you record every milestone that you reach. You never know when you just might need a motivator.

Related: Healthy and Productive Habits for a More Positive Mindset

9. Not writing a to-do list

If you want to retain high levels of productivity, the best way to do that is to always have a to-do list written out. This will give you a good idea about how you should split your time in order to complete everything you’ve written out.

It’s always helpful to know what you have left to do at a glance instead of trying to recall tasks from your memory.

Have you ever had the feeling that there was something you had to do but you just couldn’t seem to recall it?

If this happens to you regularly, it might be a good idea to write everything down as soon as it comes to mind. Get into the habits of carrying a notebook or journal everywhere you go to jot information down and ensure that you don’t forget anything.

10. Not breaking down your tasks

While writing your to-do list, it’s also really important to break down your tasks to help you maintain high levels of productivity. By breaking your larger to-dos down into smaller, more doable tasks, you’ll be more inclined to continue as you see yourself tick off task after task.

Breaking down tasks will also give you a much clearer idea of how much you have left to do in order to complete the task. This way, you’ll be able to organise your time and schedule much more efficiently, ensuring that you’ll be giving yourself enough leeway and not cramming everything into one time-slot.

If you’re a student who wants to know how to break down an assignment, you might find this post interesting: How to Work With Procrastination + Tips for Breaking Down an Assignment

So, those are 10 habits that prevent maximum productivity!

Do you agree that these habits prevent you from achieving maximum levels of productivity? If you know of any other habits that prevent productivity, share them down below!

Want to read it again? Don’t forget to pin it!