When Productivity Tools Make the Problem Worse

Metadata

• Author: Dan Shipper
• Full Title: When Productivity Tools Make the Problem Worse
• URL: https://feedbin.com/entries/9c8632545a9a5a463bb4fc2aa74b83e570244c82/newsletter

Highlights

Todo lists are about keeping track of tasks, yes. But they’re also about reducing obsessive fear that things will slip through the cracks and you won’t meet your obligations. If you don’t realize they have this function for you—and that this obsessive fear is largely independent of how many tasks you actually get done—you will always be afraid. (View Highlight) Todo lists reduce the fear of forgetting

Trying new tools stimulates our dopamine system which increases your motivation and ability to expend cognitive effort on tasks. It also breaks old conditioning you’ve developed with your previous tools which gets gradually associated with procrastination and piles of work left undone. Once you realize that you’re using productivity tools to stimulate the reward centers in your brain it gives you a lot more power to make different choices. (View Highlight)