If you love being productive or wish you were a more productive person, you might want to read about these 3 myths of productivity. Chances are you may need to tackle these myths if you wish to improve your productivity level both in your career and personal life.

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One of the biggest myths of productivity is the notion of “I don’t have enough time.” Do yourself a favor and stop saying “I don’t have time”. Instead, say “it isn’t a priority” or “I’m choosing not to make the time.” Go ahead, try it. “I don’t have time to go to the gym” vs. “It’s not a priority for me to go to the gym” or “I’m choosing not to make the time for the gym”. Did you feel the difference when you said it?

“I don’t have time” is a myth. The reason being, time is within our control, and therefore how we use our time is driven by the choices we actively make. Whether you realize it or not, how you spend your time throughout the day is solely dependent on the choices you’ve made.

Time truly is within our control, and once you realize and own it, it drastically shifts your world. It’s quite liberating to realize that everything is within your control. The key is to understand that whether we are doing something or not doing something, it’s because we actively chose to do it or not do it respectively.

If you honestly think you truly don’t have the time, I challenge you to track everything you’re doing throughout the day down to the very minute of each day. I can guarantee that you’ll find some time there where you could’ve made better use of it.

If you’re waiting around for motivation to kick in so that you can do what you need to do, or do what you’ve been putting off, well hate to break it to you but it’ll never come. It’ll be a long time waiting. Motivation is another one of the myths of productivity. Being productive doesn’t mean you need to be motivated. Stop waiting around to “feel like doing it,” and just do it.

One of the major things I learned from reading Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, Ph.D., is that motivation is fleeting and we can’t rely on it. You shouldn’t wait until you feel like doing something before you actually do it. Reality is, you’ll probably never feel like doing it.

How do you overcome this? Find a way to romanticize what you need to do. The more fun it becomes for you, the more you’ll be inclined to do it. Consequently, you can create consequences and repercussions for not doing what you need to do. It’s a form of incentivizing to help drive the result of completing a task you’ve been needing to do.

Also, you can find ways to make the task more salient. Perhaps when you see someone with the dream body goals, then you get motivated to do the same. Perhaps you learn about what the most successful people do and start following their method. Whatever it is that can make your goals more intriguing, go for it.

Multitasking as a form of productivity is a myth. In fact, it’s infinitely better to focus on one thing than try to do multiple things at once. The quality of your work will suffer. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice the quality of your work because of multitasking. If you can finish doing one task faster than if you tried to do multiple tasks along with it, I’m sure you’ll rather opt-out for the faster route since it’s more efficient, right?

So how do you focus on one task? get rid of distractions and get into the zone, or “flow state.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi developed the “flow state” and defined it as the “optimal state of consciousness, where we feel our best and perform at our best.” In other words, you are so deeply focused on something that time flies.

Whenever you’re in this flow state, you are the most productive. So what’s the secret? How do you get into this flow state?

First, you must eliminate any forms of distractions. Yes, that means turning off notifications on your phone or placing your phone far away from you. Then, you have to voluntarily engage in the task. This is where you would actively choose to focus.

One of the things I do to get into a flow state is drinking my coffee and sitting on my desk. I know that once I do this, it sends a signal to my brain “all right game time!” Then I zero in on the task and tackle it.

Those are the 3 myths of productivity that you need to bust! If you’re currently doing your best to be productive but can’t seem to master it, try eliminating these methods.

In summary, start doing this:

For more in-depth information on the myths of productivity, check out Ali Abdaal on Skillshare ! He has amazing content that actually inspired this post! If you’d like to try Skillshare, here is my referral link which will give you access to Skillshare Premium free for 14 days!