One thing I learned from 15 years of productivity: it sucks

2026-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

Today I went to the car wash, the parts store, and the gas station. Thank God I have a car. Otherwise, I never would have managed all that.
– old joke </blockquote>
It sucks you in. It’s like alcohol or caffeine. It will relieve stress from your life. Apparently, it will, if you don’t lean too much on it. Start taking it too seriously, and you’re in trouble.

It all started with GTD, and then spun up really quickly with the second brain, life operating systems, sleep control, productivity metrics, pomodoros and Anki.
I have built up an appetite, started spending more time developing my tools and thinking about them, stealing time from the time left after my daytime tasks. </blockquote>
It becomes a habit, that’s how it sucks you in.
At times, it becomes a cargo cult.
You follow the approach, capture the content, and process the data for no reason.

Dear, you have duties other than polishing your inbox-handling workflow. Go out with your kids or have a happy time with a beloved one. Don’t call it “self-time” or “quality time”. It’s just time, life. </blockquote>
Until you notice it, a “productive” year could have already been lost.
The self-inflicted punishment when you’re not productive enough adds another wire to the scourge. The productivity systems are designed to reward you for being productive or punish you when you’re not.

Sometimes it’s such a hassle to realise you missed your deadline by 3-4 days. After being productive for many years, it turns into a f*****g omnipresent feeling of underperforming. Literally, all the time. </blockquote>
That flaw is built into them. If you cannot fully decouple a “productive yourself” from a regular yourself, it will become an incessant torture day and nightl

Does it matter at all? What is the outcome of an extra 10 - 20 -30 - 100 - 1000% of productivity?
The universe will reach its heat death no matter what. </blockquote>
What would your extra 10% personal productivity give to you, or even more critically, to humanity? There are 8,000,000,000 people out there. Increased overall productivity is so minor that you could better spend your time having fun with your kids, friends, spouse, playing guitar, painting tits, watching porn or at least just doing nothing.
Productivity sucks. First, sucks you in, then sucks the soul out of you. Done.

Cragg Mooer

One thing I learned from 15 years of productivity: it sucks