I have the perfect productivity system.
It is called the Microsoft Clock, and it comes preinstalled with Windows.
I’ve pinned the app to my taskbar. When I want to work, I figure out the number of minutes I have remaining until whatever my next scheduled activity is. Then I set a focus session (or Pomodoro if you want to call it that) for that time and start working.
It has done wonders for my productivity.
As writers, we tend to actively fight our inner desire to write every step of the way (This is not just applicable to writers honestly. All professionals find themselves fighting procrastination from time to time).
A lot has been said about the true reason for procrastination. It is the failure to regulate your emotions about the work you have to do.
For many, the solution is to distract themselves by reading something online, watching videos, or doomscrolling to get their dopamine high enough to start writing.
Some watch motivational videos to energize themselves. It ends up being nothing more than inspiration porn.
Others might go in a slightly different direction.
Instead, they try to overcorrect their procrastination by gorging on self-help and productivity content that promises to share “secrets” and “systems” that are supposed to make them breeze through work.
This last one is the most insidious.
The first two groups of people at least have self-awareness that they are wasting time instead of working. But the latter group deludes themselves into thinking they are actually making progress.
The kind of content we fall for is astounding — How I make “X” dollars per month online; this book changed my life; use this technique to manage your time; use this psychological technique to boost your concentration; these habits made me more productive; what I would do if I had to start over again — the list goes on and on.
Don’t get me wrong.
These are very useful videos — to watch once.
Any one of these videos has all the information you need to dramatically improve your productivity and output. If you are struggling to find something that works, any one system can be a great starting off point.
However, people get infatuated with finding the perfect system without giving enough time to get accustomed to the systems they already know.
So, instead of working on the actual reasons why you don’t get work done, we find a scapegoat to blame it on — the system.
And then begins a journey to adjust your workflow every few months, or even weeks, to a new system that you know for sure is “The One.”
We end up being busy fools, never tackling our life goals head-on, while feeding the illusion that we are getting better and better with each tiny “hack” we learn.
We are so focused on saving our minutes that all the hours we have with us today to change our lives are thrown away.
This is very similar to constantly switching diets when you are trying to lose weight when the answer has never changed and has been under your nose all this time — diet and exercise.
As you have figured out, the title of this article is a riff on the idiom “penny wise, pound foolish” which points out how many obsess over saving money on the small things while foolishly making bad financial decisions for the long term. Like how we try to find discounts on everyday items and haggle with people over the smallest of amounts while spending thousands of dollars on depreciating assets to impress other people.
Our approach to time management and productivity can also be summed up like that. We get obsessed with perfection to such an extent that we mentally block ourselves from working, telling ourselves, “I’m not ready to start on my book or my video or my article or my exercise regime until I learn everything there is to it.”
It is just escapism disguised as education.
As the Pareto Principle says, 80% of improvements come from 20% of the effort.
So, aim to take the smallest of steps in the right direction today rather than waiting for the perfect time to get started.