Why Productivity Hacks Can Help (And Hurt) Your Productivity

If you’ve ever tried waking up at 5am, journaling, meditating, taking a freezing shower and squeezing in ‘deep work’ before breakfast - only to feel ready for a nap by 10am - then you’ve probably discovered the strange world of productivity hacks.

They’re everywhere: Pomodoro timers, colour-coded to-do lists, habit trackers, ‘eat the frog’ mornings. The promise is simple: if you do them, you’ll get more done in less time and feel amazing while doing it.

And sometimes, they do help. A well-placed timer can help you focus. Breaking a big task into chunks can make it feel manageable. Research in Cognition (2019) shows that structured routines can reduce procrastination and help with follow-through.

But here’s the catch: the very hacks meant to make us productive can also backfire - adding stress, decision fatigue and ironically, making us less effective.