I am using my own time hack and copying a part of my productivity book here. After all its already written, it’s good and useful, so why not save some time.

5 Myths about productivity/Time Management

1. Time management is only going to fill up your time and make you even busier.

This myth is something I can understand. For those who are new to time management, or just wanting to be productive and “winging” productivity. Often begin with a to do list. They think that if they make a to do list they can work through things and if they can just check things off that will be more productive than not having a to do list.  The only problem is that with a check list, those new to productivity will tend to pack the list from 1 to 1,000 and work from 1 hoping that at the end of the day they will get to 1,000.

The truth is as we all know you will never get to 1,000 and usually the task from 1 to 100 are all the task that are not even related to your life purpose and goal. So you get super busy and nothing actually gets done.

So where the myth part comes in is this can all be avoided. With proper time management you actually get more time, you get more done, and you feel far more empowered that you have your life under control. A highly effective and efficient time management system, improves the quality of your life, it doesn’t take away from it.

2. Once we narrow down our days to only the core task only we are on our way to living our productive and efficient life.

This is another myth that should be addressed. It is the myth that we should just do our core tasks only to get ahead on our life purpose and goals. This is also a partially true statement. Once we past the check list phase we become more advanced with our productivity, we begin to narrow down some of the key objectives and try to focus only on doing those key objectives.

This is a good thing of course but what happens to the rest of the stuff. If we are so focused on just the core stuff, our work space gets messy, our social or family life misses out, and errands are missed or neglected and our present day life begins to slowly decay right from under us and so slowly we don’t even see it happen. I have seen divorces where the spouse is so focused on work that the home and family life falls apart.

This is where it really gets confusing as myth one and myth two clash with each other.

This becomes a myth because productivity is about increasing efficiency and not decreasing it or lowering quality of life. This also means in all other areas of life. If one area of life begins to suffer horribly at the expense of productivity it’s neither productive nor efficient is it?

The idea is to get the productivity system working so that all aspects of life are either maintained or flourishing where it needs to.

3. Time management means we will live a boring life of no fun and all seriousness.

This is far from the truth, when we are productive with our time we tend to do things that are more meaningful to us as the primary goal. So instead of time wasted with social media you spend more time with playing with the kids. Life is actually enhanced, and joy is found in different places. Instead of hours in front of the TV you might find yourself skiing or taking a dance class instead.

4. When being productive we have to give up so much of our old joys and maybe even our social life.

There is a partial truth to this. Let’s relate this again getting fit. People think that when you are working on a fitness goal, non-competitive, meaning you’re not training for anything and the goal is just to be fitter and healthier, that you cannot eat and enjoy the foods you used to. This is absolutely not true. You can, you just become strategic about it. Can you eat fast food? Yes, but can you eat it at every meal? No. The same goes for productivity and time management.

Can you play games and watch TV? Yes, but can you do that for every block of time that you have and be productive? No. Yeah you can hang out with friends, play games, and keep all your minor joys but keeping in mind the ultimate goal is the long term quality of life change rather than the quick fixes. We need to always remember that time efficiency and productivity is about improving quality of life, not taking away from it. Gaining more time, not less time.

5. I don’t have time, discipline or focus

The interesting thing is this, for those who say I don’t have time…That is the very reason you need time management, and we have already sort of addressed this. When we have effectively worked towards better time management we actually gain more time.

Discipline is another interesting thing, if I said write a book in three months and you will receive a million dollars, chances are you will do it. External motivation is not the best sustaining motivator’s long term but this is a good example. The mind suddenly is ready to go. We act as if discipline is something only a few have and other don’t. Discipline is in everyone, it is derived from inner emotions and clarity, not merely grinding away into burnout.

Focus as in 100% time dedication is productivity. This should be a myth on its own but I’ll cover this here. It has been shown that our brain functions like a sprinter, it works best in intervals. In fact we all have such short attention spans that our peak duration for focus is 45 minutes. So if we use science to our advantage, frequent breaks, gaps and interruptions can be a benefit.

Time management when mastered will always make life accelerate in its quality output, it solve problems and manages the challenges and difficulties that arise. For men who want to constantly grow, manage time well.

Lucky N.