5 habits you think are helping you—but are actually draining you

It might be time to stop adding to that to-do list.

Many of us do a lot of things in the name of “productivity” that we aren’t necessarily proud of. Maybe you have the tendency to check your emails while you’re OOO, or skip breakfast to get out the door faster in the morning. The problem is that healthy productivity practices aren’t going to lead to burnout, but many of the ones we “swear by” as a society do.

That’s why we’ve asked experts to share common habits that are actually hurting our long-term progress and draining our time and energy every day. Keep scrolling for the six habits that tend to backfire, and a few tips on what to do instead. (We bet you regularly do at least one on this list!)

Meet Our Expert

• Ilana Grines, licensed marriage and family therapist at Ilana Grines Therapy
• Dr. Kyle Elliott, founder, tech career coach, and executive coach at CaffeinatedKyle.com
• Shayna Bergman, certified executive and leadership coach at Shayna Bergman Coaching, LLC

Multitasking

According to a study, only about 2.5% of people can successfully multitask, which most likely means you’re not one of them (unfortunately). Unless you’re what’s dubbed a “supertasker,” multitasking can actually hinder your progress rather than help it.

“You might feel productive when you’re in a meeting, answering Slack, and keeping up with your inbox,” says Kyle Elliott, founder of CaffeinatedKyle.com. “You’re really just doing three things poorly instead of one thing exceptionally well.”

Shayna Bergman, certified executive and leadership coach at Shayna Bergman Coaching, LLC, says this constant toggling between tasks can leave your brain fatigued, making you even less productive the rest of the day. Instead of attempting to do more than one thing at once, Elliot says to “pick a single task and give it your full attention.” This method, he notes, will help you get the task done faster—and with fewer mistakes made.

Not Taking Breaks

Turns out, eating your go-to chicken Caesar wrap at your desk every day while also “working” isn’t really going to get you further than your colleagues. “People who treat their lunch breaks or the break that they put into their calendar as something that they can gloss over the second more work comes in—this actually limits their ability to work at the rate they would hope to,” says Ilana Grines, licensed marriage and family therapist at Ilana Grines Therapy.

Instead, keep your breaks sacred: No checking emails, no Zoom calls, no “one more quick task” that ends up taking your whole break. Using your breaks to recharge will help you regain your focus and feel more productive the rest of the day. “I tend to see that this backfires, especially because sustained focus requires recovery, and without a few moments to ourselves, most individuals run on fumes—and not the fuel that you would hope,” Grines says. “Overriding a break usually creates more damage than good.”

Keeping a Running To-Do List

While a “to-do” list might be productivity culture’s gold standard for getting tasks done, if you aren’t making them correctly, they can quickly backfire. Grines suggests keeping to-do lists short (aka, not one that “spans the size of a CVS receipt”) and organized by priority.

“This usually doesn’t help us organize our day efficiently,” she says. “What I have found is that it magnifies many people’s anxiety and doesn’t allow us to differentiate between the things that are actually important and the things that are just piled-up tasks. An easier way to do so is to start a smaller list, organized by level of urgency.”

Always Being “On”

Similar to skipping breaks, being “always on” and ready for anything work or life throws at you will keep you functioning in a reactive state (which quickly drains your energy) and “burns more energy than a focused, values-aligned approach,” according to Bergman.

Being “always on” also usually means never truly unplugging, which can be truly detrimental to your mental health. “It’s easier than ever to constantly check email and Slack. That constant pull will drain you very quickly if you’re not careful,” Elliot says. Instead, he encourages clients to be fully on or fully off—but not halfway working.

“One of my clients took a family vacation and gave himself an hour each morning to check emails and clear anything urgent,” Elliot adds. “Once the hour was done, he was done, and he could actually be present with his kids the rest of the day instead of half-working throughout the entire trip.”

Saying “Yes” to Everything

If you’re a people pleaser, saying “yes” feels like second nature. But saying “yes” when you’ve already got enough on your plate only tends to zap your energy while also potentially hurting the ones you’re trying to help. “Reflexive ‘yessing’ isn’t always helpful or generous,” Bergman explains. “It’s often actually conflict-avoidance and taxes a future version of yourself who now owes time and energy [they] didn’t actually budget.”

Elliot also points out that saying yes to everything can also have long-term consequences, causing you to be everyone’s go-to when they need something. “Always saying ‘yes’ is a fast way to lose control of your calendar and drain your energy,” he says. “When you’re the person who takes on everything, people learn to keep turning to you.”

If you have a really hard time saying no, Bergman recommends the “yes in a container” method, which adds boundaries to your yes. “For example: ‘Yes, I can bring snacks tomorrow, as long as it’s OK that they’re not homemade and instead from the grocery store.’ You’re still doing the thing but in a way that makes it less painful for you,” she says.

Read the original article on Real Simple