Consuming productivity advice is great, but it can also take a lot of time. You need to make all those minutes back—and then some—for that time to have been well spent.
Productivity advice falls into two categories.
The first type of advice is time-negative. This type of advice allows you to gain back time—including the minutes you spent reading the advice in the first place, of course. This won’t always happen—not every bit of advice will fit with how you work or think. But when you find productivity blogs, books, and talks that mesh with your life, you’ll gain time rather than lose it.
On the flip side, productivity advice that’s time-positive takes more of your time than it gives. Many “life hacks,” pointless organizational tactics, motivational websites, and articles about daily routines fall into this category. This second category of advice gets in the way of you hunkering down and doing the work.
Take stock of the productivity advice you consume. How much of it is time-negative, and how much is time-positive? Your time is valuable; you shouldn’t waste it on the latter.
