Why am I unproductive?

There are many reasons and ways that keep you unproductive. However, they usually are a result of your actions.

Focus on improving on essential and beneficial areas in your life, not on those that feel cool or fun.

Being unproductive means you are not in a position to reach your full potential in terms of being productive.

In some cases you may not just know how easily productivity can be trained to become much more productive and never be unproductive again.

Table of Contents

Does unproductive mean unsuccessful?
Why am I unproductive?
Is it OK to be unproductive?
Conclusion

Does unproductive mean unsuccessful?

Well, it can be related to it in some cases but my perspective is no. You can still be successful and be unproductive.

However, being unproductive kills your potential of reaching goals faster. You are also less likely to be efficient.

Being able to recognize that working on your productivity can tremendously boost your journey to become successful is critical.

Moreover, when you learn how to be productive, it is easier to organize your goals, tasks and days.

There are many reasons that affect your productivity. In the following stages, I’ll explain the biggest and the most likely reasons.

We will go over how to stop these habits and start developing yourself to become productive.

1. You Multitask

Multitasking is actually the biggest reason that keeps you unproductive during your day.

Multitasking means you try to complete several things at once and quickly as possible.

Nonetheless, is disturbs your concentration on your tasks constantly if you try to complete many tasks at once.

You will be much more productive when you focus on one task at a time instead of multitasking.

Avoid multitasking by planning your day in advance and simply complete one task at a time and your productivity will increase.

2. You do tasks that don't support your tasks

For example, you might spend a lot of time on your smartphone and laptop, or washing dishes and cleaning up your house.

These are obviously mandatory actions in everyday life. However, don’t allow them to take the whole day.

Split “mandatory actions” one per day and focus on tasks that keep you moving forward. Complete tasks that support your goals and way to become successful.

3. You lack sleep

First of all, if you lack sleep, it almost guarantees that your day is going to be unproductive.

Poor sleep causes decrease in motivation and desire to complete your daily tasks. In addition, it hurts your focus and makes you less likely to work on things.

Put simply, the better you sleep – the more productive you are going to be.

Invest in your sleep and recovery. This means get to bed on time, don’t scroll social media before bed and sleep 8+ hours for the best results.

Literally much easier to do than people tend to think – try today.

4. You have no goals

To be clear, it is pretty understandable that if you don’t have goals, it’s barely possible to be productive.

Having no goals keeps you unproductive because in that case you don’t know what to work for.

This can be simply fixed by setting goals. Meaning, you set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals.

It keeps you motivated and allows to become disciplined and therefore, you’ll be able to become productive.

If you don’t know where to start, you can set up very simple goals at first, such as:

5. You have no hobbies or passions

Simply a very crucial reason why you are unproductive. Staying in the same place and getting dopamine boosts from social media is not the way to go.

Therefore, we as humans need hobbies and passions which enhance and help us to maintain our productivity throughout the day.

Hobbies are meant to keep us more inspired and learning to become disciplined person.

Great hobbies/passions to maintain productivity:

6. You are not managing your time

When it comes to being productive, time management is super important. Moreover, in order to be productive, you need to know how to execute your daily plan.

Put simply, if you aren’t managing your time, you are much more likely going to stay unproductive.

If you notice that you are unproductive because of time management, start applying time management strategies into your daily lifestyle and see how it changes.

7. Not planning your day beforehand

This one is extremely important, not only in theory but in practice as well.

In my experience, I’ve seen that if I don’t plan my day in advance, it makes me unproductive and I’m unable to organize tasks properly.

If you plan your day in advance, you are already ahead of everyone else who didn’t plan their day – why?

You know exactly what your day is about and you don’t have to waste time thinking what to do next.

8. Not creating a to-do lists

This comes hand in hand with the previous point, but planning your day in a “to-do” list form is very effective.

It forces you to complete the tasks you’ve set yourself for that day. You’ll be able to keep track of where you are in terms of your daily plan.

Creating a to-do list is a free source of motivation. What I mean by this is that you probably want to have all the tasks checked before you go to sleep, right?

If you are or feel unproductive, give a to-do list a try and see how it increases your productivity.

9. Stuck at work

Working too much, or thinking constantly about your job or work can harm your productivity and therefore, make you unproductive.

Get some rest and think about other things as well. In today’s busy society, it seems that people are stuck at their work and it becomes their #1 priority when it shouldn’t be.

Use your free-time to meet up with family, friends or do a motivational activity.

Ask yourself: am I able to think about other things than work?

If yes – Great!

If not – you will get unproductive.

10. The "prison" mindset

Do you feel that you’re in a loop and never get out of it?

It might be because your are having a “prison” mindset. It makes you very unproductive because you aren’t creative enough to do activities which could boost your productivity.

What I mean by “Prison” mindset is:

This barely allows you to work on your dreams. Stop living someone else’s dream and escape the “prison” mindset.

Is it OK to be unproductive?

Yes, it is totally normal and we all have sometimes days when we are less productive than usually.

However, if you are unproductive almost daily or everyday of your week, you need to change.

Start by taking little steps, set small goals and track how your productivity gets better.

Being unproductive is not bad, but it definitely plays a big role in how much you can achieve in a long run.

Conclusion

All in all, being unproductive is not bad and you can still become successful.

However, these are the main reasons you are unproductive, in my opinion. Getting rid of them can drastically improve your productivity.

Try to use the tips I explained and feel free to tell in the comments, whether they worked or not.

The best part here definitely is that you can truly control yourself your productivity. Use that to your advantage.

Let’s become productive together!

Check my productivity playlist.

Why am I unproductive? – 10 Honest reasons

Does unproductive mean unsuccessful?