Episode 19: Why Productivity Hacks Are The Problem

Welcome in, everyone. I hope that you guys have been having a wonderful week so far. 

Now that we are beginning to approach summer, right, the to-do lists and the calendars, for whatever reason, like, they just seem to get filled to the brim. 

Am I right? 

Like, there's kids are out of school, the weather's beginning to get nice, and, you know, there's a lot more festivals and concerts and fun things to go to. 

And while that's all good and fun, I'm also willing to bet that you most likely are asking yourself, how am I going to get everything in my business done, right? 

And still find the time to do the things that I want. And what I see happens most time is that most entrepreneurs, what they tend to do is they go right to the productivity hacks and the strategies to try to find ways that they can get more done in the same amount of time. 

And maybe you've tried implementing one or more of these, like the 5 a.m. wake-up mornings or, you know, locking your phone in a timer box to be more disciplined, doing the challenging tasks first, creating time blocks on your calendar so that you can schedule out your day, doing brain dump exercises. 

But let me ask you this. Can you think of a time where you've maybe tried implementing one or more of these strategies and instead of being more productive, you actually ended up being less productive? 

Why is that, right? Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, why is it that some of the productivity hacks that I tried just don't seem to work, that they actually seem to be counterproductive and make me less productive than I had hoped adopting it? 

And if all it took to be more productive was to implement strategy, then... Technically speaking, wouldn't everyone be crushing their to-do lists and their goals? 

I mean, we certainly don't have a shortage of strategies on how to get your time back or how to boost your productivity. So why is it that some of the productivity strategies haven't worked for you? 

And if you're anything like me and the clients that I'm serving, then I'm willing to bet that you think that the reason the productivity hacks aren't working for you is because you believe that you just didn't have enough discipline or you just didn't have the willpower that others who were successful with the tools had. And you're probably telling yourself things like, I should have been more disciplined. I need to have better willpower. I suck at managing my time. 

But here's the reality that I want you to hear. The real reason why productivity hacks hasn't worked for you isn't because a lack of discipline or willpower or a lack of skill sets, okay? 

You see, the real reason productivity hacks actually don't work And are actually a part of the problem and really producing, you know, burnout because all productivity hacks rely on one key element, one thing in common, and that is habit or behavior change. And as neuroscience demonstrates, habitual behaviors, they're habits for a reason. They're habits because they have been repeated enough times that they can and usually do fire without you even needing to think about it. 

They fire automatically on autopilot before you even have time to consciously think through the habit that is firing. And the reality is that all patterns of behavior are typically only repeated when there is a payoff. And as you have probably heard me on previous episodes and will continue to hear me say on future episodes, our brains are always seeking three things, love, safety, and acceptance. And it's seeking those three things in relation to survival and also thriving, right? So it's looking at the situations and looking at I want these three things. How will this behavior either take this away from me or give it to me? 

And your patterns serve as a means to an end, to receiving the three things or to avoid losing those three things, which are both payoffs. If we think about it, those are both payoffs. 

And because your brain believes that doing things differently is a threat, then it's no wonder why when you try to adopt new habits, when you try to adopt new habits such as the productivity hacks, your brain immediately sees this in a sense as a threat. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we've never done this before. Why are we implementing something new when we know the old ways has worked for us, right? The hustle and grind, the long hours, whatever it is, doing whatever it takes to get things done. 

And there's a reason why we hear all the time how hard habit change is. And it's not because of a lack of willpower and it's not because of a lack of discipline. It's simply because our brains do not like to change. It likes the path of least resistance, the path that is the most comfortable and the most familiar. And what is the path of least resistance? Well, it's the path that is most familiar, right? It's the path that has been traversed the most, that has been well-worn and well-proven and over and over and over again in your past to have worked for you to get those three things of love, safety, and acceptance. 

 your brain likes the old ways simply because our brains are always scanning the environment. It's always scanning the environment to really try to predict outcomes and try to avoid risks and make sure that you are safe. And it has proof that these old ways of doing things has worked for you. And so it's no wonder that when you try to implement a new way of doing things, your brain's like, okay, but there's no proof that this will work. And where's the proof, right? And so it will fight you every step of the way because it wants to resort to the old ways. 

And when we enter entrepreneurship, where everything that we do is really pushing us outside of our comfort zones because we've never done it before, or we don't actually know if the strategies and the tactics that we're about to implement will work, then it's no wonder why our brains begin to feel threatened and want to resort to the old habits and the old way of doing things because it knows that that has paid off in the past, right? And that's the biggest reason why productivity hacks don't work. 

They miss the fundamental fact that there are subconscious beliefs that are triggering the habits that you are trying to change in the first place. And so long as those subconscious beliefs are present in the background, you're always going to subconsciously end up resorting back to old habits, okay? 

so how do you break free from old habits so that you can adopt habits that you know on a logical level might better serve you in being productive in your business and having less stress and more time? 

Well, the first step in changing any habit or behavior is awareness. It's awareness of what is driving that behavior in the first place, right? And so to break free from the old habits, you have to understand what subconscious belief is driving the behavior when the behavior is being triggered and what is the purpose of that behavior, right? 

Not knowing the answers to these questions are really analogous to trying to fix a medical problem without having any idea of what's actually causing the symptoms in the first place. You're just putting a band-aid on the symptoms, but not actually getting to the root of what is causing those symptoms in the first place. 

 if this is something that you would like help with, I actually offer free strategy calls where I will help you identify what subconscious belief is driving the behaviors that you are trying to actively get rid of or trying to actively change so that you can understand what is driving your behaviors that is keeping you from implementing the habits that you want to implement. And then on that call, we also create an individualized step-by-step plan that's going to help you eliminate that. 

And so if this is something that you're interested in, that you want to figure out, Reana, I don't know why I keep hitting this invisible wall every time I try to be more productive, every time I try to change the habits that I know are getting in the way of me getting my time back. then shoot me a DM. Shoot me a DM. 

You can find me on Instagram at Dr. Reana Mulcahy. So it's Dr. Reana Mulcahy. I've linked that up in the show notes below because the reality is without that awareness, without actually knowing what is getting in the way and what is actually triggering the beliefs in the first place, you are always going to resort back to the habits, no matter how much willpower you try to put into this thing, because the reality is there is a subconscious belief that is driving the behavior. 

And so if this is something you'd like to set up so that you can successfully remove habits that you know is getting in the way of you having more time, more energy in your business and in your personal life, then shoot me a DM at Dr. Riana Mulcahy. And again, thank you so much for tuning in every Wednesday. I will see you guys next week on our next episode. And as always, I'm rooting for you and your thriving business in life. I'll see you next week. Bye for now.