What is Toxic Productivity and how do I combat it?

We dive into toxic productivity, how to stop it and which apps are great for helping you stay productive without the burnout.

Toxic productivity is on the rise, and endless videos promote productivity without showing the importance of a work-life balance and taking care of one's mental and physical health.

Toxic productivity is the mindset of feeling the need to be constantly productive and feeling like you are behind or not doing well enough when you are not using your time productively.

Lots of people experience productivity by constantly thinking about work, choosing work over their mental and physical health, and always wanting to work to achieve the next thing without taking a break because they also think breaks are a waste of time.

Toxic productivity can even be in the form of consuming too much productivity content on YouTube, reading books, or anything else on social media. Everything can look a lot better online when it is edited; however, no one is productive 24/7 and enjoys it.

All of the above can lead to burnout and stress. This means you end up doing nothing productive at all, or all your hard work leads to work that isn't of your best standard.

Research also shows an unhealthy work-life balance can affect families and relationships too. But don't worry. It is possible to be highly productive, reduce burnout, and still enjoy your work. You just have to find the balance between productivity, life, and health.

What Can You Do To Stop Toxic Productivity

So, what can you do to avoid falling victim to toxic productivity? Here are a few things that might help.

• Give yourself a start and finish time for your work day and stick to it. This means you can also create healthy morning and after routines without involving work.
• Make sure you include breaks into your day, this helps to avoid burnout and you also just need some time to eat lunch, and step away from the screen sometimes.
• Focus on priorities, get the most important things done first, then you can have time, or wait to do the less important things tomorrow.
• Practice creating a switch between work, and you. This is called professional detachment. When you have finished work, detach from that hustle mindset.
• Have time in your day that is completely unproductive and learn to enjoy just doing nothing. This could be reading a fiction book, playing a game, going for a walk etc.
• Create boundaries with yourself. Don't check emails after work or respond to messages out of hours, dont work on the weekend if you dont need to, and turn off notifications.
• Reward yourself for achieving non-work-related goals, like finishing a book, meeting friends, exercising, or finishing a film series. Do something fun and enjoy it rather than feel bad about it.

There are tons of other helpful tips for avoiding toxic productivity, but the premise is to take breaks, set boundaries, and do things other than work that make you feel happy.

3 Apps to Help Toxic Productivity

It's important to not be too focused on using apps as this can lead to distractions and maybe waste some time, however, there are some apps that can help you focus in order to create quality work in a short period of time, meaning you dont need to constantly be working.

• Hey.com - Helps you organise email and see what's important rather than clutter.
• Freedom - A distraction blocker to allow for more meaningful work.
• Magicflow - A focus app to produce better quality work whilst managing time.

Let's see how these apps can help reduce burnout and keep you away from toxic productivity.

Hey Email

Best for Emails

HEY Email

HEY Email is a productivity-intense email app with a set system on handling emails.

View ToolVisit Site

Hey Email created a fun way to handle emails, making it feel less like a chore and something you are more inclined to do. It also helps you organise and manage your emails in a way that makes sense, and that's easy to navigate. Meaning you waste less time inside your emails and more time working on something important.

Hey.com has a cool feature called the 'Imbox' which is where only the most important messages will land, so you can forget about having to sift through spam and emails that waste your time.

Overall, Hey.com feels more like a platform, allowing users to be more intentional with their emails, newsletters, attachments and important tasks.

Freedom

Best for Focus

Freedom

Freedom blocks websites and distractions to enter deeper focus and more productive.

View ToolVisit Site

Freedom is a distraction blocker that allows you to block websites and applications from sending notifications and stops you from being able to access them. This means you can be more focused on your work without the risk of seeing an email you might then waste time replying to.

By managing your screen time and blocking distractions, you can become more effectively productive, this means getting more things done in a shorter space of time, leaving you more time to do the things that make you feel happier and healthier.

Overall, Freedom is a great distraction-blocking tool for busy people who want to stop procrastinating, get more done, and create a healthier relationship with screen time.

MagicFlow

Best for Accountability

Magicflow

Magicflow is an AI productivity tracker to help you focus better on tasks.

View ToolVisit Site

Magicflow is an AI productivity tool that helps track your focus time, the time you have procrastinated and how you can then optimise your time to further productivity. The great thing about Magicflow is that it helps you do better, it helps you increase your focus.

Magicflow will monitor your activity while you are working and then give you feedback on where you can save time, where you have wasted time, and how long you have spent in deep work. You can also set focus sessions to avoid clicking on other websites and apps.

Overall, Magicflow helps beat toxic productivity by making sure you are focusing your time properly, meaning you can get more done, in a shorter space of time, and not feel the need to be constantly productive.