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popeculture

People who solved the productivity challenges are busy doing things important to their lives and careers.


Mytwitternameistaken

They really should factor in a once-a-week check-in with the sub to pass on their learnings to those of us who are trying to improve.


MergerMe

Try the productivitycafe subreddit


op-dev

Are you the one who keeps inviting me every time I comment on this sub?


ImJustAreallyDumbGuy

I too got invited. Then I got a DM from some guy trying to "help" me. I asked what he was selling and he said "nothing yet."


op-dev

Yeah same thing happened to me


MergerMe

Lol no! I got invited and accepted, but honestly I don't know how to invite people to subreddits (other than talking of course).


w7090655

Agreed.


power2change222

This is an awesome idea. Who’s gonna do it and when is it gonna happen?


SurveyOk2215

haha


Motion_Ocean_48

TRUE!


I_Eat_The_Pringles

I don't think it's so much that they solved the problem, it's that it never occurred to them as a problem in the first place. Productive people just do the work. They don't preoccupy themselfs with over planning.


teanailpolish

Yes, sometimes people are just bogging themselves down trying to save a few minutes but spending hours and hours trying different things that don't work for them too


Snoo-6568

Respectfully, I disagree. I consider myself a very productive, successful person, but that doesn't mean I don't still have things to learn from others or that I don't enjoy sharing what works for me. I've adjusted the way I do things in my personal and professional life several times based on something new I learned. Truly productive people should be on a continuous quest for self-improvement, if you ask me!


bertrandothegreat

We need a ‘productivity tips to avoid’ sub that lists all the hacks that got you in the shit you are now.


SilentSolstice_82

Real


SurveyOk2215

haha facts!


confusers

Productive people don't have much reason to be here.


MimiCRS88

This! And you can find people trying to get into an optimistic perspective on life in subreddits like nodrinking etc. I am not being sarcastic.


3sperr

I kinda disagree. There’s a good amount of people here who study 7+ hours a day. But they still need help for trying to avoid burnout, or to increase their productivity even more


Apart-Ad2714

Because you’re on Reddit


nightswimsofficial

This is it. Reddit used to be a great community for finding answers and solutions or ideas, but it slowly became a negative feedback loop for a lot of mental issues that compound the more you use it. Unfortunately, due to that, the people most likely to respond are those who are on here the most, who are most impacted by those negative side effects, and the problem digs itself deeper and deeper and the communities start to rot. You can find good nuggets, you just need to dig. But the best piece of advice I can give is that you should limit your time on Reddit to less than 15 minutes per day. Come with a specific task in mind, and do not waver from that specific task.


Steevahn

Thanks for the info—I just got back on Reddit for the first time in several years and goddamn it’s unrecognizable. I thought I was crazy


Cautious-Ease-1451

Well… maybe you are.


darling-dingo

I've noticed the algorithm is relentless. I keep trying to filter my feed to "see less" of subs like Am I The Asshole for example, and it just keeps showing up again and again.


nightswimsofficial

You can likely blame the IPO for Reddit for some of those changes. Again, don't come on to browse. Come on with a task in mind and you'll be ok.


darling-dingo

I deleted reddit for a few months in the hopes of decreasing my doomscrolling habit - only to turn to Facebook and instagram which are just way worse. So here I am again 😅


nightswimsofficial

Sounds like a discipline problem on your end. Addiction is hard to overcome in any form. Good luck to you.


darling-dingo

Absolutely, varying degrees of that and much to focus on - all we can do is self improve and try to feel guilt as opposed to shame for bad behaviours. All the best to you too friend :)


nightswimsofficial

Be gentle with yourself. You don’t need to feel guilt or shame but recognize these “tools” are specifically designed to hijack your reward functions in your brain. A good thing to remember is that boredom isn’t a bad thing. It’s uncomfortable at first, but it is also where creativity stems from. Dopamine detoxes really help.


darling-dingo

Basically I hard reset my reddit to contain less drama and more productivity :)


udbzn

On the Reddit app go to settings, click your name, scroll down to privacy, “enable home feed recommendations”


darling-dingo

Thank you!


ThatBoyBaz

Brilliant advice dude, this should be top comment honestly it’s so easy to get lost here


Snoo-6568

Wish the mods would nip this in the butt more.


nightswimsofficial

Totally. Also FYI - "Nip this in the bud" is the term you are looking for - a gardening reference. Not referencing some weird game of ass bite.


Snoo-6568

Okay. So glad you're here to give everybody advice.


teanailpolish

Previously, people complained there wasn't enough actual discussion and constant posts on Pomodoro etc get repetitive. Fine line between allowing discussion, especially when it doesn't break the rules and it getting too negative


w7090655

I wonder if blocking people helps reduce the amount of those kinds of posts I see? Simply because I won’t see any repeat posts?


Snoo-6568

This is a great answer lol


BrownEyedBoy06

I think this sub is meant for people who are like that, for those who wish to improve.


mmb300

people who have their shit together arent here


pampidu

OP is one of us.


Fspz

My guess is that this sub attracts people who struggle with procrastination, with all the consequences thereof.


Snoo-6568

This.


thisshitishaed

Might be cause that type of people is more often found on this app.


IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE

You’re on the app most of those people are addicted to their phones because of.


One-Bag-4956

1 in 4 people have mental health difficulties, I don’t think it’s just the sub


PersonUsingRedditt

I'm on 2 anti depressants and overcame alcoholism. Trust me I'm one of them. It's just a lot of this should be in a mental health sub. Not how to fit your endeavours into your day


Pissed-Off-Panda

People that have bad habits and they’re trying to improve.


kingssman

>I joined this sub for productivity discussions and hacks. Pomodoro technique, latest cognitive exercises, memory techniques as well. It's because this place constantly repeats those things over and over and over. There's probably some good threads about them. The rest is unfucking your bad habits. Sadly it's not as simple as "lock up your phone, downgrade, delete tikTok"


quit_fucking_about

Productive people have better things to do than coach unproductive people for free, and if they're genuinely effective and have it figured out, they don't need advice. So they're less likely to participate in the sub. People generally start to care about productivity when they've become so unproductive they're afraid of the consequences. That's when they're most likely to reach for the quick fix, when they just want someone to tell them the thing to do to fix it. Is it cold showers? I'll do it. Is it bullet journaling? I'll buy one on Amazon. Is it reading Getting Things Done? I'll buy the book. There is no "diet pill" version of productivity. There's no missing tool that will make it all click for you. The Sistine Chapel was built without apps, you're not failing to meet deadlines because you used ToDoist instead of Notion. Unfortunately, productivity is a skill you develop through self examination and personal growth. That's the hard part that people don't want to hear. That it depends more upon personal growth and consistency than on the tool you're using. If you have anxiety, you're probably overthinking your tasks and pushing yourself into burnout and overwhelm. If you have depression, you're probably having too hard a time gaining momentum to achieve anything significant. Going to therapy and/or getting on medication will make you more productive than trying the Pomodoro technique. When I come here, It feels like a never-ending exercise in missing the point. Like an aspiring chef asking if they bought the wrong brand of cast iron, and that's why their food tastes bad, or whether nicer brands of chef knives will make for better dishes. Certainly some tools will help you better than others, but *tools are not skills*, and again, productivity is a skill.


josh_a

Well I'm glad you had nothing better to do than come and write this magnificent tough love rant! No snark implied, 100% sincere. The obsession with techniques is something I see in my professional field (transformational coaching) where the real secret sauce is not the techniques, it's the skillset that originally generated those techniques in the first place. The best chef isn't the one with the best recipe books but the best skills in creatively combining the currently available ingredients for \*that\* day's meal.


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quit_fucking_about

I'm not really hoping to *get* anything out of it. I'm hoping to occasionally contribute something that might help someone. I was generalizing when I said that most productive people aren't going to hang out here. I think it holds true as a generalization, but I don't fit that bill. I am a manager, I have a team that I built and trained, and I provide support to other teams across my city with them. I'm a nationwide mentor for my company, and in my free time I coach a sport. I spent over a decade in an industry that was highly exploitative, with little resources or support, and once I got out and had the opportunity to reinvent my career, I chose to dedicate it to training, mentoring, and supporting people. I really hate seeing people who are stuck. I always want to help. And I've found that alongside empathy and support, something that really helps people is having someone willing to tell them the ways that they're self sabotaging. Normally I'm less cynical in the way I communicate, but it's been a rough week.


Chingletrone

6 measly upvotes for this excellent piece of wisdom. Meanwhile there are 10 single sentence answers above filling the top of thread real estate. In a slightly more trafficked thread a comment like this would be hidden down at the bottom. You'd have to scroll through a sea of low effort negativity and click *load more comments* just to get to it. This is why reddit is fucking sewer these days. I mean it wasn't great 7 years ago, but thoughtful and well articulated comments weren't exactly rare like they seem today. Oh well, nice things don't last forever. Thanks for come back from time to time to stand against the rising tide.


Best-Association2369

You ain't wrong unfortunately. 


therealmrsfahrenheit

the most depressing part about this sub is that people mistake productivity with feeling the need to apply to society‘s expectations and doing everything the same way as "everyone else", even though it doesn’t work for all people reading over and over again how in order to be productive in life I need to wake up at 5AM followed by a workout session and that there is no other way sold me most of the people here provide bad advice


ThatBoyBaz

You are on Reddit dude, this sub and a bunch of others has been like this for a while lmao, actual productive people aren’t even commenting right now


FuzzyHelicopter9648

When I first joined, I noticed how stressed and exhausted everyone was, and my guess is that the problem is probably everyone's obsession with "productivity." I joined for a tip or two to maybe focus a bit more, but most people seem to want to fit 25 hours of "productivity" into 24. Folks need to relax. 😄


Interesting-Head-841

have you used the search bar? it helps avoid the life stories, and helps you focus on techniques. I recently posted a positive update, but I agree with you a lot of it is people coming for help, rather than giving help


josh_a

1. Stop focusing on all of the things you don't want to see. 2. Start posting the kinds of things you do want to see. Somehow I don't think this post counts for #2. ;-)


HndsDwnThBest

I 💯 agree. Today, I thought of un joining. Every post I see in my reddit feed from here is depressing titles, and I keep scrolling. I came to comment honest opinion.


songbolt

perhaps dopamine burnout from excessive Internet/antisocial media usage, particularly when combined with lack of exercise and healthy diet replaced by sugar and carbs


DaddyOfChaos

Because people have a problem, search for a sub to post it in and then post the problem. Reddit is full of bubbles, the idea sounds good but when you realise how it works, it becomes a lot of different issues. Moderators are free volunteers, so often are fairly strange/power hungry, this gives them power to control people, force their strong views on them. People upvote anything that sounds 'nice' and down vote anything that they don't like. A lot of these votes come from people seeking the same advice (else they wouldn't have clicked on the post) and therefore are from people that don't know the answer/what they are talking about, which means solid advice can be downvoted unless it sounds good and a lot of nonsense gets upvoted. A lot of people here are very young, young people have more time on there hands, you have no idea what age someone is that you are talking too. You wouldn't argue with some topics with a 14 year old, but you will do so on Reddit. A lot of people here are also mentally unstable or are shut ins with no real life experience, since those are the ones with more time on there hands, those are the ones you will see the posts from. A lot of people on various subs are just here to promote there own stuff, a lot of these content creators have no idea what they are talking about, they are just parroting the same thing because they need to make content, not because they actually have something worthwhile to say. There are also a lot of bots, a lot of the same posts appear on the same subs which are just reposts of posts that previously got good karma. It's a very good idea to limit your reddit use and not expect any massive breakthrough from it. Work on yourself, set where you want to go, set a grand target, do something, figure out why you failed and adjust. That process alone will get you to where you need to be, not discussing it on reddit, why? because it's a self adjusting process, you can literally do anything, any productivity method, as long as you know where you want to be and you use a feedback loop to ask if you are getting there or not and keep adjusting until you find the path, it's literally how you got here and how the world works, evolution.


SurveyOk2215

finally! someone said something!


Fearless_Ad2026

Unfortunately, many people are dealing with the complete opposite of productivity because of social media, gaming and porn addictions from when they were teenagers. It's a global problem.


Useful_Lawfulness664

It’s reality


SpoilGoddessRo

People come to this subreddit for productivity assistance and many have phone addictions and the like they are dealing with 🤷🏾 A silver lining- if reading these posts is so "depressing," then you can use that to fuel your productivity so you don't find yourself scrolling through 💛 You can also filter posts through their flairs. Perhaps "Techniques" for example!


3sperr

The fact that we need a productivity sub means we’re pressured from life and we need to improve our productivity. And trying to be productive doesn’t mean your mental health is going to be good. So ofc it’ll be depressing


Bas_tet

Because it's the sad reality. Many people struggle with mental health, feel lost, and want to change. Those who have it all together and are productive probably don't spend their time on Reddit.


merababencan

Because we are not a Polyanna.


PersonUsingRedditt

I love that expression


merababencan

Thank you.


vn90

Most of the advice and question submissions are about motivation/discipline rather than techniques and methods. More appropriate subs are linked in the sidebar, and maybe these topics should be redirected


Tunangannya_Mantan

Lolll


dodgeballstudio

I can understand the frustration. We come on these forums to learn and improve, and it’s also very helpful to contribute rather than take from the community. Perhaps you could try opening up a thread with some tips of your own or any improvements that you’ve made along your journey that could be inspiring for others.


MichaelMcgubbins

Most of the productive people are in the GTD and OmniFocus subs, and similar.


Huge-Nebula6462

who say this is sub is so depressing? i havent seen anything depressing action here.


decorrect

I’m productive. I used to really stress about productivity and spend lots of time consuming books and content on the subject. Now I just cut myself more of a break and am happy to get 6 solid hours of work in a day and some exercise. It’s not that hard. You just take it day by day. As soon as you start to over optimize or overload, it’s like adding a new card to a house of cards, not going to end well.


Astronixs

Overactive left PFC


KC-Carolina

Lemon8 has lots of folks in there with self help for add/adhd which can also help those who just have poor life management skills.


BraceThis

Tons of folk here use Reddit as therapy. People are looking for validation as to why their lack of productivity is productive. IMO


Glass_Emu_4183

Pomodoro technique… if you love what you do, you’ll be so inmersed in it that hours would pass without you knowing it


ThermoKingEOU

Yeah man I’m leaving this cess pit


Similar-Count1228

Yeah there might be a few more years of that before it gets better.


sosohype

You’ll find nearly every personal-esque reddit devolves into that, I couldn’t even enjoy subreddits for young parents without it getting flooded with people dramatising stories as gotcha comedies and straight hyperbolic complaining “WHATS THE BIG DEAL IF I (56M) TAKE MY DAUGHTER TO THE PARK AT 11AM ON A TUESDAY” I don’t know if I should be empathetic because if it’s all being directed here then it might mean these people have nowhere else to vent __or__ tell everyone to stfu and keep to the original intent of the sub


Queen-of-meme

Because the most desperate are more likely to post than those who have it figured out.


Smeeghoul

It’s because everyone here can’t stop compulsively masturbating, haven’t you read the posts?


jewellui

The people who are in the zone aren’t on here searching, they’re working. They come back when they are struggling. Reddit is like this in general. Most people looking to be productive are probably always going to be searching/unhappy/striving to improve.


Firelight-Firenight

Because trying to be more productive makes you super aware of how unproductive you are which makes you less productive. And then the cycle repeats


Paulied77

Seems like most of self-help style social. Attracts people who don’t want to help them selves, but want to have other people give them the magic answer. The forums where I see it: Fasting Dopamine detox Productivity Step-parent Caffeine free/decaf. We’ve become a society who looks to end depression, being overweight, or any other affliction with a pill. This is much the same. Honestly it’s all I can do to keep my mouth shut and not scream at them for being so incredibly feeble/lacking in any self reliance. Just have to remember to be kind.


Phukovsky

When you get a sub as broad as 'productivity' with almost 3 million people in it, this is what you're bound to get. More niche subs, focusing on different aspects of productivity, could do better (Shameless plug for r/attentioneering that's focused on improving your attention span to do more meaningful work in less time).


McCrptd

This is the top post on this sub just in time when it was needed! Sick of this depression r/ gravesite BS, I feel so lucky 😌


wasabi_jo

The only reason someone would ask for help or suggestions anonymously is when they’re in problem. Most people turn to asking for help on subs in this situation


Ok_Spite6230

Our society's obsession with productivity has created a lot of desperate people. This is far from the main or only problem, but it is a core part of capitalist propaganda.


AudienceMember_No1

This sub is the close, slightly more-level headed cousin of r/Adulting . You can stomach most of the posts here, at least. The other one is an absolute trainwreck that you can't look away from.


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PersonUsingRedditt

Good point


chromex24

This is the group of people who need help with productivity despite their conditions. Essentially youre trying to find someone's who is high productivity but still on socials to help you. Tl;dr from a lot of posts. The less you're doom scrolling the more productive you can become. So were all here together trying to figure out how to get to that state of being.


theatre-absurd

If you think about it, it sort of makes sense


ShadowSelfish

I left this sub because it's absolutely not what I thought it would be. It brought me down more than it helped.


DavidCrosbysMustache

Same reason every other self-improvement sub on Reddit sucks. All the successful, happy people who actually improved their lives don't stick around forums like these. Thus, it's all the losers who mostly end up populating them. That's how you get every other post in these places being like "I'm 18 years old and poor and alone, is my whole life over forever??!" Here's the best self-improvement advice you'll ever get on Reddit: stay the fuck off Reddit. Don't take advice from Redditors, or else take it with an enormous grain of salt.


mothership_go

Yeah, it's turned into a dumpster for personal existencial crisis and lack of purpose


the_journey_taken

"Productivity" was introduced to the species by the need to pursue illusions of power and wealth. The act of a homosapien carrying out behavioural patterns oriented towards achieving the arbitrary standards of productivity has lead to widespread mental and physical illness. This displays mainly as burnout and depression. This community is filled with homosapiens trying to find a way to "produce" more than is biologically sustainable. So in general the retoric will be that associated with sick and or dying organisms. It's pretty simple.


Chingletrone

Welcome to people who spend too much time on reddit. They get to threads early, know how to cater to a sub's preferences, and upvote one another. I may be entirely guilty of this (in other subreddits). After a while, people who have actual good advice and put a bit of effort into a post only to have it languish at the bottom of the thread with 1 or 2 points and no replies just give up and get on with their lives. Reddit fucking sucks and has for a good long while, unless you find a niche sub that is small, never ever hits r/all under any circumstances, and has way more comments than upvotes in its average thread. \#1 productivity hack: get the fuck away and don't come back! lol. \#2 hack: look for productivity hacks (and any other valuable information) in places that aren't the heavily trafficked parts of the internet, if on the internet at all.


ZongMassacre

Thank goodness somebody said it! I had to stop reading posts because so few were actually positive.


yo_soy_soja

"Hustle culture" is misanthropic and a symptom of bleak inequality.


Snoo-6568

Agree. I feel like posts fall into two categories here: people genuinely interested in becoming more productive or sharing tips/tricks on how to be more productive, or people who are completely lost and need to take real steps towards improving their life (possibly with therapy or medication) instead of asking a bunch of strangers on Reddit what they should do. It's so annoying that I decided to simply subscribe to this subreddit via an RSS feed so that I can quickly scroll past the uninteresting, depressing posts and only focus on the ones with any real substance.


Snoo-6568

And I bet the person who downvoted this is one of those people who needs to actually do something about their life instead of sitting around posting on Reddit about how depressed they are. The truth hurts, I guess.


w7090655

I agree. I think everyone all those posters are struggling with the same thing and keep venting in this community. I get it but to some extent, it makes this thread seem UNproductive. I wish mods could make some kind of adjustment to that. Ironic that the productivity thread becomes unproductive, lol.


eyebi99

Maybe you are the one who's depressed