Summary

Productivity advice may not work for everyone due to unique life circumstances, but individuals can adapt and personalize advice to suit their own lives and celebrate their personal growth.

Abstract

The article discusses the challenges people face in applying productivity advice from popular influencers due to their unique life circumstances. The author emphasizes that everyone's life, work, commute time, spouse, and financial, mental, emotional, and physical bandwidths are different, making it difficult to implement generic advice. However, the author encourages readers to adapt productivity advice to their specific situations and celebrate their personal growth instead of comparing themselves to others. The article also highlights the importance of being gracious to oneself and avoiding the trap of feeling inadequate due to social media comparisons.

Opinions

Productivity advice from influencers may not work for everyone due to unique life circumstances.
People should adapt productivity advice to suit their specific situations instead of feeling discouraged.
Comparing oneself to others on social media can lead to feelings of inadequacy.
Celebrating personal growth and being gracious to oneself is important in achieving productivity.
The author's personal experience demonstrates the benefits of adapting productivity advice to one's unique circumstances.
The author emphasizes the importance of focusing on personal growth and competing only with oneself.
The author suggests that people should celebrate their wins, no matter how small, as long as they are putting in the work and learning.

Why the Goal-Setting Advice from Your Favorite Productivity Influencer Is NOT Working for You.

Hint: It’s not because the advice is bad.

We’re awash in productivity advice.

Books. YouTube videos. Podcasts. Blog posts.

Productivity for athletes. For parents. For writers.

And the advice is actually getting better by the day with the creators of these types of content sometimes citing rigorous academic literature to back up their claims.

But if you’re absolutely honest with yourself, then you may have noticed that a lot of that productivity doesn’t always work for you.

Why is that?

The answer is simple:

We all have different lives and circumstances.

Nobody has the exact same life you do.

They don’t have the exact same work-life. They don’t have the same commute time. They don’t have the same spouse. Your financial, mental, emotional, and physical bandwidths are likely to be different from millions of other people.

Nobody has the exact same life as you do.

There may be similarities, but there are also differences, big and small.

I am a married African immigrant in the US who has a child with some special needs. I work a 9–5 job and commute half an hour one way to work. I also have responsibilities in my church. I write fiction and I’m constantly using my free time to read books, listen to podcasts and consume course content that could elevate my life.

There are many women like me. But they still don’t have the same life as me.

Now, before you assume I’m whining and about to use my life as an excuse, hold on a second!

That’s not what I’m saying.

All I am saying is this: a piece of productivity advice may not work for you because of your specific life and circumstances. And that is okay!

Instead of bemoaning my life circumstances, here’s what I’ve learned.

Accept that your life is different…but don’t make this an excuse

Yes, we have different sets of circumstances, opportunities, family lives, and finances.

But this is not an excuse not to be productive or not to execute your goals.

Instead, take the advice you’ve read about and adapt it to suit your lifestyle.

For instance, when I first had my son a little over nine years ago, I had just learned about blogging and wanted to have a go at it. I couldn’t implement a lot of the advice that was being thrown at me on how to build a successful blog because my life was different. But I did learn that the key to getting the show on the road was to:

write content and,
market that content

And so that’s what I did.

With whatever free time I found.

It wasn’t perfect.

But over the course of the lifetime of that blog, it received over a half million visits.

Combined, I earned thousands of dollars in affiliate income, ad revenue, course, and eBook sales. This blog was also the basis upon which I built my freelance writing business which I ran full-time for almost two years.

I become a productive blogger in my own way. I adapted what I learned to my lifestyle and circumstance at the time. And while I didn’t see the massive results other bloggers often report, I did benefit immensely from fitting the advice to suit my life.

Be gracious to yourself

Social media can make you feel like you’re behind all the time.

“I wrote 100 articles in 30 days. Here’s how I did it.”

“I earned $1,035,486.55 in 2022. Here’s how.”

“The step-by-step guide to how I lost 50lbs in 3 months.”

If you’re unable to replicate these results after consuming this content, it can feel like everyone in the universe is getting ahead but you.

This is not true.

Instead of 100 articles in 30 days, did you write 10 articles?

Instead of $1MM did you make $50,000?

You may not have lost weight yet, but have you been consistent with your daily regimen of walking two miles every day for the last month?

Yes?

Then you’re doing great and you should give yourself grace.

Celebrate your wins

Become a boss at celebrating your wins because you’re in competition with nobody but yourself.

Comparing your success with someone you admire from afar, and whose life you know nothing about, is a dangerous practice that can lead you into a dark hole of depression.

Good for them for hitting those enviable milestones!

But you?

As long as you’re putting in the work, learning and innovating in your own way, you should absolutely celebrate your personal growth on being better than you were yesterday.