Are ‘Productivity’ Tools Actually Killing Your Productivity?
Productivity tools promise to make life easier. They claim they’ll streamline your work, boost your focus, and help you get more done in less time. But if you’ve ever felt more overwhelmed using these tools than before you had them, you’re not alone.
Most so-called “productivity” apps actually destroy your efficiency. Instead of helping, they flood you with notifications, force you to spend time updating tasks instead of doing them, and clutter your workflow with more complexity than you actually need.
Sound familiar? You start using a tool, spend weeks setting it up, only to abandon it because it’s just another thing to manage.
Here’s the truth: The wrong productivity tools don’t save time—they steal it.
Let’s break down exactly how these tools kill your productivity, and—more importantly—how to fix it using Notion.
Do Productivity Tools Actually Work? (A Quick Test)
Before we dive in, let’s do a quick reality check. If you’re currently using a project management or productivity tool, ask yourself these questions:
Do I feel relaxed at the end of my workday?
Am I actually completing what I planned to do each day?
Do I look forward to planning my days, or does it feel like a chore?
Am I ending my workdays on time?
Do I feel fulfilled with my progress?
If you answered “no” to most (or all) of these, your productivity tool isn’t helping you—it’s just adding to the chaos.
How Productivity Tools Actually Make You Less Productive (And How to Fix It in Notion)
Most traditional productivity apps fail for one (or more) of these four reasons:
1. They Overload You With Unnecessary Information
Ever open your productivity app to check today’s tasks—only to get distracted by overdue items, upcoming deadlines, and a dozen other things that aren’t urgent?
This is the productivity paradox: Instead of helping you focus, these tools shove everything in your face, making it impossible to concentrate on what actually matters.
📉 The problem: Your brain gets overwhelmed by information that isn’t relevant right now, creating unnecessary stress and decision fatigue. According to a study by UC-San Diego, the average American consumes about 34 GB of data and information everyday (here’s the study). Our brains can process as much as 74GB of data a day at a rate estimated to be about 120 bits per second.
✅ The Notion Fix: Part of what I love about Notion is the ability to “nest” and “filter” pages. Basically, what I mean is that YES, you can have dashboards that have ALL of the information on them, but you can also filter down what information is showing on any given page. This could be about HOW you lay out your pages, but it can also just be through using the built in filters in EVERY database view.
2. They Become “Yet Another App” to Check
We’re already drowning in tools. Between email, Slack, Google Calendar, Trello, Asana, ClickUp, and whatever new app your team just adopted—you’re spending more time switching between tools than actually working.
📉 The problem: The more tools you use, the harder it is to track what actually needs to get done. Instead of streamlining work, you’re managing productivity apps instead of executing. The 45% of workers say context-switching while hopping back and forth between digital tools is making them less productive and that workers will switch between upwards of 13 apps 30 times per day on average. (Qatalog & Cornell University Study, 2021)
✅ The Notion Fix: If you set-up Notion right, it becomes THE app you check. Don’t want to ping pong over the Google Calendar? The addition of Notion Calendar made it so you can have your calendar and appointments RIGHT on your Home page in Notion. Don’t want to communicate in Slack? Use Notions comment feature and/or (for entrepreneurs) build out Client Portals RIGHT in Notion. Trello? Notion does Kanban boards. Asana? Notion does task and project management, allows you to share with guests or members of your team. ClickUp? Yup—it does eveyrthing that ClickUp (but better—in my opinion).
3. They Don’t Actually Help With Time Management
Let’s be real—most task management tools are just fancy to-do lists. You can write down tasks, check them off, and maybe even set reminders.
But are they actually helping you manage your time? Probably not. Most productivity apps fail because they don’t help you answer the most important question of all: 👉 How much time do I actually have, and how much can I realistically get done?
📉 The problem: Listing tasks isn’t the same as executing them. Most tools don’t help you allocate time realistically—which is why you constantly overload yourself.
✅ The Notion Fix: Honestly, Notion doesn’t really fix this. It is up to YOU to manage your time. No productivity app can do it for you! But what I believe Notion CAN do is it can make it easier. Notion can allow you to time block your WHOLE day in the Notion Calendar which links tasks from your databases into your Calendar itself so you can legit schedule them into the day where they fit. Gotta love that!
4. They Encourage Burnout By Creating an Unrealistic Workload
If your productivity tool leaves you feeling like you’re never doing enough, it’s not a productivity tool—it’s a burnout machine.
📉 The problem: Traditional productivity apps push the idea that more is better. You keep adding tasks, never questioning if your workload is sustainable—until you hit a wall. A Deloitte survey found that 77% of respondents say they have experienced employee burnout at their current job. (Deloitte’s Workplace Burnout Survey)
✅ The Notion Fix: Honestly, Notion can’t fix this. It can’t make you work less and it MIGHT entice you to work more, but honestly? This isn’t up to Notion to fix…
Productivity Tools Won’t Save You If You Don’t Have the Right Skills
If you’re struggling with time management, drowning in unrealistic workloads, or constantly playing catch-up, switching apps won’t magically solve the problem. Why? Because productivity is a skill, not just a set of tools.
As Maura Thomas explains in Until You Have Productivity Skills, Productivity Tools Are Useless (Harvard Business Review), people often expect software to be the solution, when in reality, they haven’t developed a system for managing their work in the first place.
Think of it like golf: you can buy the best clubs in the world, but if you don’t know how to swing, they won’t make you a pro. The same applies to productivity. If you don’t have a workflow that works for you OR at the very least the self-awareness to refine your workflows, schedules, and more, the best tools in the world won’t help.
👉 So before you switch productivity apps (again), ask yourself: Do I actually have a system that makes my work manageable? Or am I just hoping a tool will fix the problem?
So… Do You Even Need a Productivity Tool?
If a pen and paper could do the job just as well (or better), then you don’t need a “productivity tool.” You need a system—one that actually works for YOU.
The problem isn’t productivity apps. It’s using tools that weren’t designed for how you work. And honestly, that is WHY Notion is my favorite system.
If a part of Asana’s set-up is overly complicated for you, you can’t set-up your system to work that way.
If the ClickUp start page overwhelms you every time you look at it (it’s me—hi 👋🏻), you can’t change that.
But in Notion you can. If having something in one of your views is hindering your productivity, you remove it. If you don’t like your start page and it’s causing more harm then good, you make another page your start page or create a new one altogether. Notion can be set-up exactly how you need it and I think that is where people go wrong with it…
They’re not willing to give it the time to make it work, but if you do, you won’t be disappointed.
👉 New to Notion? Start here: What Is Notion & Why It’s the Best Productivity App for Entrepreneurs
👉 Curious how it compares to other apps? Read this: Every Productivity App I’ve Tried—What Worked & What Didn’t
Build a System That Works FOR You, Not Against You
🚀 Most productivity tools aren’t actually making you productive. If you feel overwhelmed, scattered, or burned out, it’s time to rethink your approach.
🚀 If a tool makes your life harder, it’s not a productivity tool—it’s a distraction. Productivity should feel light, clear, and streamlined.
🚀 You don’t need another app—you need a better system. Notion allows you to custom-build a workflow that fits your brain and business.
Ready to ditch the chaos and build a real system that works?
👉 Join Burnout-Proof Business and learn how to use Notion to structure your work, free up your time, and actually get sh*t done—without burning out.
