Productivity Blogs And Why They Suck
I subscribe to websites such as Digg and Reddit to keep up with what’s interesting on the internet. Most of the time I’m only interested in 20% of the “popular posts” and it’s a miracle I even stumble upon them because the really good posts are usually hidden between all of the other crap. In the past two months or so I’ve noticed a trend: productivity blogs and their wisdom. Blogs that teach you how to organizing ideas, how to finance, how to stop procrastinating, etc. I used to click on these posts all the time, because who doesn’t want to learn tips on how to be more productive? Needless to say, I wasted a lot of precious time.
While browsing I discovered two major trends in these “productivity” websites:
They Always Have A Catchy Title
And by catchy I actually mean ridiculous. Take a few of these for example (actual titles in the past month or so found in various blogs):
“5 ways to make money without selling your body”
“The answers to life is in this post”
“How to change your life in 60 seconds”
“Lower Your Standards to Free Up Time and Gain Balance”
What a way to lure potential readers! Who doesn’t want to learn “5 Ways To Make Money Without Selling Your Body”? Since we all resort to prostitution to stay afloat and all. No more need for random blowjobs behind a dumpster! Productivity Genius has not one, not two, but FIVE solutions for us! Wanna know what they are? Good, because I do too:
1. Set up a course. (Insert text here about setting up an online internet course about the Internet.)
2. Teach your skills. (No mention of Fellatio 101 in here, I’m confused.)
3. Write for money. (He gives an example of writing 15 articles for $100, the going rate at the moment for an hour long lap dance. Hmm, which would you rather do: dance for an hour or write for three?)
4. Cold calling. (Become an annoying telemarketer! Ey, don’t look at me like that, at least you’d have your “dignity”.)
5. Become an estate agent. (Right, right. Will do.)
These titles are easy to ignore when I’m browsing, so I don’t mind them because I can easily avoid them. I’m not interested in learning “5 Ways To Make Money Without Selling Your Body” since prostitution works just fine for me (and you too). However, some people do get lured in, and that brings me to the next point.
The “Advice” Is Nothing More Than Common Sense
Take this one article: “Why is it so Hard to Change?” Sounds like a question we want answered, right? Who doesn’t want to change their horrible habits? Super Wise Blogger has this answer for us:
1. Identify the thing you want to change about yourself
2. Decide to change it
3. Garner help and information from other people who have successfully made the same change
4. Build and execute a plan of action using this information and the help of others
5. If you fail, go back to step #3, tweak your plan, and repeat until you produce the desired results.
Oh, okay. So I just find what’s wrong, decide to change it (very important step), ask people how they did it, and then build and execute a plan of action. So easy, in fact, that I’m just going to do it later. And by later I mean never, because I know it’s not that easy, it’s not that simple, and gaspshocknoway, it takes a lot more than just “building and executing” a plan.
Here’s another insightful article: “A Simple Way to Improve Your Life Everyday”. I want to improve my life, of course (who doesn’t?). According to this article, it’s actually quite easy:
To put this concept into practice, what I do is ensuring that I do something to improve each facet everyday. Here is how I do it:
1. Decide on something to do daily in each facet
2. Record your performance
3. Adjust accordingly
Why thank you, Captain Obvious. No really. If you hadn’t told me to “decide on something to do” (this is first step is apparently very popular when it comes to productivity) I probably would have never thought of it.
It’s so easy to write “Adjust accordingly” and “Repeat until it works out for you,” but sometimes, that takes time. Time people don’t have because they’re off prostituting themselves. You understand.
Finally, I’d like to point out that it’s not only the advice that is common sense, but the title itself should give you a hint that it’s pointless to read on. For example:
“How to Not Screw Up Your New Job”
“33 Tips to Become a Well Liked Person”
“How to Actually Execute Your To-Do List: (or, Why Writing It Down Doesn’t Actually Get It Done)”
“Why You Should Write Things Down”
“How to Make True Friends”
“How to Accept Criticism”
I don’t know about you, but I know “How to Not Screw Up Your New Job.” It’s common sense: Show up for work and then do my work. I also know that “Writing It Down Doesn’t Actually Get It Done” because a to-do list is a list to do things. I know, it was a shocker for me too.
“33 Tips to Become a Well Liked Person” just tickles me because how short of an article would that be? There are only two rules, and I’ll be nice enough to share them with you: 1) Don’t be an asshole, and 2) Don’t Forget the First Rule. Simple, right? Maybe I should start my own productivity blog…
The thing that gets me about these blogs is that they’re incredibly popular (I’m talking about 50,000 readers subscribed), and bloggers live off of these articles because of the numerous ads plastered all over their websites. Granted, some of their articles are in-depth and educational, and yes, in the past I’ve learned a lot, but I can’t help but think: are people this dense? Do they really need help on “How To Make True Friends”? Do people not know how to accept criticsm and how to be a well liked person? I’m hoping they’re a lot smarter than that but every time these articles get Digg’ed by hundreds of people, I just can’t help but wonder.
P.S. If you want the links to the actual articles, I have them. Send me an e-mail: spicmachine[@]gmail.com.
This is not limited to productivity websites. The code I give out: nothing more than common sense. The security advice: nothing more than common sense. The marvellous insights of the php ninja? Nothing more than common sense.
Unfortunately, except for me and other bloggers who depend on it, most people are incapable of thinking for themselves. Some are capable of thinking for themselves but are too lazy to do it, or too lazy to do enough research to get to the stage of needing the common sense.
The amusing (ironic?) thing of course is that my post for tomorrow (pre-drafted today) is about productivity ;)