3 Ways On How To Avoid “Over-Productivity” Consumerism
Planners. Apps. Stationery. Calendars. Note-taking systems. Sponsored brands.
These are all things that grow in the sphere of online productivity culture. Looking at reels on YouTube or Facebook, I’ll find videos of people planning their bullet journals, cleaning out their desks, showcasing their perfect morning routine, or giving me the best “how-to” guide on actually making 2025 my year.
I find so much content about being a more productive person. There are 294 million search results for “productivity culture online” on Google, which is more than “paris olympics 2024,” “chickenpox,” or “chili recipes.” Given that there are a ton of ways to make chili, that’s saying something. Meanwhile, garnering more results than all three of those searches combined is the word “productivity,” with 798 million.
While productivity itself is nothing new, the consumerism of it is growing exponentially. The planner industry is consistently worth billions of dollars. According to Cognitive Market Research, the amount spent on productivity apps in 2024 reached $9.6 billion and is expected to grow by 9% annually between now and 2031.
It’s a market. It’s not just about making sure you get stuff done. It’s about selling you stuff. How?
Productivity content creators sell you on a growing number of bullet journal templates every year. People build both digital and manual systems for themselves. Planners come in all sorts of styles. It drains your time and your wallet.
So, let’s break you out of the over-productive, over-consuming lifestyle of simply getting things done.
1. Don’t just buy less stuff. Buy the RIGHT stuff.
I can’t tell you how many planners I’ve bought in my life that ended up going to waste. It wasn’t for a lack of motivation on my part. The planners simply weren’t built for the way that I make sure things get done.
This was a learning curve, but it was exacerbated by productivity culture’s selling point of “you need this, you need this, and you also need this…” It goes on.
Only buy what you really need to be productive. Any time you watch a planner setup or a “perfect lifestyle” video, or come across a new layout on Pinterest to fill up your bullet journal faster (and thus making you buy more journals over the course of the year), you’re being exposed to a wide variety of tools and kits to have. This content is selling you things.
“Watch me set up my Hobonichi Techo Cousin planner for 2025!” It looks gorgeous, doesn’t it? Yes. That video is also showing you at least $100 worth of merchandise to tickle your dopamine receptors.
“Get ready with me for my perfect morning!” We’re all suckers for perfect-life influencers, aren’t we? Well, is she really filming herself getting up at 4 in the morning, making that gorgeous iced coffee, and going through her 5-product skincare routine because she wants you to be inspired? Perhaps partly. But I’ll bet that her skincare products are a sponsor.
Realize that productivity culture is a lifestyle that is completely sold to us. We need to have the most stuff, and the best stuff, to be a productivity machine.
Think about it: do you need five different journals for the year 2025? The reading journal, the commonplace journal, the bullet journal…so on and so forth? Do you need to subscribe to Notion, Readwise, Instapaper, and Sunsama — just for your personal productivity life?
Sit with yourself and give your mind clarity. There are great tools out there, and our individual needs vary. Maybe you do work better with the Hobonichi Techo Cousin planner over every other planner out there — and you also benefit from using a paper calendar over a free digital one.
It’s not about reducing your productivity system to a 90-cent composition notebook and a pencil if your brain requires more than that. Do what works for you. But no more.
2. Use tools to create ACTIONABLE systems.
Let’s go back to the idea of waste. When I look at these beautiful planner setup videos, I’m inspired. Who wouldn’t want the coolest looking journal ever? We’re the generation who grew up with Lisa Frank and Spider-Man notebooks, after all.
Putting pen to paper, however, and you find that your productivity tool is taking you hours to actually make Instagram-worthy. I’m all for creativity outlets, and journals are certainly outlets for art. But what is the bottom line of what you’re trying to do?
Productivity systems need to be actionable. That’s it. They need to be simplified, organized, and motivational. Your system needs to accommodate for both your macro and micro needs.
But this comes with necessary self-reflection. What is a system that actually makes you do the thing?
Is it helping you to spend time in your day recording your water intake, your general mood, and the weather? Or did you only include those templates in your journal because it felt like the thing you’re just supposed to have? If it helps your mental health, then great — keep the templates. They’re ACTIONABLE for you. But otherwise, I guarantee you that five years from now, you won’t need to know that on March 25 you drank 7 glasses of water and had a yellow-orange mid-face mood.
How many calendars do you have, too? When something comes up, do you put an event in a paper planner, a paper calendar, your Google calendar, and your Notion? Do you need to have that many places to put “DENTIST APPOINTMENT 10:30 AM” on June 4? Seems pretty time-consuming.
And time-blocking. Do you need to track and plan every moment of your day? Maybe you do — if so, keep at it. But with that, are you using the best tool for that? Do you save yourself time, brain-power and money by setting things up on Google Calendar, or do you work better by making a daily template out of scratch in a fifty-cent notebook? What works for you?
Know what you need to get stuff done.
3. Focus on METHODS and not MATERIALS.
Finally, the most important tip tying everything together. Now that you’re aware that you’re mainly being sold on a productivity lifestyle, you can choose your materials and your setup better. You are perfectly fine doing the bare-bones of what really works for you. No $50 planner needed, no $30 green drink powder, no monthly app subscription bill of $25.
Still make your planner super cute if that’s something that makes you happy, but don’t feel obligated to do it. You should feel drawn to your planner, but don’t make it a chore that you have to do.
My method is not exactly paper conservation-friendly, but it’s leagues helpful for me than any simple daily rectangle planner out there. I fold a page in my journal in half and create two columns. In the left column, I write down a to-do list. In the right column, I fill out what I actually did as the day goes on. Maybe I schedule the day a little more thoroughly before actually doing the thing, but it’s a system that I engage with and gets me to actually do something. That’s daily stuff.
For more long-term planning, I have a paper monthly planner — no daily entries. It gives me a written birds-eye view of everything.
For anything that comes up while I’m away from my paper materials, I use the free Apple Reminders app religiously — which syncs up to Apple Calendar. Yes. I have a paper and digital calendar. But this is fine, because these two calendars serve individual purposes — sit-down access and on-the-go access — and I don’t use up more time to maintain these calendars.
But notice how I’m letting tools support my overall method. I do not get a daily pre-template planner because that is not what works for me. However, I don’t rely entirely on the free digital stuff because only using those materials does not work for me. As much as I like the Reminders and Calendar app, there are holes in its design and usability that I need to accommodate for to actually get things done. I need the pen-and-paper connection. I need the side-by-side layout.
And know that this is just my system right now. This isn’t something I have to be loyal to for the rest of my life. Heck, my system could change this year.
However, I can thank this system — which cost all of $10 for me ($50 if I want to splurge on the Leuchtturm and have a little fun) — to get me to do something like writing this Medium article up before I head to trivia with my friends. I’m also putting creativity in my journal. I don’t forego that. With a pack of markers that I’ve had for years, I give my daily journal entries some visual razzle-dazzle — but again, this is done to elevate my experience, not complete it.
We need ways to track our lives. We need actionable methods. We need materials.
But in that same mindset, remember what’s truly necessary in your productivity system. There is no checklist on how to be a proper productive person. There’s no right or wrong way to plan or live your life.
There’s productivity, and there’s being obsessed with productivity. Influencers, businesses, and media platforms sell you on products that you’re supposed to feel are necessary. They aren’t. Be conscious of that.
And more importantly…go get it done.
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