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7 Productivity Tips That Sound Wrong (But Actually Work)

Sylwia Laskowska on August 18, 2026

Struggling with burnout? Procrastination? Reaching your goals? Let me share a few methods that help me actually get things done in the long run. An...
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varshithvhegde profile image
Varshith V Hegde

@sylwia-lask great read!!
I would totally agree on not working on weekends . I learned this in a hard way. Start of my career i used to work all weekends and stopped enjoying myself and my life . But i realised i am not going anywhere with this . I created some hobbies , travelling , gaming so i will just free of work and not think abt it at all .

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sylwia-lask profile image
Sylwia Laskowska

Thanks, Varshith! And exactly! 😄 I even like to let myself get bored sometimes. That's usually when I suddenly start coming up with ideas for a trip, going somewhere, getting out of the house, whatever.

And I can really relate to the “stopped enjoying myself and my life” part. You'd think that at least all that extra work would make you more productive and get things done faster... but somehow it doesn't 😂

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varshithvhegde profile image
Varshith V Hegde

true it will never be less work ....
yeah i guess getting bored is also a privilege .
I mostly get my ideas when I am abt to sleep 😂...

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adamthedeveloper profile image
Adam - The Developer ✨ • Edited

follow mi!!!!! i am stealing this

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sylwia-lask profile image
Sylwia Laskowska

Now you've got me curious! 😂 Can't wait!

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adamthedeveloper profile image
Adam - The Developer ✨

no i mean, you wrote " mi " instead of " me ", is that on purpose? 😭

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sylwia-lask profile image
Sylwia Laskowska

hahahaha now I see it! It's a typo, that's how you will type "me" in polish 😅🤣🤭

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adamthedeveloper profile image
Adam - The Developer ✨ • Edited

yah, im stealing that. I'm in the process of writing my next article and i'm gonna hide a " mi " in there 🤭

and i learn something new today too

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sylwia-lask profile image
Sylwia Laskowska

Haha perfect! So I'm definitely leaving "mi" as it is here 😁

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alptekin profile image
alptekin I.

Hi Sylwia,
this article hit on the right time, maybe could be better before :)
great tips.
for a while, i feel floating. not at work, i am so busy and quite productive, but maybe due to this, i am so inclined to NOT work on my side projects, personal targets, etc... Logical, but not helpful in the long run.

this was a great list. Especially, these resonate with me a lot

i loved the sample "being staff eng. at google". So correct. in every way.
I also loved and totally get the idea of "trying to do less than you could" (or maybe you THINK you COULD). This is also my issue. You see, i am so keen on planning, so keen that i mostly write more than i could (and i keep sanity)... And mostly fail to break it into crumbles, easy to swallow.... for days like these, when i am so tired and busy at work, this is bad and unproductive.
planning the week in advance. Again a good idea. I was doing this, for many years. but again filled in too much in a single week, then gave up planning the week and did it for a month.. But you see, a month is longer and you can fill in more, and in my case, more than a single-month should take... so this becomes a loop...

thanks again.
wish you luck in the conf. you sincerely deserve being among these great eng.s

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sylwia-lask profile image
Sylwia Laskowska

Thanks so much, Alptekin! 😊 And yes, this is exactly why I thought this post might resonate with quite a few people. I'm honestly getting tired of this whole “hustle culture”. And I totally get what you're saying about planning too much. Planning is great until we start treating every empty space in the plan as something that needs to be filled 😅 That's exactly the trap I keep falling into myself.

Thanks again, and thank you so much for the kind words about the conference! ❤️I don't know if I deserve it, but they invited me there, so I guess it's not that bad 😆

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Elsie Rainee

Great insights here 💡 Definitely bookmarking this for later! 🔖

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sylwia-lask profile image
Sylwia Laskowska

Aww thanks!!!