Productivity Gurus are Lying To You
Scroll through your feed and you'll drown in content from productivity gurus. They meditate at dawn in what looks like a Himalayan salt cave, journals in Swedish minimalist notebooks, and posts Reels of their “deep work” setup (a desk that looks like an Apple store and a Zen garden had a child).
As a serial entrepreneur who's actually spent decades wrestling with the chaotic beast of building businesses from scratch, let me tell you something with the brutal honesty they lack: it's mostly nonsense. Glorified, well-marketed, productivity-themed nonsense designed to make them rich, not make you genuinely effective in the trenches where real work happens.
I've scaled 31 companies, and none of them happened because I journaled while drinking celery juice at sunrise. These "optimization experts" are selling you a Ferrari when what you need is a reliable Toyota. They'll tell you to track your time in 5-minute increments, meditate upside down, and write gratitude letters to your coffee machine. Meanwhile, actual entrepreneurs are getting stuff done.
I've watched founders destroy their productivity trying to be "productive." It's like watching someone starve themselves to death while reading diet books.
The "Productivity Stack" Scam
What You're Sold: "Buy this $997 course on how to organize your Notion workspace into 47 perfectly color-coded databases!"
Reality: Most successful founders I know run their empire from Google Docs and coffee-stained notebooks. Some even (gasp!) use Excel.
Here's what these gurus won't tell you: Every new productivity app is just another distraction. It’s ok to be organized, but do not be over-organized to the point of paralysis.
The "Morning Routine" Myth
Let's talk about these sacred morning routines. You know the ones:
3:00 AM: Wake up (because sleep is for poor people)
3:05 AM: Cold plunge (hypothermia is great for focus apparently)
5:05 AM: Meditate while doing CrossFit
7:05 AM: Journal about journaling
9:05 AM: Gratitude about how grateful you are
10:05 AM: Some more journaling (and some more gratitude for the “amazing” morning)
Want to know what actually works? Here's what I've learned after over 15 years of building businesses:
Sleep: Your brain needs rest more than it needs another productivity podcast. A well-rested average plan beats a sleep-deprived one every time.
Delete Unnecessary Apps: Every notification is just a tiny vampire sucking away your attention span. Keep the apps that help. Delete the ones that make you feel busy.
Accept Chaos: Your day will never go as planned. Be flexible and nimble.
Have a minimal morning routine. Everything other than a workout is a luxury (apart from brushing your teeth and common sense stuff).
Your inability to ship isn’t because you missed a gratitude journal entry. So if you ever hear anyone trying to teach you the meaning of “bio-optimized circadian rhythm morning routine”, run.