It’s Not a Productivity Problem

It’s easy to assume that if you’re behind, you must be doing something wrong. That there’s a better system you haven’t found yet, or a smarter way to batch your tasks, or a new piece of software that would fix everything. The whole productivity industry runs on that idea. If you can’t keep up, the problem must be you. And the answer must be another tool.

But sometimes, it isn’t a productivity problem. It’s a capacity problem.

There are limits to what one person can carry. Especially when you’re dealing with more than just work. Health, family, uncertainty, unacknowledged labour, fatigue. These don’t sit quietly in the background. They take up time and space. They fill your brain before the day even begins. And still, people ask for just one more thing. A quick favour. A task that will only take a minute. But it never is just one thing. And it never only takes a minute. It adds up. Not just in time, but in mental load. And no planner or time management hack can clear the way when your head is already full before you’ve even started.

There’s a kind of quiet cruelty in the pressure to always be efficient. It leaves no room for reality. It doesn’t account for fluctuating energy, for chronic conditions, for financial strain or grief or stress. It just says, try harder. It assumes that better discipline would fix everything.

But often, the people falling behind are the ones trying the hardest. They’re already overcompensating. They’re already pushing past what’s manageable. And being told to optimise their routine just adds another layer of pressure to people who are already stretched.

Structure is helpful. So is planning. But those things only work if they’re built around something real. You can’t solve burnout by time-blocking your calendar. You can’t solve overload by treating all time as equal or by squeezing yourself into someone else’s routine. What works for them might never work for you.

The problem isn’t always time. Sometimes it’s the expectation that you should be able to handle more than you can. Sometimes it’s the fact that you’ve had no support. Sometimes it’s the weight of everything you’re carrying that doesn’t look like work but takes just as much out of you.

You don’t need another system. You need space to be honest about what’s possible right now. And you need to stop blaming yourself when the answer is simpler than you hoped.

Need help finding what’s really holding you back?
Book a free call and we’ll look at what’s on your plate, what can shift, and what actually needs your focus right now.
https://zcal.co/jangoulding