「 Is talking about productivity still relevant in 2025? 」
Is talking about productivity still relevant in 2025? That was the question that prompted me to write about it. At one point, I think it is no longer relevant to talk about it anymore but I realized that the way we actually talk about it has evolved and that is I have to personally admit too.
A decade ago, productivity was all about giving our best, how to optimize our 24 hours and maximizing the result from our work. There were many new tools introduced to help us become more productive such as trello, to-do ist, evernote, Microsoft OneNote and slack. I wrote quite a bit about those tools as productivity is my main interests.
Today, I no longer see that all people care about working long hours. I started seeing more about the pursuit to balance, working smarter and more efficiently. Even the tools utilized are a lot more different than what we used to know. These days, we are using AI tools to help us manage our productivity. AI such as Chatgpt can even write us a daily schedule and with the right prompt, we can tailor it based on our needs and personal life.
When we talk about productivity, even the way of work has changed. In the past, people worked rigidly 9-5 but these days many people adopt a hybrid style and sometimes do full work from home. In the past, when you’re working from home, in some countries there’s a certain stigma around it; however , these days, working from home and hybrid are almost like the norm or many people’s dream.
As a huge umbrella of a topic, Productivity also entails the matter of distraction. You know, there are many tools from 2015 that were quite popular to help us avoid being distracted. That was also when pomodoro technique became so popular and everyone was crazy about it. These days with the abundance of tools, we need a newer approach which is why there are many people talking about mindful use of technology and even digital minimalism.
Unlike before, especially around 2015, during what I call the golden era of productivity tools, these days with many apps we can use and explore, the question has shifted to, do we really need the apps?
Do you also ask yourself that same question or are you the type of person who likes to explore different apps?
Isn’t it ironic that the more we have more tools, the more we want less of it? For me, these days I don’t really have the drive to actually explore newer apps. I even streamlined my productivity tools that I only use Microsoft to-do, clock, and a good old pen and paper.
When it comes to minimizing my distraction, I just get good at understanding my optimal best work time. So, there’s really no tools involved at all, just some willpower and something I’ve learned for a decade dabbling and being interested in productivity.
In the age of AI, I don’t even want to use it too much. In terms of productivity, I only use it to schedule extreme cases of my day when things have gone a bit awry. So, even with the emergence of AI and many things are integrating AI in their tools, the more I don’t want to use the tools. Call me old but there’s nothing interesting, it’s just faster.
Now on to another topic yet still relevant, in many industries AI agents have become even more prevalent. They are everywhere, trying to give us faster and more concise answers. Yet sometimes, there are nuances that those AI can’t even answer. So, is it productive to actually hire AI or fully utilize it? I’d like to argue otherwise. Perhaps it is faster but I doubt it is productive.
In the end, despite talking about productivity seems like a broken record, I think it is still relevant. It’s just that these days the focus of it and many of the things regarding it have shifted. The key these days is all about either you embrace AI or you’re on the spectrum that chooses to practice digital minimalism. For me personally, when it comes to productivity, I will stick to what works, a mixture of technology and willpower.