The Lies We Work By

Introduction — The Moment I Realized “Working Harder” Wasn’t Working

It happened on a Wednesday afternoon.

I was sitting at my desk, surrounded by sticky notes, half-finished tasks, an overstuffed to-do list, and that familiar, heavy feeling that I was always behind — no matter how much I worked.

My phone buzzed.

Another productivity tip video, another “hack,” another reminder that someone out there was waking up at 4 a.m., running 10 miles, running a business, and somehow still finding time to meditate, cook organic meals, and read three books a week.

Meanwhile, I felt like I was barely keeping my life from falling apart.

And that’s when it hit me:

Maybe the problem wasn’t me.

Maybe the problem was everything I believed about productivity.

Because for years, I chased every trick, every system, every promise of a “perfect routine,” and all it ever gave me was exhaustion.

The truth?

I wasn’t failing.

I was following myths.

And unlearning them changed everything.

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Myth #1: “Busy Means Productive”

This was the first lie I swallowed whole.

I believed that if I filled every minute, if I stayed in motion, if I never stopped, I’d finally feel accomplished. So I said yes to everything. I worked late. I multitasked until my brain felt scrambled.

And for what?

There were days I worked for ten hours straight and still felt like I had done nothing that mattered. And there were days I worked for two focused hours and made more progress than an entire week of rushing.

One afternoon, I asked myself a simple question:

“What did I actually do today?”

Not “How long was I busy?”

But “What did I create? What did I finish? What did I move forward?”

The truth embarrassed me.

I had been performing productivity, not practicing it.

Real productivity is quiet.

It’s intentional.

It’s focused.

Busy is frantic.

Productive is meaningful.

When I learned the difference, my entire life slowed down — in the best possible way.

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Myth #2: “You Need the Perfect Routine to Be Successful”

This one trapped me for years.

Every time I failed to follow the perfect morning routine — journaling, meditation, exercise, reading, hydration, affirmations — I felt like a failure before the day even started.

I thought success required strict structure.

But life isn’t strict.

Life is messy and unpredictable and beautifully imperfect.

One day, after trying and failing another “miracle morning,” I decided to do something radically simple:

I asked myself,

“What does my morning need to feel good?”

Not what the internet said.

Not what high achievers said.

Not what productivity coaches said.

Me.

A real person with a real life.

The answer surprised me.

I needed quiet.

I needed a slow start.

I needed breakfast.

And I needed five solid minutes to breathe before the world rushed in.

No yoga mat.

No cold plunge.

No 5 a.m. wake-up.

My routine didn’t look impressive.

But it worked.

For me.

And that’s when I learned an important truth:

Your life doesn’t need to look productive to be meaningful.

It just needs to feel right.

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Myth #3: “Success Comes From Self-Discipline Alone”

For years, I beat myself up for not being more disciplined.

I blamed myself for procrastinating, for losing focus, for getting overwhelmed. I told myself that if I just worked harder, tried harder, pushed harder, then everything would fall into place.

But the harder I pushed, the more I burned out.

One evening, I came across a simple idea:

“You don’t rise to the level of your goals — you fall to the level of your systems.”

I read that line five times.

Discipline wasn’t my problem.

My environment was.

My workspace was cluttered.

My schedule was chaotic.

My tasks were unclear.

My expectations were unrealistic.

I wasn’t failing because I didn’t have discipline.

I was failing because I was depending on discipline alone to solve everything.

So I made small changes.

I cleaned my desk.

I created simple lists.

I made tasks smaller.

I removed distractions.

I set boundaries.

I made rest a requirement, not a reward.

And suddenly — discipline didn’t feel so impossible.

That’s when I finally understood:

Success is not about force.

It’s about support.

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Myth #4: “You Have to Do Everything Yourself”

This is the myth that exhausted me the most.

I believed asking for help was a weakness.

Letting go was failure.

Delegating was cheating.

But trying to carry every responsibility alone didn’t make me strong — it made me tired, resentful, and disconnected.

One day, someone asked me a simple question:

“Why do you think you must be everything for everyone?”

I didn’t have an answer.

So I started small.

I asked for help with tasks I didn’t need to control.

I admitted when I was overwhelmed.

I allowed others to show up for me.

I learned that independence is good —

but interdependence is powerful.

Life is not meant to be a solo project.

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Myth #5: “If You Stop, You’ll Fall Behind”

This is the myth that kept me running in circles.

Every time I rested, I felt guilty.

Every time I slowed down, I felt unworthy.

Every time I paused, I felt like the world was sprinting past me.

But the more I chased this fear, the more tired I became.

Until one day, I hit my limit.

I closed my laptop, turned off my phone, and sat in silence.

And in that silence, something rare happened:

I felt myself breathe.

Not a shallow, stressed breath —

a real one.

For the first time in years, I understood:

Rest isn’t the opposite of productivity.

Rest is part of it.

Without rest, there is no clarity.

Without clarity, there is no progress.

Without progress, there is no success.

Rest wasn’t holding me back —

it was the thing I’d been missing.

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Conclusion — What Productivity Really Means

Now, when I think about the time I wasted chasing myths, I don’t feel angry.

I feel relieved.

Because unlearning these myths didn’t just give me back my time —

it gave me back my life.

I learned that productivity isn’t a race.

It’s not a performance.

It’s not a punishment.

It’s a relationship with your time, your energy, and your purpose.

And when you treat that relationship with respect, honesty, and flexibility —

you stop pretending to be productive and start living productively.

Not perfectly.

Not impressively.

But sustainably, meaningfully, and humanly.

The way it should’ve always been.

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Thank you for reading...

Regards: Fazal Hadi