Look, I have tried hundreds of productivity tips, tricks, apps, and hacks. In the end, nothing worked for me by themselves.

I hate that productivity is an oversaturated market of hacks. There are millions of articles and books that tell you this one hack will make it work. Or these 100 tips will turn your work life around.

Heck, I have written some of these articles too.

But the truth is this:

You can read all you want, but reading won’t improve your productivity.

Why I Know This to be True

I used to be terrible with my personal productivity. Sometimes, I still struggle. Yet, I have learned the hard way that note all productivity methods or techniques are equal.

I have read countless blog posts, articles, and books. After reading all of this, I tried every single tip, trick, and hack. What I found was how easy it was to make my productivity efforts worse by doing the wrong ones for me.

As it turns out, to really be successful with productivity we need to do a few things that have nothing to do with those productivity hacks.

To find success with productivity, you need to go all-in, 100% with the pursuit of your productivity turnaround. And here is how this works.

100% Productivity

I have found that it takes different things to go all-in on changing your productivity, and so I have broken it down into percentages. These percentages tell us how much it takes to actually make changes to your productivity.

20% — Commit to Improve

Honestly, this first one is very crucial. It is the tipping point. Like anything in life, you have to commit to change, otherwise, there isn't a productivity hack out there that will make a difference for you.

Your commitment is the catalyst to your productivity.

30% — Research What You NEED

Yes, you do need to research. And this does mean reading. But your research needs to be focused. We can’t just take every tip out there and add it to our workflow. You need to ask this question:

What do I really suck at regarding productivity?

If it is time management, look for these types of tips. If it is procrastination, find ways to be motivated. Or, if it is distractions, find ways that will keep you focused.

You don’t need to know EVERYTHING, you only need to know what applies to YOU.

40% — Try and Fail

Here is the kicker. You need to put your research to work and fail a little more before you can succeed. This is why you only look for things you need to work on, these small failures will help you move along.

The only way to KNOW what works for you is to try what you have learned.

As you put into practice the focused tips, you will find things that work right away. These will help you build up to productivity success. And the things that don’t work, you can trash them right away.

You will need to try and fail a little to find productivity success.

10% — Consistent Everyday

“You know what works, just keep doing it.” — My Wife

Here is the key part. Once you find what works, you need to do it EVERY SINGLE DAY. It is the consistent application of the things that work which will help you find productivity success.

When you stray from what works, you get off track. I have found this to be true time and again. While there is a ton of work you do before getting to this point, this is the part that tops off your efforts.

Without it, you will continue to struggle with being productive.

Productivity isn’t Rocket Science

The hardest part about productivity is finding the right things that work for you. But, once you commit to doing something about it and figuring out what our pitfalls are, you will be well on your way.

You will be able to find the things you need to turn your productivity around. And with a little trial and error, you will be able to put it all in place. And once you do that, all you need to do is make it work every day.

Productivity isn’t complicated.

But, in the end, only you can solve your problems with commitment, research, testing, and ultimately doing the work.