If you're bouncing around productivity apps without getting more done, financial personality Ramit Sethi knows why. His reason also explains why some people continue to make bad decisions despite studying personal finance and knowing what money habits they should incorporate in their lives.
"It's tempting to think that a tool or tactic will solve an emotional problem," he said in an X post.
He then said that it explains why people go from solution to solution without seeing any meaningful changes to their problems.
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Address The Root Cause
It isn't always an emotional problem that causes people to continue making the same mistakes, but it's worth looking deeper if you find yourself in the same rut over a long period of time. Not addressing the root cause results in people making the same destructive mistakes over and over again, even if they know the outcome of their actions.
Impulsive spending is a phenomenon that causes many people to get deep into credit card debt and stray further away from long-term financial goals. Emotional spending plays a role in impulsive spending, especially with how easy it is to buy things online.
The Cleveland Clinic refers to this type of behavior as "retail therapy." The dopamine hit from shopping often has "the goal of improving your mood or avoiding difficult emotions." You eventually have to confront difficult emotions, and if you rely on an external force to improve your mood, it will eventually fade away, and you will have to go to that external source constantly.
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Temporary Solutions Don't Result In Permanent Fixes
Using a new productivity app can feel exciting, especially if you download a gamified app that sends you notifications about your progress. Apps are designed to keep you on them for as long as possible, and they usually boost your dopamine in the process.
Once the productivity app loses its charm, it's easy to get rid of that app and switch to another. Testing every productivity app is easy, but committing to the goals over the long run is more difficult. Temporary solutions often lead to instant gratification, and once that instant gratification fades, it's often on to the next temporary solution.
Sethi believes in addressing emotional problems, but you can also extend the idea to discovering internal motivation. Simply put, internal motivation is what causes people to do things even if there is no external reward or kudos for their work.
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Make Small Progress Every Day
Making small progress every day is the simplest way to be more productive, get out of debt, and move toward any long-term goal. Using a bunch of productivity apps and moving away from them when they are no longer fun can halt progress and make you too reliant on an external motivator like a productivity app.
Making progress toward a meaningful goal can also boost your confidence, which may make it easier to commit more time to your goals. "The Productivity Project" author Chris Bailey said in 2021 that success leads to confidence.
Performing small actions consistently demonstrates that you can do something successfully over a long period of time. This routine, combined with exploring any root causes, can help you be more productive and fortify your finances.
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