9 checked facts

Productivity

Everything on this site about productivity — each one naming the study behind it.

You are systematically wrong about your own schedule.
The planning fallacy is the tendency to underestimate the time needed to complete a future task.…
You work significantly faster as you approach a goal.
The goal gradient effect shows that the closer you are to finishing a task, the more effort you invest to complete it.…
You work less hard when you think you are in a team.
While Ringelmann's 1913 study observed that group output is less than the sum of individual efforts, he attributed thi…
You assume your current project will finish on time.
A 1994 study of students found they completed senior thesis projects 20 days later than their own most realistic estim…
You exert less individual effort when working in groups.
The phenomenon of reduced individual output in groups is known as the Ringelmann effect, which was later named social …
You complete tasks in the time you allocate, regardless of complexity.
Parkinson's Law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.…
You believe your future work will be faster today.
People consistently underestimate how long tasks take, even with past evidence.…
You exert less effort when you are not alone.
A 1913 study found that individuals pulling on a rope in a group exert less force than when pulling individually.…
Unfinished tasks linger in your memory much longer.
A classic 1927 study found that people remember interrupted tasks roughly twice as well as completed ones.…