How to use Super Productivity to cure your procrastination
Have you ever looked at your to-do list and felt completely paralyzed, not knowing where to start? Are you tired of productivity apps that add more complexity instead of actually helping you get things done? Well, here is a free and open source app that finally helped me beat procrastination.
Say hello to super productivity
Super Productivity is my favorite productivity app. It’s designed from the ground up to help you do deep work and get things done. At its core, it works as a cross between a to-do list and a task manager, with powerful features like time tracking, Kanban boards, projects and tags for better organization, and much more. In fact, it’s so good that it can replace paid apps like Todoist, Trello, and Toggl, all in one free, open-source package.
But all this mainly helps people who are already engaged and trying to complete their work. What if you’re procrastinating and struggling to find the motivation to get started? This is where super productivity shines. It’s one of the few apps to include a thoughtful set of features designed specifically to help you overcome procrastination and start getting work done.
5 Free and Open Source (FOSS) Applications Better Than Its Paid Alternatives
Professional quality software without the price tag. Check out these five free and open source apps that rival their paid counterparts.
The anti-procrastination plugin
This is one of those deceptively simple features that has proven to be incredibly useful. Head over to the Super Productivity settings page, scroll down to the Plugins section, and enable the Procrastination Buster plugin. It adds a star icon to the top toolbar. Click on it and a sidebar appears on the right with a list of feelings you might be experiencing.
The idea is that whenever you procrastinate, there is usually a specific emotion behind it. Perhaps you feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task. Or maybe it seems too easy and you’re too bored to start. The Procrastination Buster sidebar displays a list of common reasons for procrastination. Click on the one that best matches your current state and it suggests practical strategies to help you overcome it.
On the surface, this may seem overly simplistic, but that’s exactly why it works. When you’re stuck in procrastination, you don’t need a complex solution: you need a quick, convenient boost to get you unstuck, and this plugin delivers just that.
Eisenhower Matrix for Task Prioritization
Super Productivity lets you quickly capture task ideas throughout the day using global shortcuts. This is a great way to avoid losing ideas, but it also creates a problem. At the end of the day, I’m faced with a huge to-do list without a clear idea of what really matters. This overwhelming feeling often leads directly to analysis paralysis, where I end up doing nothing at all.
To solve this problem, there is a built-in Eisenhower matrix. Go to the Tables view, select the Eisenhower Matrix tab, and agree to create the “urgent” and “important” tags. You will now see the classic 2×2 grid where you can drag tasks into four quadrants:
-
Urgent and important
-
Important but not urgent
-
Urgent but not important
-
Not urgent and not important.
This visual breakdown instantly shows what needs your attention right now versus what can wait, reducing decision fatigue and helping you really get started.
Break down large tasks into subtasks
Have you ever had that moment where you suddenly start cleaning your entire room when you’re supposed to sit down and do your math homework? This is called productive procrastination (also known as task substitution): you avoid a difficult or overwhelming task by doing easier, less important things instead.
Whenever we are faced with a task that seems too big or daunting, we feel overwhelmed and put it off, focusing instead on smaller tasks that are neither urgent nor important. The Eisenhower Matrix can help you identify what’s important, but it’s not enough to make a task less intimidating or paralyzing. One of the best ways to solve this problem is to break the task into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Super Productivity makes this easy by allowing you to divide any task into multiple subtasks. I usually divide a task into tasks that I can complete in 5-10 minutes. For example, if I’m procrastinating on writing an article, I’ll break it down into subtasks like this:
-
Write down the main argument first (this should take no more than five minutes).
-
Then write the plan (about 10 minutes).
-
Then write the main argument for the first subheading (another five-minute task).
-
Flesh out this argument in a full section (about 10-15 minutes).
-
Go on.
The goal is not to create broad subtasks like “describe, write, and edit,” but quick, specific actions that you can complete quickly. These small victories build momentum, build motivation, and make the overall task much less daunting.
Pomodoro Timers with Domina Mode
Another effective way to beat procrastination is to use Pomodoro timers. Instead of looking at a task and feeling overwhelmed by the fact that it could take hours, you only commit to 25 minutes of focused work. And you know there’s a five-minute break on the other side: you just need to get through those 25 minutes.
The Best Free Pomodoro Timers and Apps to Increase Productivity
Do you have trouble concentrating? Try the Pomodoro technique with these free apps.
With Super Productivity, you can select a task and start Focus mode. It offers three time tracking options, including a Pomodoro timer. By default, each work session is set at 25 minutes, but you can add an extra five minutes if you’re in the zone and want to continue.
I find Focus mode particularly useful in a dual-monitor setup or when running Super Productivity on my tablet while working on my computer. Having the timer on the side where I can check it lets me know how much time I need to continue working.
Super Productivity is cross-platform but does not have a native cloud server to sync data between devices. I personally use Syncthing to sync my Super Productivity data between my Windows PC, Android smartphone, and iPad.
If you’re still struggling to complete a full 25-minute session, there’s also Domina Mode to provide words of encouragement, literally. It lets you enter a personalized motivational message and uses text-to-speech to repeat it at set intervals. For example, I noticed that I tend to lose concentration after 15 minutes, especially when I’m working on something boring.
So I set Domina Mode to remind me, “Go back to work. You need to make money.”, which is usually enough to keep me going. The main idea is to remind yourself why you’re doing the work and how it relates to the bigger things you’re working on.
Super Productivity is one of the most powerful task management apps I’ve used. Beyond these anti-procrastination features, it’s packed with useful productivity tools, so much so that I ditched all my paid apps for it. If you’ve been trying to do more and stay consistent, this app makes a strong case as an all-in-one solution.
