productivity

a focus on productivity for the sub-€500 tablet range

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We are already fully in the Mobile World Congress 2026 and that means one thing: Xiaomi has returned with a well-loaded backpack. As is customary in the company, we have news, but also global launches of products that were only available in China. And the Xiaomi Pad 8 is one of the latter. Next, let’s see all the features of the three Xiaomi Pad 8, their prices for Spain and everything that has to do with one tablet who wants to stand up to iPad. And now more than ever thanks to a batch of accessories that provide more versatility. Technical sheet of the Xiaomi Pad 8 and Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro Xiaomi pad 8 xiaomi pad 8 pro Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro Mate SCREEN 11.2 inch panel Resolution of 3,200 x 2,136 px 144Hz refresh 800 nits peak Supports Dolby Vision Aspect 3:2 11.2 inch panel Resolution of 3,200 x 2,136 px 144Hz refresh 800 nits peak Supports Dolby Vision Aspect 3:2 11.2 inch panel Resolution of 3,200 x 2,136 px 144Hz refresh 800 nits peak Supports Dolby Vision Aspect 3:2 matte panel DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT 251.2 x 173.4 x 5.75mm 485 grams 251.2 x 173.4 x 5.75mm 485 grams 251.2 x 173.4 x 5.8mm 494 grams PROCESSOR Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Snapdragon 8 Elite Snapdragon 8 Elite RAM 8GB LPPDR5X 12GB LPDDR5T 8GB LPPDR5X 12GB LPDDR5T 12GB LPDDR5T STORAGE 128GB UFS 3.1 256GB UFS 4.1 128GB UFS 3.1 256 or 512 GB UFS 4.1 512GB UFS 4.1 FRONT CAMERA 8 Mpx f/2.28 32 Mpx f/2.2 32 Mpx f/2.2 REAR CAMERAS 13 Mpx f/3.06 50 Mpx f/1.8 50 Mpx f/1.8 BATTERY 9,200 mAh 45W charging 9,200 mAh 67W charging 9,200 mAh 67W charging OPERATING SYSTEM Xiaomi HyperOS 3 Xiaomi HyperOS 3 Xiaomi HyperOS 3 CONNECTIVITY Wi-Fi 7 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Bluetooth 6.0 Wi-Fi 7 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Bluetooth 6.0 Wi-Fi 7 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Bluetooth 6.0 OTHERS Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro Xiaomi Focus Keyboard Four speakers Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro Xiaomi Focus Keyboard Four speakers Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro Xiaomi Focus Keyboard Four speakers PRICE From 449.99 euros From 599.99 euros 699.99 euros Screens, the common point… except in the most Pro In terms of design, the Xiaomi Pad 8 is very similar to the previous generation. That comparison with the Apple tablet is not coincidental: they look very similar. The bezels are very similar, as are the front or flat sides. If something works, it suits everyone, ultimately. It is not a very large tablet, but it makes good use of that front to fit an 11.2-inch panel with 3.2K resolution. That translates into 3,200 x 2,136 pixels and a 144 Hz refresh rate. To complete the screen data, the aspect ratio is 3:2 and something interesting: there are two versions. The Xiaomi Pad 8 and the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro share a panel and design, but there is a variant: the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro Mate Glass Version. Its name is quite revealing: same panel characteristics, but with nanotextured glass. Qualcomm heart in two flavors If we go inside, we have some differences that seem minor, but which must be commented on. The Xiaomi Pad 8 has the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4a processor built in 4 nanometers with a CPU made up of four cores at 3.2 GHz, two at 2.8 GHz and another two at 2 GHz. It is accompanied by 8 or 12 GB of memory and versions of 128 and 256. The memory speed of 256 is faster than that of 128, something that must be taken into account. On the other hand, the two versions of Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro They have the 3 nanometer Snapdragon 8 Elite. It has two cores at 4.32 GHz and six at 3.53 GHz and is accompanied by the same memory configuration: 8 or 12 GB. It is a more capable processor, especially thanks to its GPU, but the Xiaomi Pad 8 does not go barefoot in comparison. The battery also promises: 9,200 mAh in both models with 45 W charging for the Xiaomi Pad 8 and 67 W for the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro. And, inside, we have Android with its own system HyperOS 3. Xiaomi has worked on a new interface that is better suited to the tablet format thanks to a more pronounced focus on the productivity and multitasking. It is something that will have to be checked when we can analyze them, but linked to that multitasking we have both a keyboard case that already existed and a new Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro. It is a stylus that has pressure sensitivity control, gestures such as double tap and pinch, and is magnetized so it can be left on one of the sides. The combination of the nanotextured panel with the Pen should be very interesting. Versions and price of the Xiaomi Pad 8, Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro and their accessories Given the characteristics of the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro, let’s go with the price: Xiaomi Pad 8: 8GB+128GB: 449.99 euros. 8GB+256GB: 499.99 euros. Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro 8GB+256GB: 599.99 euros. 12GB+512GB: 679.99 euros. Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro Matte Glass Version 12 GB + 512 GB: 699.99 euros. The price of accessories is as follows: Xiaomi Pad 8 Series Touchpad Keyboard: 129.99 euros. Xiaomi Focus Pen: 99.99 euros. Xiaomi Pad 8 Series Cover: 49.99 euros. Images | Xiaomi In Xataka | Buying guide for tablets for children: what to look for and 9 recommended models

making mistakes as an antidote to the cult of productivity

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They say we live in a secular country, but whoever says that has not encountered the productivity gurus or the stationery YouTubers. bullet journal, intermittent fasting, hobonichi roof, cold showers at five in the morning“atomic habits“, journaling until you end up with blisters on your hands… let’s be clear: productivity and growth aspire to function as civil religions. Therefore, perhaps it is time to look for an old-fashioned way out, one inspired by Saint Augustine. The cult of productivity I know that talking about ‘civil religion’ may seem exaggerated, but the truth is that a very specific aspirational narrative has been normalized: one based on self-optimization. And it’s not all those things that I described above (getting up early, diet, metrics, discipline, etc…), it’s that not achieving it has become a ‘moral failure’. If you make a mistake, if you don’t arrive, if you don’t achieve it… it’s because you didn’t make the effort, you didn’t organize yourself, you’re not good enough. An example much discussed in recent days are all those readers who, given the evidence that they are not going to reach their “reading challenge” of the year, decide to discard books that they would like to read and prioritize short books in order to reach the numbers that had been marked. Error has become something we cannot afford. But Augustine did not agree. Louis Comfort Tiffany But, of course, St. Augustine had its moments. One of the most brilliant people of the late Roman Empire, Augustine of Hippo was a ‘pearl‘ in his youth and early maturity. But it quickly became one of Christianity’s sharpest swords. That, translated, means that he did not agree with many. He has not only written some of the greatest works of universal literaturebut he worked to destroy (theologically, philosophically and literally) Manichaeans, Donatists and Pelagians. That war changed Western thinking, but I don’t think anyone imagined it would be essential to defending ourselves from the productivity gurus. Saint Augustine vs productivity gurus “If I’m wrong, I exist” (“If I fail, add“), wrote the saint of Hippo in book That is, the idea that a mistake is not only a stigma: it is a piece of information, a learning, a reminder that we are human, but we are on the way. We could say that error is also productive (and there are people who defend it); but that’s not the point. The point is that, against what Byung-Chul calls the “performance society” (compared to the self-demand that is sold as freedom, but leads to self-exploitation), compared to the spiritual turn of your trusted technobro, there is an even deeper dimension: the right to be and be without the chains that bind us to the productive system. In a world that asks for “performance” and “utility” to have personal value, Augustine exposes that ancient Christian tradition that says that the ontological value of the person does not depend on anything; that even in the worst of failure, we are worth exactly the same. Because, pay attention to the fact, when Agustín talks about existing he is not just talking about existing. It talks about doing it, about knowing that you exist and about loving those two realities as a non-productivist theory of self. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The Catholic Church changed the psychology of Europe. Unintentionally, it sparked an era of technological innovation

Thousands of CEOs admit that nothing is changing (yet). The productivity paradox of the 80s resurfaces with force

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AI will make us more productive, the studies said and AI advocates. It is a discourse that is already well known and seemed reasonable: models allow us to automate routine tasks and use that time on other productive things, right? Well, the truth is, (at the moment) no. And what is happening is curiously the same thing that happened 40 years ago. The productivity paradox. In 1987 the economist and Nobel Prize winner Robert Solow realized of a singular paradox in the so-called “information age”. The transistors, microprocessors, and integrated circuits discovered in the 1960s were supposed to revolutionize businesses and dramatically increase productivity. What happened was just the opposite. Productivity growth did not accelerate, but rather slowed down: between 1948 and 1973 it was 2.9%, but since 1973 that growth was only 1.1%. So much chip for nothing? It seemed that way, at least those first few years. History repeats itself: AI is of little use. As they point out in Fortunethat paradox has resurfaced just now that we are suffering exactly the same thing with AI. A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reveals a striking conclusion after surveying no less than 6,000 CEOs, CFOs and other managers from several countries: they see very little impact of AI on their real operations. AI is not changing anything. Although two-thirds of the managers surveyed indicated that they used AI in their processes, this use was very limited: about 1.5 hours per week. 25% of participants indicated that they did not use AI at all at work. Nearly 90% of the companies that participated highlighted that AI has not influenced their hiring or productivity in the last three years. But they are optimistic. The use of AI by these executives appears to be very limited at the moment, but those same companies are still waiting for a substantial impact. In fact, they expect productivity to increase by 1.4% in the next three years. Another paradox: these first years AI was supposed to cut hiring by 0.7%, but respondents revealed a 0.5% increase in those hiring. The data confirm that at the moment, little. The truth is that the vaunted AI revolution has still not become a reality, at least in terms of productivity and economic return. Economist Torsten Slok recently indicated that “AI is everywhere except in macroeconomic data: you don’t see it in employment, productivity or inflation data.” His thesis: the impact of AI is currently almost zero. In fact, except in the case of technology’s “Magnificent Seven,” there are no signs of profit margins or revenue expectations. But these revolutions take time. The revolution that semiconductors brought us took a while to crystallize, but it ended up doing so: in the 1990s and 2000s were produced productivity improvements such as an increase of 1.5% between 1995 and 2005. There are experts who they point because in fact this change in trend has already begun to occur: in the US, GDP in the fourth quarter grew by 3.7% despite the fact that there were job cuts. That points to an increase in productivity. Slok also pointed to this possibility, and theorized that the impact could end up having a “J” shape, first slowing down and then exploding. Let them tell the steam engine. Previous industrial revolutions, such as the one that produced the steam engine or, even more importantly, electricity, took their time. The initial delay disappeared over the course of subsequent decades because these technologies needed time to spread to the rest of the productive sectors. Excessive optimism does not help, of course, and at the moment what is reasonable seems to lie somewhere in between: neither “AI is useless” nor “AI will do everything for us.” Perhaps the only thing AI needs—in addition to improving—is for us to give time to time. It is not in vain that many describe it as “the new electricity.” Image | The Standing Desk In Xataka | Until now “software was eating the world.” Now AI is eating software

Productivity science says it’s not just inches that matter

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It has happened to me and it may happen to you too: you have a monitor and you notice that it is no longer enough. You could take a leap and swap it for something a little larger, but just adding inches to the equation isn’t going to change things too much. To change our experience, we need something different, like opting for an ultrawide monitor or adding one more monitor to our setup. What is the best option for you? Both are great, but both may not suit your needs in the same way. For this reason, we are going to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of these two configurations so that you know what to choose according to your priorities. Choosing an ultrawide monitor An ultrawide monitor is larger than a conventional one, but we cannot stop at that alone. These monitors usually have a 21:9 format, which means they are wider. This means that we have a longer horizontal space, which is a wonder for productivity. And not only that: being a single screen, there is no type of barrier or frame that cuts off the visual experiencesomething ideal for working with long lines of code or spreadsheets with countless columns. Also three windows with documents or applications open at the same time. Your entire workspace, without interruptions. And for gaming, they are the best because you have a larger field of vision and the immersion they provide is not comparable to that of a normal monitor. To this elongated screen we must add another factor, which is the curvature. There are options for flat ultrawide monitors, although if you dare to take the leap, I would recommend opting for a curved one. The reason is very easy to understand: the small curve of the monitor helps you see the entire thing at a glance. What does this imply? You don’t have to turn your headsomething you will appreciate when you finish your day. In addition, the ultrawide allows you to work centered and with a straight spine. With two monitors, your “center” will be the frames of both. Therefore, more neck movements. Another element that works in favor of the ultrawide: Fitts’ Law. This, in short, predicts that the time needed to move to a target depends on its distance and size. And how does this apply to monitors? With two of them, we will have the frames as a “barrier” separating them both. that the brain will understand as an interruption. That does not happen with the ultrawide, since the mouse and everything will move fluidly across the screen. Without constantly jumping from one monitor to another, the cognitive load is reduced and that is great for less fatigue. It is not the main reason to choose one of these monitors, but I have friends who have opted for an ultrawide because they prefer a more minimalist and tidy space. In the end, it is a continuous visual experience that you place on your desktop, which, of course, also has its downside: you need a large desktop background. I will leave for last two more cons that, without being a drama, I would value a lot before opting for this option. Since it is a screen, if one day you start the computer and the monitor does not turn on, you will be left with nothing (having two monitors clearly wins there). In addition, by having many more pixels than a traditional widescreen monitor, you are going to need a medium powerful graphics card if you don’t want your games to drop below 60 FPS. Choose two monitors The other side of the coin: two monitors, side by side. If I had to define this setting in one word, it would be versatility. To build a setup with two screens, we can go ahead and buy them both or simply purchase one and add it to the one we already have, whether identical or of a different size and characteristics. And not only that: we can also change its height as we wish or rotate one of them to make it vertical. The latter is great for reading long documents or taking a look at social networks while, at the same time, you have another horizontal screen for a normal experience. I have been working with two monitors for years and it is my choice because it offers the feeling of having two separate spaces. For example, I usually have a document open on one screen where I write and email or Slack on the other. In return, there is one thing in which the ultrawides win by a landslide: you are going to find a frame in the middle and you are going to have to move your neck more. I’m going to stop at this last point for a moment. It is very necessary that the two monitors are well placedsomething that is not as simple as it sounds. If they are identical it is easier, but it can be an odyssey as they are different sizes or manufacturers. If possible, I would pull a monitor standalthough that adds to the bill. And it is better not to skimp there, since they will have to support the weight of the monitors all the time. The good and the bad of both options, face to face ultrawide monitor two monitors THE GOOD 🟢 You work without frames in between. It is ideal for editing video (infinite timeline) or having 3 legible columns of text, and it helps you avoid straining your neck. Allows you to have two separate workspaces THE BAD 🔴 They are not for all desktops: you need a robust stand, table background and a good graphics card They involve more neck movement and there are black frames in the middle Ideal for: Have all your documents or apps on the same screen to see them at a glance More versatility: you can put one vertically (ideal for … Read more

painful rules cost billions in productivity

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Although in Asian countries like Japan, South Korea or Taiwan the cancellations due to painful rules They have been around for a few yearsthey are still rare bird. Without going any further, Spain is a pioneer in the EU (Italy tried it in 2017but it did not come to fruition) and the measure came not without controversy before and after approval. Because periods and pain are managed privately, but they have a profound impact on people’s health… and also on the economy. How much does a period cost at work?. A recent study published in the Australian Journal of Social Issues How the rule affects Australia’s economy makes its importance clear: 14 billion Australian dollars a year alone in lost productivity (about 8.54 billion euros at the exchange rate). And the calculations are conservative in that they do not include health or treatment costs. The rule, in figures. The first menstruation arrives at approximately 12 years of age and since then it occurs more or less regularly every 21 – 34 days until menopause arrives, around the age of 45 – 55. We are talking about between 400 and 600 periods throughout life (except interruptions in the form of hormonal contraceptives or pregnancy). The rule, in discomfort. And if we leave the quantitative and go to the qualitative, for the majority it means a period of discomfort in the form of menstrual pain and bleeding. in the studio They speak of 90% of women under 25 years of age with dysmenorrhea, more intense pain during the first two days. Likewise, it is also quite common to experience fatigue, dizziness, lower back pain and headaches. He heavy menstrual bleeding It results in blood loss that causes a feeling of tiredness or fatigue (among other things, due to loss of iron). The study quantifies between 20 and 25% of those surveyed. The study. To carry out the research, they interviewed 1,796 Australian women with paid jobs of different age ranges (from 18 years old) to find out how common menstrual pain and other symptoms are and what the impact was on their work productivity in terms of presenteeism and absenteeism. Or what is the same: go to work but be at half speed or directly miss work. It hurts me. They came to a conclusion: those with periods between the ages of 35 and 44 suffered a noticeably greater loss of productivity than the younger ones. However, 97% had suffered menstrual pain in the last three months and 1 in 4 said they always had pain. Worldwide, menstrual pain is around 71% and only in Spainthe Spanish Contraception Society reports that almost half have to take medication for pain. From here, they calculated the range of economic impact: 7,176 Australian dollars per person per year, for a total of 14,005 million dollars. Why is it important. Because it provides economic data that is sufficiently impactful so that the management of menstrual symptoms at work is not managed individually and in isolation, falling on those affected, but rather from a collective and institutional level. As resume The research team itself “highlights the strong economic case for governments and companies to adopt policies that help people manage menstrual symptoms.” That is, with laws and policies that standardize and regulate to homogenize and streamline individual procedures in companies, but also with dialogues within the company to introduce changes in working conditions aimed at improving the productivity, health and well-being of the workforce. Among the measures proposed by the team, the modalities of teleworking or hybrid work or the schedule flexibility. In Xataka | The majority of medical discharges that are investigated are fraud. The nuance is that they are only investigated if there are signs of fraud In Xataka | Period pain in adolescence is not “normal”: massive study links it to increased risk of chronic pain in adulthood Cover | Annika Gordon

Productivity had become an obsession. Until leisure has started to give better results at work

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The constant pressure to perform to the maximum has marked work life for a long time, leaving rest almost forgotten. A recent study shows how reserving well-planned leisure time changes the perception of daily routines and contributes to improved performance at work. Experts have verified that organize free time actively through crafts or other forms of abstraction brings improvements to creativity and motivation in your work tasks. This finding questions the belief that only by working non-stop can we achieve good work results. Let the brain create things. A group of researchers from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands investigated on the effects of creative craft-based entertainment during employees’ leisure time. The result of the experiment was not an improvement in the morale and motivation of the employees who participated in the study, but rather it contributed to these employees offering a more creative response in solving the problems that arose at work. Improvements in daily work life. The workers who participated in the study felt that, by exercising new manual skills, they better appreciated the processes of their crafts, making them gain value. The curious thing is that the change was bigger in the workplace than in his personal life, even though it was his leisure time. “We were surprised to see that crafts had a greater impact at work than in personal life. We expected similar benefits in both areas,” explains Professor George Michaelides, from UEA Norwich Business School. Curiously, the group that noticed this improvement the most was the one formed by the most senior employeesthose over 61 years of age. The explanation for this phenomenon is found in cognitive aptitude, a brain condition that is activated during learning processes. Gymnastics for the brain. Just as they collect the studies of Professors Gilkey and Kilts, of the schools of medicine and business at Emory University, carry out various creative activities that require a motor and cognitive combinationlike playing the guitar, juggling or learning a new language, helps expand the neural system and makes it more communicative. That is, the development of new skills through crafts was improving the “physical fitness” of the employees’ cognitive system, and the results were more visible in those more prone to cognitive decline and memory deterioration due to age. Keep “fit“Cognitive aptitude improves performance in decision making and problem solving, as well as in the generation of new ideas. The capacity for abstraction. One of the keys to the use of crafts or pleasurable leisure activities is that they act as a natural stress reducer and depressive symptoms. “Hobbies are already known to be good for well-being. But our study shows that hobbies not only make you happier, they can also help you feel more fulfilled and creative at work. This goes beyond simply relaxing or having fun (like watching Netflix non-stop) and turns hobbies into something that helps people grow,” says Dr. Paraskevas Petrou, the lead author of the study. Beyond the cognitive improvement derived from the development of the neural system, a study from Cardiff University found that the use of crafts or repetitive activities, how to knitinduces the brain into a state of full attention that increases abstract thinking activity by up to 25%, which contributes to the generation of new ideas and improves problem solving. In Xataka | Feeling overwhelmed at work is normal, but it is not ideal: six techniques to avoid it and be much more productive Image | Unsplash (Elena Mozhvilo)

“Cozy games” were going to save us from stress and productivity. They have ended up being true slaves of leisure

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The promise of relaxing and clearing your mind for a few hours is what attracts us of the cozy games: those games that surround us with cute little animals, calm us with a comforting visual palette and give us repetitive and friendly tasks that make us escape from stress. It all seems very bucolic; You inherit a farm, plant flowers, decorate rooms or make dream furniture, with the promise of escaping for a few hours from the daily routine. However, that kind of digital refuge has become the materialization of what you wanted to escape from; in a second Google Calendar full of meetings, in a clone of your 9 to 5 job. And ‘Tiny Bookshop’ reaffirms it to us. Released this summer,’Tiny Bookshop‘ quickly became a hit within the crowded category cozy. The premise is clear: you arrive in a small, charming town with your new traveling bookstore project, which you can decorate with hundreds of possibilities. Through your relationship with the neighbors you manage to sell and recommend a large number of books and, in turn, discover all the secrets of the town. This entire initial point is more than striking for fans of the genre (like yours truly). After more hours than I would like to admit, I realized that I had fallen into the gaming trap again. cozy: dedicate hours and hours at a job. Underneath the adorableness of being able to paint everything in pastel tones or recommend ‘Jane Eyre’ to your clients, in the end you find that you have been searching for objects for a while to increase your sales, check the opening hours for the next day and be on the lookout to replenish the shelves with the right genre. You can call this cozybut I call it emulating another workday; and what’s worse, enjoying it. Recommend all kinds of books at ‘Tiny Bookshop’ At the beginning of the 2010s it became quite fashionable, sponsored by the gurus of Silicon Valleya trend called “gamification of work“Through video game or board game mechanics, missions, points or rewards were added within the daily routine of monotonous work tasks. It is worth asking if the cozy games They have done the opposite path, “trafficking” video games. It is true that, as is often the case with these cozy gamesit’s easy to have fun with them and immerse yourself fully in the story. The interactions are adorable, the characters are cute and they have that air of “afternoon movie” that makes them irresistible; but in the end we cannot ignore the fact that we are replicating tasks that we are supposed to escape from, such as spending hours and hours working. And yes, it all depends on the type of player you are and how you manage the objectives of the game, but the cozy games They rarely have to do with something comfortable or warm. We’ve romanticized even paying a mortgage We are not talking about a specific thing that happens with this new release, completing or performing the daily tasks of this style of games can be the least relaxing thing there is. With the pinnacle of the cozy‘stardew valley‘, the day doesn’t last long between milking the cows, collecting the eggs, making jam and going to the mine to get objects. Furthermore, as if it were real life itself, after all these tasks, you have to put on a good face and interact with your neighbors. Something similar happens with another of the big names in the category such as ‘Animal Crossing‘: you have to give objects to your island companions, cut down trees, plant flowers, fish and be attentive to the day the character who is in charge of buying your collection arrives, in order to get money and pay the mortgage. Yes, a mortgage on a beautiful house, but Tom Nook does not forgive the deadlines. After all this, it would be interesting to check the players’ heart rate when their character goes to sleep after completing all those tasks. Spend the day cutting down trees in ‘Animal Crossing’ By becoming something more mainstream and produce some sales more than substantial Since its rise in the pandemic, there are countless games that adopt the “cozy” to capture the public, even when its dynamics move away from what characterizes the genre. It is worth asking if within this label, the greatest exponents should not be games like ‘Abzu‘ either ‘Unpacking‘, where the “you don’t have to do anything” is strictly followed and the objectives do not have a timer. The contemplative and the mechanical is what is essential in these examples, honoring that part “cozy” of mental refuge with peace, serenity and tasks that are repeated over and over again. In fact, there is even metacriticism within this world. ‘Wanderstop‘, a tea shop simulator created by the visionary mind behind ‘The Stanley Parable‘, Davey Wreden. The game ironizes this fact with a character who invites you to attend to customer requests when it seems right to you, without rushing, because the last thing the protagonist needs is it’s more pressure. It is curious that most games cozy They deal with mental health or anxiety, but some have mechanics in line with this and others offer ones that are radically opposite to the feelings they seek to create in the player. The perversion of language, or the excessive use of a label such as “cozy” to sell more copies ends up producing a very specific reality: something is broken when the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about these comforting games is taking care of a farm or a supermarket, watering parsnips or paying for an extension to your house. Productivity as leisure Beyond the mechanics and quality of each of them, the addiction and fanaticism that they generate for us does nothing more than put ourselves in front of the mirror and expose the reality of our daily life: even with our leisure we want to be productive, … Read more

Being a perfectionist at work was a virtue. The obsession with perfection has transformed into toxic productivity

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Imagine feeling that you never do enoughthat every free minute should be used to advance something productive, even if your body and mind ask for rest. This obsession for staying productive every minute of the day, increasingly normalized in contemporary culture, is what Harvard Business Review and other experts they call “toxic productivity“. Avoid her at all costs, it’s everything less productive. Far from being a direct route to success, psychology specialists agree that this approach can have negative consequences for both physical and mental health, and even sabotage the achievements you achieve every day because, as they have revealed different psychological studies it is never enough. Productivity is just an excuse The toxic productivity is also defined as action bias or the tendency to prioritize action over inaction, even when this inaction does not produce any benefit or there is no justification that supports it. In short, it is the constant drive to “do”, often sacrificing physical and mental well-being and personal relationships. Toxic productivity doesn’t just manifest itself in working overtime. beyond the working daybut they also appear feelings of guilt for spending time resting, doing pleasant or social activities. That imbalance in working time limits and the staff makes something that used to be enjoyable now a focus of unnecessary, self-imposed anxiety. According to a study from the University of Michigan’s psychology department links this bias as a form of coping for anxiety or low self-esteem, where “being busy” serves as a distraction from negative thoughts and feelings. According to what was published by Psychology Todaythis type of toxic productivity bias is more common among people with high levels of perfectionism and self-esteem focused on performance. Misunderstood perfectionism This type of constant pressure not only causes exhaustion, but also deteriorates physical and mental health. He meta-analysis by Andrew Hill and Thomas Curran, from the Universities of York and Bath, delve into the effects of this toxic productivity. For example, in their study, they define two dimensions of perfectionism: Perfectionistic aspirations (perfectionistic strivings): having very high goals, wanting to perform to the maximum, seeking excellence, etc. Perfectionistic concerns: fear of making mistakes, obsession with the expectations of others, constant self-criticism, etc. The key is that these two dimensions usually go together in the same person. Someone who demands a lot of themselves (high aspirations) may also be afraid of failing (worries), the result is how to combine fire with gasolineand the result leads to states of anxiety. The worst part is that this dynamic feeds on itself in a continuous cycle of fatigue and more and more work in which you are never productive enough. One of the warning signs that indicates that toxic productivity is deeply established in your life is a progressive time poverty. That is, the feeling that you don’t have enough hours in the day. Different economic studies, such as the elaborate by the La Caixa Foundation have revealed that women (especially those who are mothers) endure a second shift at work, and are more likely to show symptoms of toxic productivity and time poverty. According to the investigations of Slack, there is a direct relationship between establish adequate rest times and increased productivity. Their records revealed that employees who log off at the end of the workday report 20% higher productivity than those who feel obligated to work outside of work hours. Breaking this cycle of toxic productivity involves recognizing and redefining what, on a personal level, is considered success and prioritize breaksself-care and healthy boundaries both at work and in personal time. The magnitude of the problem: exhaustion in numbers In work environments it is usually celebrated when someone seems to never slow down or always have a project in hand, but this rhythm can end up being destructive. In fact, in many contexts, rest is still associated wrongly lazilyand exhaustion is taken as a sign of commitment, a perception that Harvard Business Review consider profoundly wrong. The data is compelling. According to data from the report Global Talent Trends prepared by the consulting firm Mercer in 2024, around 82% of the world’s workforce is susceptible to suffer job burnout or “burnout” due to excessive workloads. This figure demonstrates to what extent the pressure to always be active It affects the majority of working people. He job burnout It goes far beyond occasional tiredness; It is a direct consequence of a culture that values ​​busyness over well-being. In many countriesthis translates into extended hours, workers who They sacrifice weekends and holidays for not knowing set limits between work time and personal time, letting work tasks invade the space intended for developing social, family or personal life. In Xataka | Productivity is not linear: learning to manage its ups and downs makes a difference and these questions will be your lifesaver Image | Unsplash (Paola Chaaya, Vasilis Caravitis)

have been the productivity apps that promised to help you

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There is a tendency to think that the main reason for loss of productivity at work is due to poor time organization or for procrastinating tasks. That is, by leaving pending tasks for later. However, a study carried out by the project management platform Lokalise, has revealed a surprising reason why working hours they don’t give as much of themselves as you would like: too many applications and digital tools are used in daily work. This phenomenon has been called “online tool fatigue” or fatigue due to excess of digital tools. According to the results revealed by the Lokalise survey, when too many messaging, email, data management or project management applications are used, instead of help you be more productivejust the opposite happens and productivity plummets. Impossible to concentrate. According to data from the Lokalise study, based on the opinions of more than 1,000 office workers in the US from different professional sectors, these employees experience constant daily interruptions in your concentration when they receive a message through the work messaging app, they must respond to an email, etc. The data indicates that 17% of respondents switch between tabs, applications or platforms more than 100 times in a single workday. 56% of the workers interviewed assured the platform that tool fatiguesuch as switching between them and notifications, negatively affects your concentration and productivity. Two weeks jumping between applications. On average, this constant switching between applications and attention to notifications causes employees to lose an average of 51 minutes, although 22% claim that the time lost amounts to more than two hours per week. This figure may seem like a small thing, but if this time is added up by all the employees of a company and computed over a full working year, it implies an annual loss of between one week and two and a half weeks of work. non-productive time. All this for something as trivial as clicking on a window to change apps. Too many apps. 55% of participants say they use between three and five computer applications in their daily work, while 31% of employees say they use between six and ten applications to do their work. The usage data collected suggests that productivity tools that consume the most time are the email with 47%, followed by professional messaging apps such as Slack, Teams or Discord with 35%. Surprisingly, video calling tools, on which most meetings are supported, are in third place in terms of time consumed, with 22%. Below 17% there are other more specific applications like the calendarcloud storage systems (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.) or support and assistance systems such as Asana, Jira, Zendesk or Salesforce. Changing apps is like changing tasks. Although it is part of the resolution of a single task, the constant alternation between applications produces a cognitive effect similar to that occurs with multitasking. By changing the graphical environment, functions and operation of each platform, the brain it takes a certain time to process the change, breaking the inertia of concentration that reaches when performing a certain task in one of the tools. This effect of constant change generates mental fatigue and causes the brain to need several minutes to refocus on the main task after each interruption. In Xataka | Psychology has explained why it is so difficult for you to leave a job even if it is toxic: the sunk cost fallacy Image | Unsplash (Swello)

Netflix has 15,000 titles but we end up seeing ‘The Office’ by Quinvez. Productivity apps make us the same

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We have 15,000 titles in Netflix and we end up seeing ‘The Office‘For the fifth time. We have a complete suite of productivity apps on the mobile and we end up writing the tasks in A whatsapp with ourselves. It is the same psychological mechanism working in two different contexts: when you have too many options, your brain is blocked and returns to the known. The world of productivity has fallen into the same trap as the platforms of streaming. They sell us infinite customization as an advantage when it is actually a ballast: Notion It allows you to create any imaginable system. Obsidian has more than 800 pLugins Todoist It has configurations for each micronecessity of your workflow. It sounds great until you realize that you have been configuring the perfect system and you have not completed a task. There is fascinating investigation into this. Barry Schwartz showed That more options not only make us happier, but they paralyze us. Each configuration decision consumes mental energy that you could be using to do real work. And here comes the paradox: We value less systems that come preconfiguredalthough they work better than those we have customized until death. The solution is contraintuitive: The most restrictive systems are usually more productive. Apple, for example, understood it a long time. It doesn’t let you change almost anything from the iPhone, but that’s why it works. Limitation is not a bugIt is one feature. You strength to act instead of optimizing forever. The secret is to choose intelligent restrictions. Instead of looking for the tool that can do everything, Look for what does the three things you really need well. Let’s look at a specific example: task management. Notion allows you to create relational databases with personalized properties, dynamic filters, multiple views and automation. You can categorize by project, priority, context, required energy, responsible person. You can create control panels that show productivity metrics and progress graphics. It is the dream of any obsessive control. But While you build that perfect system, your real tasks accumulate. You spend more time thinking about how to organize the work than working. And when you finally have your masterpiece configured, it turns out that it is so complex that using it requires more mental effort than doing the tasks by hand. Contrasts this with Things 3. You have three drawers: Inbox, today, and someday. Spot. You can’t create custom fields, you can’t do Dashboards Made, you cannot automate anything complex. It seems limited compared to Notion. But precisely because of that it works: you open the app, you see what to do today, you do it, you call it. Zero cognitive friction. The usual lesson: Productivity is not about having more options, but about eliminating irrelevant decisions. Your mental energy is finite. Every minute you spend configuring is a minute you don’t spend creating. The most elegant systems are not the ones that can do everything, but those that make obvious what to do next. In Xataka | In 2001 a productivity method was born that was going to survive everyone else: 24 years later, it is still immortal Outstanding image | Sanjeev Mohindra

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