With the collective reset of a new year — and after the sluggishness of the holidays — you might be thinking that it’s the perfect time to recommit yourself to productivity. No more mind wandering, you might declare, no more distractions. But before you go searching for the next greatest tool for focus and optimization, consider that for generations, people were already pretty effective at getting stuff done. “One hundred and fifty years ago, if we were on farms, sun goes down, you’re done,” says Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, “or the factory whistle blew and you got to put down your tools and go home, or more likely, go to the bar.”

These days, in a digitally connected, always-on world, there’s no end point to your day, no upper limit to what you can accomplish. The pressure to constantly perform is exacerbated by an industry that profits from scheduling tools, distraction blockers, and intricate journals and organizers.

Here’s a secret: There isn’t one “hack” or secret to ultimate productivity, one way to get it all done. Each person has unique systems and approaches to get their work done, so one influencer’s in-depth morning routine (which is also … their job) may be constructive for them but a time suck for you. Instead, experts say, tried-and-true methods are more effective than anything billed as a revolutionary new fix. “Computers can’t make hard work less hard to do, no matter how intricate their systems,” Cal Newport, a Georgetown University professor and author of Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, says in an email. “Some of the most productive people I know use the most basic tools; e.g., a........

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