The lazy person's guide to productivity

Let’s get one thing straight: being productive doesn’t mean grinding 24/7. In fact, the smartest people aren’t working harder, they’re automating the boring stuff so they don’t have to.

If you’re tired of feeling like productivity requires a 5AM wake-up call and a color-coded planner, you’re in the right place. This guide is for everyone who wants to get more done without actually doing more. We’re talking about automations that take seconds to set up and run themselves.

That’s where IFTTT (If This Then That) comes in. It connects your apps and devices so they work together automatically. Control your smart home from bed, save photos without uploading them manually, or track spending without opening a budget app. IFTTT handles the tedious stuff so you don’t have to.

Start a free trial of IFTTT Pro and can automate everything from your smart home to your spending tracker to your music library. You’ll look incredibly organized and on top of things, when really you’re just letting automation do the work.

We've got six ways to be productively lazy. One-time setup, lifetime benefits.

Why lazy productivity is actually genius

Here's the thing: your time and energy are limited. Every manual task you do, turning off lights, uploading photos, tracking expenses, is time you're not spending on things that actually matter.

The laziest approach is often the smartest one. Set up an automation once, and it works for you forever. No reminders, no mental load, no forgetting. Just automatic productivity that makes you look like you have your life together.

Six ways to be productively lazy

1. Stay cozy, stay in control

Who wants to get out of bed to turn off the lights? Or remember to turn them on when you get home from work? Not you, and honestly, not anyone.

Use the Button widget to control your lights with one tap on your phone. Cozy in bed and ready to sleep? Turn everything off without moving. Want mood lighting for a movie night? Done, without getting up.

You can also turn your lights on every day at a certain time. Set it once, and your lights automatically turn on when you get home or when the sun sets.

2. File it and forget it

Manual file organization is a productivity killer. You take a photo, then you have to remember to upload it, organize it, and name it properly. By the time you get around to it, you've taken 50 more photos and given up entirely.

Use the Camera widget to instantly save photos to Dropbox. Snap a picture of a receipt, whiteboard, or anything you want to remember, and it automatically goes to the cloud. No selecting files, no uploading, and no organizing later.

Got handwritten notes you want to keep? Save your handwritten notes to OneNote automatically. Take a photo of your notes and they are digitized and stored where you can actually find them later. No more losing that brilliant idea you scribbled down three weeks ago.

3. Track your spending from the couch

Budgeting sounds responsible, but manually tracking every purchase? Exhausting. Good news: you don't have to.

Get a weekly spending digest from Monzo sent straight to your email. See exactly where your money went without opening the app or doing math. It's accountability without the effort.

Want to save money but keep forgetting? Add money to your savings account with one tap using the Button widget. No logging into your banking app, no transferring between accounts manually. Just tap, and your savings grow automatically.

4. Stay smart without the scrolling

You want to stay informed, but who has time to read every blog post, article, and newsletter that lands in your inbox?

Get AI-generated summaries of RSS Feed posts delivered to your email as they're published. Scan what's new in seconds and decide what's worth reading in full. Your favorite blogs, condensed into digestible updates.

Want to keep up with multiple sources without the overwhelm? Automatically save RSS feed posts to Instapaper so everything you want to read later lives in one place. No more hunting through bookmarks or browser tabs, it's all waiting for you when you're ready.

5. The song you heard? Already saved

Ever hear a song you love and immediately forget to save it? Or watch a YouTube video with an amazing track and have no idea how to find it later?

Automatically save newly Shazam-ed songs to Spotify. Every time you Shazam a track, it gets added to a playlist without you doing anything. No more "what was that song again?" moments.

You can also add songs from videos you like to a Spotify playlist. When you like a YouTube video with great music, the song automatically gets saved. Your playlists build themselves based on what you're already watching.

6. Know where your time goes, automatically

Time tracking is useful, but manually logging hours? Forget it. Let location do the work for you.

Log how much time you spend at specific locations like the office or home in a Google Sheets spreadsheet. Your phone already knows where you are, might as well use that data to see where your time actually goes.

You can also track your work hours in iOS Calendar based on location. When you arrive at the office, it logs the time automatically. When you leave, it marks the end of your workday. Perfect for anyone who needs to track time without constantly checking the clock.

Get started in minutes

You don't need to implement all six of these at once. Pick the one that'll save you the most hassle and start there. Maybe it's the smart home controls so you can stay in bed or the spending tracker so you stop wondering where your money went.

IFTTT makes it simple: use already published Applets or create custom workflows in seconds. No coding, no tech expertise, just pick your trigger and action.

Remember, being lazy about the small stuff means you have energy for the big stuff. Automate the boring parts and reclaim your time for what actually matters.

Start a free trial of IFTTT Pro and start automating!