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Understanding Productivity Guilt? How Can You Deal With It?

Productivity Guilt can make you be in spells of doubting all that you are doing. Here’s how you can deal with it


Are you the one who has this constant feeling of wanting to be productive? Someone who is always surrounded by thoughts suggesting that you need to work harder than you are working. Well, it’s not a situation of being burned out and feeling guilty for the same. Instead, it’s a situation where generally due to excess of work, you feel out of the plan and the pending work puts you in guilt. The fact that you have been working doesn’t help you as the pending work makes you feel guilty.

By definition, it is that nervous sensation of constantly wanting to achieve more or see greater results. This sensation is being in a state of believing that you have created, achieved, or worked hard enough for the day as the remaining work always keeps bothering you.

Even after seeing the results, you convince yourself saying “there’s still more to do!” It might also manifest as a feeling of shame when attempting to relax. In most situations, such beliefs arise from within, with no external evidence to support them. Others may see you as a highly productive individual who produces excellent outcomes and contributes significantly to the team or organisation but your self-image is subsequently ‘you feeling guilty for not doing enough.

How to deal with Productivity guilt?

Bash the ‘wanna be perfect’ syndrome

Perfection is a myth. There’s no one who could be absolutely perfect. We all are humans and humans have flaws is a fact. There will be times when you will mistake. There will be days with extreme work pressure. There will be days when you won’t be able to be as productive as you always have been. There will be days that will have extra work than the regular. The person that desires to be perfect in you will force you to feel guilty for the undone things and that’s where the productivity guilt develops. Accepting that you can’t be perfect is the first step in the process. 

Breathe if you have hit 70% of Productivity

Anxiety, sleep problems, and stress are all connected to the pressure and the desire to be 100 per cent productive. You can be extremely productive for several days in a row, but our energy is finite. Even the most innovative, intelligent, and successful individuals have limits. And when you reach the limit, that’s when you start to have the feeling of productivity guilt.

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Keeping away from the law of diminishing returns

According to the law of diminishing returns, introducing a new factor of production leads to smaller improvements in output. It simply means that there can be instances where the perfectionist in you keep doing small changes here and there is a task in an effort to come up with a better version of it. But as the law of diminishing returns suggests, every task comes to a point after which no real returns of the efforts can come.

Take feedbacks for your work

If in any way, you are having productivity guilt, then to be get rid of it, take feedback for your work from your team. Ask them if you are working adequately or not. Ask them if there’s anything else that you need to do. If your teammates are satisfied by your performance then it’s clear. You are working sufficiently. And if they give any feedback, acknowledge and work on it.

Well, it’s very important to give yourself credit for your work. It is of utter significance to feel content and enough after doing every task. To deal with your productivity guilt, you need not look at what’s left but count what you have done.

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Ishika Aggarwal

Can write, shoot, listen, talk and procrastinate. A feminist at heart, Ishika is an avid writer and multimedia person who loves talking about women, realism, and society. When not working she is either seen watching films or making one.
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