How to avoid feeling guilty for not being productive

Have you ever felt like you weren't doing enough? You seem to be doing everything you're supposed to, but your performance and results are falling short.

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Are you afraid that if you can't exceed expectations, your colleagues will see you as a lazy failure who will never succeed in your career? While you should be celebrating recent wins and accomplishments, you may be constantly on the hunt for the next task. Ultimately, you don't want to look bad to your employer, clients, or peers by doing nothing.

We all experience this from time to time. And, there's even a name for it. It's called productivity guilt.

It's basically a sense of guilt for not meeting your expectations, which leads you to increase the amount of work you do to meet those non-existent (and frankly unrealistic) expectations of hyper- productivity and to avoid giving the impression of doing nothing.< /p>

However, we must accept that we are only human and know when it is enough to succeed in the modern workplace. Not only is this crucial to our long-term professional success, but a healthy work-life balance cannot exist with the guilt of productivity constantly hanging over our shoulders.

So instead of blaming yourself, take some slack. I say. It's easier said than done. But here are some ways to avoid feeling guilty for not being productive.

How to avoid feeling guilty for not being productive

1. Change your mindset.

Productivity guilt is largely a mindset issue. He tells you not to settle for less than perfection. That you need to be constantly busy to be successful. And not to enjoy free time until you finish everything on your to-do list.

So by changing your mindset, you can reduce productivity-related guilt.

As an example of cognitive reappraisal, this strategy involves changing your perspective of an emotionally or psychologically stressful situation. The use of cognitive reappraisal is extremely powerful. Reinterpreting emotional situations is also a method for dealing with emotional situations. Additionally, people who reevaluate have stronger relationships, more positive moods, better responses to stress, and greater psychological well-being.

In the workplace, cognitive reassessment can improve performance, reduce burnout, and increase job satisfaction.

By using cognitive reappraisal, you can reverse your productivity mindset by reminding yourself of the following: Recognize the importance of rest. Seeing rest as beneficial can be difficult. If you take some time to relax, you'll feel better and be more productive when you get back to work. It can even be useful to plan specific moments of rest and relaxation, which will motivate you to continue working while anticipating your break. Rather than focusing on perfection, focus on the process. It is impossible to accomplish everything in a day, a week or a year; there will always be things you cannot accomplish. Place more emphasis on learning and growing in the process rather than trying to accomplish everything you want. Because we expect to accomplish more than we can, unrealistic expectations often lead to productivity guilt. When you accept that you can't complete a project, you'll feel less anxiety and regret afterwards. Consider all you have accomplished. Maybe you didn't have time to respond to emails or write articles as you would have liked. Maybe you helped a family member with a project, picked up a friend whose car broke down, or did household chores. Rather than stressing over the few things you didn't accomplish, focus on the many things you did.

There's no shame in being dissatisfied with the amount of work you do in a day. However, don't let these feelings lower your self-esteem. Missing a...