How to Overcome Productivity Guilt
As a Lifehacker reader, you probably spend part of your life actively trying to live a better life. This may look like a lot, but it usually involves striving to be as productive as possible. However, the constant pursuit of productivity can be stressful.
If, in your quest for productivity, you start berating yourself for everything you do n’t: stop! Blogger Scott H. Young has been writing productivity tips for over a decade, and in a new post ( via Postanly ) he spoke out about “productivity guilt,” admitting that blogs like his have something to do with why it exists:
It’s a constant aching feeling that you should be doing more. And if you don’t do everything, then you are a lazy bum who will never achieve your goals.
This is simply not true. Even small efforts have a cumulative effect. So even if you are not getting up at 4 AM for a non-meditation session, doing some high-intensity workout and polishing an activated charcoal smoothie, here’s how you can get rid of your guilt.
Be imperfect
Nobody is perfect – not even the people you admire the most. Many of them are probably unhappy with their accomplishments at some level or have things they never get to. As Young writes, the reality is that we cannot really implement all of the existing life hacks. There is simply not enough time during the day:
Old ideas that I wrote about are being replaced by new ones. Not always because the new is better than the old, but because I am constantly changing (like you). If instead you see that everything I’ve written about is a static and permanent part of who I am, when you sum it up, you end up with something that is probably unmanageable altogether.
If something falls by the wayside, it probably didn’t serve you the way you need it, or you found something else that works better. And if there’s an aspect of your productivity that you think worked, just take it back. It is better to do a little than not to do it at all.
Understand the lack of perfection
But it’s hard to give up our ideals. Young says the next step is to realize that being perfect is not even desirable, because “taking things to a logical extreme or conclusion is often not very good.” If you did everything that you are advised to do in order to lead a flawless, productive life, you would have almost no time to simply live, no matter how efficiently it is done. The net worth of all this work will go down, as will your quality of life. Rather than trying to do whatever is suggested to you, just pick a few basic things:
Separate what is from what is important. Most of the tips are good to have – they help, but only partially. If you can focus on the important things that matter to your few goals, then you can stop feeling guilty about everything else.
Start where you are
Often what motivates productivity is a sense of competition with someone you think is way ahead of you. Trying to catch up with them is the wrong mood, because then we are always looking at this gap. The gap is felt as a lack in ourselves and in our lives. Look at yourself instead:
The question never arises: “What should I do ideally to solve this problem?” Instead, it is always asked, “How could I have done something a little differently than last time to get slightly better results?”
The only thing you have to do is take one step: it’s productive enough. And even if that bothers you, you may just need to stop and smell the roses. Not everything needs to be done right now.
What is productivity guilt? (And how to prevent this?) | Scott H. Young