From Overwhelm to Optimised: Unmasking Productivity Anxiety

What is productivity anxiety?

Productivity anxiety is feeling like you can never do or be enough, irrespective of how many hours you work, things you cross of your to-do list, or how many accomplishments you gain. It’s when you feel like your worth is based on your output, and feel shame or guilt should you do something you consider ‘unproductive’ like rest. 

Productivity anxiety often starts out as a way to avoid our fears. We do more and more as we believe we can stave off whatever we think the worst outcome will be, such as being seen as bad at our jobs, being fired, or being seen as totally useless as a person as what else do we have to give or be measure on outside of  our jobs?

The issue is, the more we do, the more likely we are to burn out and therefore push ourselves into our worst case scenarios as the exhaustion leads to mistakes, which leads to more frantic efforts and more exhaustion and mistakes until the day when… we have to take time off to recover and can’t work at all. 

What to do about it?

If this resonates, my first tip to you is to reframe your relationship with rest.

Rest doesn’t sound like a particularly radical idea but to the person stuck in the “do more” loop, taking rest is always the first thing that gets ignored.

Rest is not unproductive. Our brain functions at its best when we focus for around 45-52 minutes and then have a low activity break of around 15 minutes. This latter period is when our brain starts to regroup and regain the energy it need to do the next task. You may be lounging but your brain is doing the most important work it can. 

Ensure you schedule rest into your daily plan in the way you schedule in work. Ideally every hour. If you haven’t read the blog, click here. 

The more rest you gain the better you will work. 

Remember, this break is not the time for you to check your emails, or switch to another work related task. It is for you to go for a walk around the block, stretch, nurse a cup of  tea, chat mindlessly with a friend, or even stare at a wall - whatever you like to do to clear and calm your mind.

There are other things you can do should you believe your worth is based on your output, but this is a starting point and I don’t want to give you a list of activities that may only fuel your “I need to do more and more and more” drive. Start here, and then: 

I am a Clinical Psychologist trying to get effective psychological advice out of the therapy room and into everyday life.

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Sophie Mort