Essential signs that indicate you have productivity anxiety and ways you can reduce it

Ever stayed up all night to finish a project and regretted the outcome during the presentation? ‘’Maybe it could have been better,’’ ‘’I should have added more details into it,’’ etc., are the kind of thoughts that occupy your mind. Is this because you are a perfectionist and prefer to excel in everything that you do?

The reason behind people wanting to put too much effort can lead to productivity anxiety which relates to a sense of dissatisfaction towards your work no matter how much effort or time you put into it. Besides, it is also characterised by a sense of shame for doing things that you would consider ‘unproductive’.

So even on a day off, you’ll feel guilty for not chipping away at your never-ending to-do list instead of allowing yourself the time and space to rest and recover. This constant need to be ‘doing’ something can quite quickly result in burnout, resentment of your work, or even mental health issues, such as anxiety in other areas of your life. Never allowing yourself to relax or feeling incredibly guilty when you do is a harmful mentality.

Therefore, it is important to identify the signs of such habits and take the necessary steps to reduce them in our lives:

1. You avoid taking rest

If you’ve never spent time doing things you enjoy or taking time to rest because you feel an intense shame about being switched off, then chances are you’re suffering from productivity anxiety. Resting should never feel like a crime and is actually essential to retaining optimal productivity levels.
If you’ve come to this realisation but still find yourself stuck in the cycle of ‘doing’, try to shift your mindset and find the value in taking time off. For example, you can add things like ‘take a bath or ‘spend an hour reading’ to your routine and take a power nap.

2. Constantly doing something or the other

By constantly ‘doing’ things, people feel like they can control the outcome of their careers or their lives. But, if the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that even the things we think we can control, like our careers, are not always the case. Therefore, if you’re someone who thrives off feeling in control of your life, start thinking about control in a different way.

What’s the one way we absolutely can control? Our time. Time is so consistent and never unpredictable, unlike our lives and our careers. As we get older, we see just how valuable our time is, so when you’re constantly in overdrive, take a step back to consider where your days are being spent. We need to consider our time and take control of it, which can be a super empowering thing to do. Set yourself time limits for work or schedule time for self-care or relaxation.

3. Being constantly busy is necessary.

If you feel like you need to constantly be busy to feel valued in your work or life, then you might be a victim of productivity anxiety. The world we live in today places high value on busyness and even praises it. This toxic idea basically highlights that your output is worth more than your values and ambitions. So, many people have, in turn, come to believe that the busier they are, the happier and more valued they will feel.

Instead of thinking and accepting all of the things you ‘can’ do, ‘choose’ the things you want to do because they align with your personal values, morals, and beliefs. This should be the most valuable for any individual. The more people actively involve themselves in this, the easier it will be to shift the world’s internalisations and busyness culture.

4. You have trouble sleeping.

This one is an easy symptom to spot. If you’re struggling to sleep because your mind is actively racing through all the things you need to get done, or you’re feeling guilty that you didn’t get enough done today, the cause could be productivity anxiety.

Sleep is always the first indicator whenever people fall back into this anxiety cycle. While many things can cause sleeplessness, if you notice that your thoughts are pretty specific to productivity shame, you likely need to make the changes listed above and below to get some quality snooze again.

5. A constant sense of dissatisfaction

People who suffer from productivity anxiety will never be satisfied with what they achieve or get done because it will never feel like enough. As a result, they feel the need to be busy constantly and are highly critical of how efficiently they can get through things. And this is generally because they never spend time reflecting on and celebrating what they actually did!

Start looking back weekly or monthly on everything you achieved, and take the time to celebrate how amazing that is and how it’s helping you reach your bigger goals. And if you didn’t achieve all that much, reflect on why that was the case and how you can better move forward.

6. Distractions help you to evade your inner-feelings

If you know you’re suffering from toxic busyness and productivity anxiety, have you ever thought about why? Maybe it’s because you think you need to keep working to be valued, maybe you don’t want to fall behind the crowd, or maybe because it helps to create distractions that allow you to ignore your feelings and emotions.
Many people don’t want to be alone with themselves because with that can come a rush of feelings that they don’t want to or aren’t ready to process. But shutting these emotions down is certainly not the productive thing to do.

Give your feelings space, lean into them and use mindfulness techniques to help recognise them. While you’ll need to set the time aside to work through these, it will bring healing that allows you to succeed even further in your life. Plus, working through your feelings is undoubtedly an achievement!

7. Self-doubt and insecurity

Like how they’ll never be satisfied with their work, those with productivity anxiety will always compare themselves to others. Whatever they do will be nothing in comparison to someone else.

But, the reality is everyone is on a unique journey and at a different stage in their lives. Just because one person can smash through their goals in a few months doesn’t mean you can too. Plus, what’s the point of achieving things that someone else did when it doesn’t align with your inner values and ambitions?

8. Self-worth is equal to achievements.

Our society ties self-worth together with achievements. We praise the high achievers and sympathise with those who don’t or can’t achieve greatness.

But shouldn’t our self-worth stem from our core values, morals, and beliefs? The world might say otherwise, but there’s no better time than the present to shift this narrative. Your self-worth and your achievements are both super important, but the two should never be intrinsically linked.

In conclusion,

There’s so much the body can take without good rest. Self-care is not selfish. It’s also a good use of your time for the next deep work session. So prioritise brain reset, create better work boundaries, break your tasks into manageable chunks and schedule deep work sessions for every task.

And when you start checking them off, plan better breaks in between them. It’s the only way to build a healthier relationship with work. It’s also one of the best ways to reduce productivity anxiety.