Takeaway: We often feel guilty as we work because we question whether we’re working on the best possible thing. Often, this guilt is misplaced. Estimated Reading Time: 1 minutes, 59s.
When it comes to our work, there is always an opportunity cost to our time—the other things we could be making progress on when we choose to do something. When we choose to check our email, there are a multitude of other things we could do instead. When we do the dishes, there are a dozen other chores we could be doing with our limited time.
This opportunity cost increases our level of negative self-talk because it leads us to doubt whether we’re spending our time on the best possible thing. This in turn leads us to feel what I’ve come to think of as “productivity guilt.”
We don’t only feel this with tasks but also with our projects and workload overall. To illustrate this with an example, these days I’m writing a new productivity book while also doing quite a bit of travel to give speeches about my previous ones. (Side note, I’ve been giving more virtual speeches and workshops lately if that’s something you’d like for your team!) I love both writing and speaking, but at times just one of these activities can consume the resources of a full-time job. Because of this, these tasks give me far less time for other things—including writing new articles and newsletters for you and filming a course I think you’ll love. This tradeoff is worthwhile, even if I’ll have to wait to make progress on other things.
On some level, though, I can’t help but think that progress on these other things is happening more slowly than it should.
But: isn’t this always the case with productivity guilt?
If you’re reading this article, you probably already care about prioritizing the stuff on your plate properly. You probably also know what’s important on an intuitive level. Still, though, there’s likely negative self-talk that flies around in your head (productivity guilt) when you consider how you’re unable to fit everything that you’d like.
With only so many hours in the day, guilt naturally arises. When we don’t have enough time for everything on our plate, it’s natural to ruminate on the fact that we can’t accomplish it all.
Fortunately, as I’ve found, there’s a solution to this mental mess. Here’s what works for me—and if you experience this same phenomenon, it’ll probably work for you, too:
- Become aware of the self-talk that is creating productivity guilt;
- Reflect on whether you’re spending your resources the best way possible. I like to do this by asking a simple question: Am I doing what I can?
Sometimes, productivity guilt means we’re working on something unimportant and should be spending our time, attention, and energy better (like by using the rule of three or knowing our most important tasks).
If you’re anything like me though, more often than not, you’ll find that your productivity guilt is misplaced, that you’re already spending your limited resources—your time, attention, and energy—in the best possible way. When this is the case, remind yourself how you’re doing what you can with what you have.
Use the guilt to reflect. Is there anything more you could do to spend your limited resources wisely? Are you working with intention behind what you’re doing? Are there projects you should be cutting back on to reduce your workload? These are valid ways to reduce productivity guilt over time.
But in reality, especially if you made it this far down a long article (in the year 2024), you’re probably doing what you can with what you’ve got.
If this is the case, identify the useless mental chatter for what it is: useless mental chatter, which is a mere reaction to the fact that you have limited resources—and a lot to do with them. Work within the boundaries of your resources, and you’ll stay as productive as you’re capable of being.
Trying to do any more may just lead to more guilt.
