You’ve done 11 things today and it’s not even noon, but you skip your lunch break because something came up. Now, it’s 5 O’clock and there’s still things on your to do list. You don’t care that you’ve crushed the day, there’s only the 7 things that didn’t get done. It can feel impossible to “clock out” when you have productivity anxiety at work.
Below, you will learn:
- What productivity anxiety is and how it can lead to burnout
- How it impacts your life outside of work
- And the symptoms and strategies to recovery
Let’s dive in.
What is Productivity Anxiety?
Productivity anxiety is a feeling that you can never do enough to feel satisfied with yourself. There’s always more you could have done, more you can do, and more on your to-do list. It is linked to productivity guilt, the shame that drives productivity anxiety.
Productivity anxiety can become so overwhelming that you stop doing things you like. Your life becomes consumed by boring repetitive “productive” tasks that suck the life out of you. There’s no time to relax and recover.
Relaxing isn’t considered important. Instead you drive and drive until you burn out, resent what you’re doing, and begin to have mental health issues.
It results in a constant need to be doing something productive. If you’re not? You feel like a failure. You assume that you need to appear “on” at all times.
How does Productivity Lead to Burnout?
Productivity anxiety at work is a double edged sword. It is both one of the biggest strengths of a high performer, and one of their greatest weaknesses. It leads to doing more and doing it better than others. Taken to the extreme, it also leads to burnout.
The human mind and body are capable of handling extreme conditions. Working 16 hour days, amazing physical feats, and intense concentration. But, there is a balance between extreme conditions and the recovery necessary to sustain them.
Most high performers try to stay on at all times. This can force the nervous system into a highly stressed state. When stuck in a stressed state, you begin to eat away at your being. Eventually, it can get so bad that you no longer enjoy anything in life.
Kind of a sadistic balance where you no longer enjoy your work and you can’t enjoy things outside of work. This leads to overwhelm, hyper productivity anxiety, and extreme burnout.
Learn more about Overwhelm in the workplace
Impact of Productivity Anxiety on Your Life Outside of Work
Productivity can be an avoidance strategy for neglecting emotions, family, and other core values you have.
Sometimes, your home life is not what you want it to be. You may be fighting with your partner, ignoring some frustration, or not showing up the way you know you can.
Productivity is often a simple way for high performers to ignore difficult conversations. Rather than sitting down with your partner to discuss the relationship, you work. It may still feel productive, but it is not the root problem in your life.
You start to fill your days and nights with checking off your to-do list. Your family and core values have to wait because you’re distracting yourself by vacuuming the living room for the third time this week.
Ignoring the big issue makes it bigger. What could’ve been a short chat to get on the same page, turns into an hour long fight. It turns into anger, resentment, and even divorce.
Productivity anxiety can make you neglect everything else in your life until it is all gone.
What are Signs of productivity anxiety?
The symptoms of productivity anxiety at work can be simple to notice, if you know what to look for.
Below we break down 7 symptoms of productivity anxiety:
- Never taking time to rest and recover: When under the gun, it can feel like rest is not going to help you. There’s too much to do and not enough time to do it.
- Mistaking activity for control: Productivity anxiety is often your brain trying to take control of life. By always being active, you can feel like you’re in control of what you do.
- Valuing outputs more than inputs: Putting more focus on achievements instead of the work you do everyday makes it impossible to be satisfied. Even when you earn the promotion, you chase the next thing.
- Poor sleep: The anxiety of not doing enough keeps you up at night.
- You distract yourself from strong feelings: You may be angry at your boss. Instead of talking to them, you bury your head and do more hoping that one day you will get noticed.
- Always comparing yourself to others: A small amount of comparison is good. Yet, when it takes over your life, productivity anxiety follows. It feels like they are always doing more than you.
- Saying “yes” to everything: Even when an activity or project do not align with where you want to go.
Calming Productivity Anxiety with Simple Reframes
Managing productivity anxiety is caused by beliefs that being productive is the most important thing. By reframing how you see productivity, you can lower the anxiety related to it.
Being Busy is Not a Good thingy
It means you have low standards for what work, activities, and things you do. It is the result of weak priorities, low focus, and the inability to say “no” to the things you don’t want to do.
But here’s the secret: Every no is a deeper yes to the things you want. Saying “No, I can’t help you with this for the third time” is a firm “Yes, I need to take time to recover so I can be at my best”.
Business is a sign of laziness. It comes from not having the strength to say no to something and hold your ground.
“Difficult decisions, Easy Life. Easy decisions, Difficult Life” – Stoicism
Focus on doing a small number of things consistently, rather than a bunch of things a couple of times. If you continue to do a small amount of important things, success will follow.
Recovery Destroys Productivity Anxiety
When you’re in the whirlwind, it can feel like taking time to recover is the absolute last thing you need to do.
Never taking time to recover can make physical changes to your brain that impair cognitive and emotional health. That means that ignoring rest can make your brain weaker and your emotions run amuck.
So, make some key changes to your life at see the mental gains that follow:
- Get at least 7.5 hours of sleep. (Some of us need longer, like my wife who sleep 9)
- Switch between mentally and physically challenging tasks, this allows the other to rest
- Unplug for a couple of hours per day. Go on a walk without your phone, read a book, anything to get you away from the stimulus of work and productivity.
By making a few simple changes, you can recharge your battery. A full battery means you can perform at the highest level all the time.
Make the Difficult Decisions to Curb Productivity Anxiety at Work
Decisions are often the biggest cause of avoidance and productivity anxiety. Your boss made a mistake and you need to tell them but they don’t like it when you point things out. Your coworker is being an ass and you want to tell them. You need to decide between your next hire.
These big decisions weigh on you. Instead of facing them, you choose to do other things instead. Your to-do list is getting checked off but you feel no closer to feeling better.
By avoiding the big decisions, you let the anxiety sit, and grow. Next thing you know its 8pm, you’re exhausted, haven’t seen your family, and still dreading the decision. Your emotions still run rampant
Regain your control by making the big decision and moving forward. Your anxiety at work will quickly fade.
Need help with decision making? Check out Why Decision making is Important
Focus on Being the Best Version of You
Productivity anxiety is a result of pushing and pushing for some sort of external reward. You want a promotion, recognition, or to be able to say how much you have done. Meeting these desires is impossible.
And, even if they do, they are short lived. Once you get that promotion, you’ll only want the next one. The “atta boy” from your board or manager feels hollow.
Focus less on performance and focus more on doing what you do well. Knowing that you helped your team by doing your job, is much simpler than trying to help everyone with everything. When the people closest to you, the ones that rely on you, feel how much you care, it’s noticed.
All those hollow accolades will follow.
The Cheat Code for Beating Productivity Anxiety
Productivity anxiety is challenging. It can feel like you’re in a sea of lists and to-dos with no shore insight. That’s where burnout coaching can act as a life preserver.
At The Forge Coaching, we have 10 years of experience with strategies to reduce stress, curbing productivity anxiety, and helping high performers avoid burning out. Finding the right balance between recovery and getting things done is the key to consistency.
So, if you want to level up your recovery and your performance, check out our coaching programs today.
