Your Quest for Productivity Might Be Preventing You From Achieving More

Science-backed ways of not falling into the trap of needing to be productive all the time.

Photo by Icons8 team on Unsplash

If you feel the need to be productive all the time, you’re not alone. But is it necessary to be productive 100% of the time to be successful? Working too hard for too long can lead to burnout, which, as researchers have established, can erode your values, dignity, spirit and will. According to studies, burnout impairs both personal and social functioning, thus contributing to a decline in the quality of work and interpersonal relationships. It’s characterised by three elements:

• Exhaustion: When you feel like you can no longer keep working, no matter how hard you try.
• Cynicism: When you experience a state of fatigue or frustration because your way of life or relationship failed to produce the expected reward.
• Inefficacy: When you start feeling increasingly ineffective on the job.

So, how can you go about being productive, while at the same time, not forcing yourself to work so hard you burn out? This article aims to look at the science behind the productivity trap and what you can do to avoid letting it enslave you.

It’s basic human nature to…