Sometimes we all get
overwhelmed by the immense amount of things that we are said that we should be
doing to live an ideal lifestyle. Right from waking up early in the morning,
exercising regularly, reading more, eating right, meditating often, and whatnot.
Living well may sound exhausting. Just thinking about a long to-do will itself
drain your energy.
Productivity guilt
happens when you feel overwhelmed by all the things that you "should"
be doing. However, you don’t do them.
But still, you have that nagging feeling like you are wasting your time.
Sometimes, a lot of advice on how to live well seems like a burden. If living
well is actually exhausting, what should you do now? Should you just ignore all
the advice of the overachievers or should you beat yourself up for not being
productive?
First, you have to
understand that you cannot do everything that you should do or even want to do.
Unfortunately, we live in a world of finite time. Squeezing everything within
12-14 hours of your day sounds impossible especially if you have a busy job. Therefore, to build a good life you have to
understand that you cannot do everything that is showcased as the attributes to
a good life.
For example, if you
wanted to meditate for an hour then you should be giving up your gym. If you
wanted to read more then you should give up your social life. Life is based on
tradeoffs. Trade your meditation for the gym, trade your reading for a night out. Do
not try to read, meditate, run, and party at the same time. This will only leave
you drained out.
You can decrease
your productivity guilt by using tradeoffs. Have fewer things in your to-do list
so that you do not feel overwhelmed. Also, overwhelming leads to nothing.
Instead of being productive you will only get exhausted and lay down with a bag
of chips!
Okay, what if you
have a lot of time to work on everything that you need to do. But you are not
able to get up and get on with the work. Maybe it's much easier to flop down
and watch Netflix?
Even if your to-do list isn’t so compressed that it’s literally impossible to fit some added
activity in, sometimes you’re just too tired to do all the stuff you should. As
in, you know you could read a book and learn something enlightening, but
randomly scrolling Instagram feels like less work. Getting up and getting
things done requires a lot of will power and Roy Baumeister has developed research-based on this self-control. He says that the view of ego depletion, which basically means exactly this idea: exerting willpower
is hard, it depends on a finite store, and when that store is depleted you
succumb to temptations more easily.
There is also a
research that shows that the way you think of your own willpower affects its depletion. If you
believe that you’re “energized” by doing hard things, you tend not to get
depleted after exerting willpower. If there really were a physical store of
energy, then your beliefs about it shouldn’t affect it. Yet they do.
Therefore, you
should push yourself and believe that you have the energy to dedicate to
complete the task. If you believe so, then you will have the energy to work on
the task.
Also note that there are two types of tiredness you feel when you try to get things done
1. The first
kind of tired is often felt before initiating a task. For example, you feel really tired to go to the gym. However, you push yourself and go to the gym. Your mood instantly changes once you start working out and you also feel glad that you pushed yourself to work out.
2. The second type is the type of tiredness that persists throughout the activity itself. For example, you decide to push yourself to read a hard book. But you feel so bored and draining by just putting effort to continue the book. The second kind of feeling might be something you encourage yourself to do for specific goals, but if your entire life feels that way for weeks at a time, your habits are probably unsustainable.
Be
clear, on the type of task, you are pushing yourself. If you know that you are
going to be glad at the end of the task then push yourself to do it. On the
other hand, if you feel exhausted with the task then it means you are burning
out.
Finally,
live well and choose the best for your own sake, Do not try to do stunts just
to fit in into someone else's ideology of a good life!
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