The puzzle of Productivity Guilt

I am guilty of inducing productivity guilt in others.

A lot of people even ask me how do I manage my time with writing, work, personal time and a bunch of other things.

As much as I wish to say that I am a super human, the fact is that it all boils down to the priorities we set for ourselves and accepting that productivity is personal.

Each one of us are productive in the eyes of others but deep down we all have the guilt for not doing enough.

We feel guilty for not getting up at 4am to miss out on the most productive hours of a day as claimed by highly successful people.

We are guilty of not practicing daily meditation and so not being able to appreciate the multi-dimensional benefits of such a noble ritual.

Okay, I will pause here. This list can go on and I think you get it.

I am referring this productivity guilt that we all have invited into our lives, embraced hesitantaly and have been carrying on our shoulders reluctantly.

Now that you've understood (hopefully) what the productivity guilt is, you might ask me what is the puzzle here.

A lot of people project that they are highly productive by showcasing they are doing multiple things but the reality is they are actually doing lesser number of things which is why they are productive.

So should you pursue less things to be productive? I would argue yes but that might not be universally appealing.

My go to principle for all such adaptive challenges (those which need solutions to be figured out rather than prescribed) is the goldilocks.

We must get involved in just as many number of tasks that they keeps us engaged, interesting and productive.

But the number of tasks should not be too many that we feel overwhelmed and guilty of not being productive.

At the same time they should not be too less number that we feel bored, disengaged and uninspiring.

This is just my approach and I know it is not very straight forward but who said life is easy and simple?

Let me know in the comments what is your solution to the puzzle of productivity guilt.

Check out what I posted on LinkedIn this week:

• Can we CARE at scale?
• A secret for a happy life
• Learning from our mistakes
• What kind of PROs are you following?
• Can AI completely replace humans at work?
• What do you do when your streak is broken?
• Coaching is integral to transforming societies
• CARE for your PEOPLE and they will CARE for YOU

A few interesting articles that you can add to your reading list:

• The Age of AI has begun
• Who is a full stack manager?
• Sustainable talent management is a long game
• The End of Silicon Valley Bank—And a Silicon Valley Myth

Check out?all the previous editions of this newsletter here.