In today’s world, several fashions, habits and activities have been formed around productivity. For managers and employees, this seems like a very desirable goal – that only self-development will help achieve it. In fact, everything is much more complicated! In addition to efficiency, problems can arise from such a fundamental course: dissatisfaction with oneself, lack of attention to what was done, and the ensuing results.
We begin to reach for social approval instead of personal development. What we don’t seem to understand is, productivity does not always mean productivity – it can be an illusion of being busy or rushing somewhere without being sure where.
Ideally, any self-development should start with discovering oneself, one’s purpose and values in life, understanding the reasons for doing something and identifying personal success criteria. This approach helps achieve more efficient results due to correct planning and knowing how to take advantage of your strengths. The main idea here – everything should be balanced: no obsession with efficiency and productivity and spending time only with the pleasant.
Productivity is not Always Productivity
Productivity is multifaceted; it includes different aspects: from the speed of information processing to creative activity. In fact, there are two types of productivity that are very important in business:
- Time Productivity: How much time do you need for a given result? There is a principle: “You can do everything as long as you prioritise time correctly.”
- Output Productivity: What is the result of your activities? The principle here is: “If it takes too much effort, then maybe it’s not worth doing?”
In fact, productivity in this sense means achieving more with less. But from the point of view of self-improvement, productivity means to achieve more thanks to better organisation of work and life balance.
Therefore, for each person’s task, a project plan must be developed that includes time management and deadlines. It is advisable to divide the tasks into those that require maximum effort and those that can be done quickly.
In addition, we often have an unrealistic picture of the “peak” performance that can be achieved. If you try to use your potential fully, rest becomes a luxury because it is necessary to pump yourself up for new achievements constantly.
Self-development Starts with Understanding Oneself
Self-development should start with discovering oneself. Only this will allow us to achieve success in life and business without unnecessary effort by taking advantage of our innate abilities and talents and knowing how to work productively. And here are some self-development tips:
- Define personal values and develop them through daily activities: A sense of self-worth and a clear understanding of the reasons behind our actions lead to more productive results. For example, if we value friendship, each meeting with a friend is an investment into your future because this is an opportunity to strengthen relationships and grow through communication.
- Explore one’s talents: Most people realise what they can do from childhood. But life puts us on different platforms where it turns out that you need to learn something. In this case, the desire for self-improvement is driven by curiosity, which allows you to take advantage of any situation in your professional development.
- Know yourself: Knowing how much effort you have at your disposal can contribute towards achieving maximum efficiency instead of wasting energy on unnecessary things. In addition, it is necessary to set for yourself a goal that will motivate you to move forward and work more productively.
Productivity and Depression: What’s the Link?
The fashion for productivity and self-development does not always lead to positive results, especially if they cause people to be constantly dissatisfied with themselves. They do not notice the work done and the results achieved, leading to a constant chase after others for social approval.
In this case, we begin to feel overwhelmed by the situation: from professional life because of overwork from staying awake late into the night, from personal life because of constant desire for perfection. Every day becomes torture as there are daily problems at work or lack of understanding at home. The result is a continuous state of depression.
What can you do if you are in this challenging situation? Here are some tips that may contribute to your self-development:
- Understand that perfection is not achievable: It can be approached but never achieved: for this, you need to understand what exactly is causing overload and try to change it.
- Understand that life has its ups and downs, which will pass: Life is full of pleasant moments, but there are times when the sun disappears. It’s no use to complain about how bad things are going because people live well thanks to highs rather than lows. Life must be understood as a whole.
- Take care of yourself: Find time for yourself, spend more time with your family since problems arise when communication breaks down at home between partners or parents/children. This can lead to frustration which leads to stress. The result will also affect your professional performance because you become inefficient at work too.
MAnage Excessive Productivity and Self-development
One of the most common problems in today’s world is the desire to improve oneself constantly. Without even sleeping or eating, people are ready for anything to get better results at work and make their friends envious of them on social networks.
But this leads to depression and constant dissatisfaction with ourselves, which seriously doesn’t benefit our health or professional life. The fashion for productivity requires people to constantly feed information into their brains, listen attentively if there is something interesting every moment because only then will they know how many new words are learned each day instead of taking an hour off during lunchtime when you can eat tasty food with your family in peace and quiet instead of having a phone glued to your ear listening someone who is talking about something else.
People should learn to switch off from work, step back and do something else that is not connected with the office. This will allow them to keep their creative ideas in mind without being too tired after spending 8 hours sitting in front of a computer screen.
Achieving self-development requires people to stop for a while to enjoy life, not strive so hard to get better than others, or be more successful because this does not help. Everyone needs his own time to rest, relax and feel good regardless of what happens around him.
The main thing is your ability to live, irrespective of whether you are successful or not. It’s no use chasing impossible goals because then there will only be disappointment instead of feelings of satisfaction when you achieve your goals. The fashion for productivity and self-development is a dangerous illusion that will be visible to everyone after a while.
How to make your Work Productive and Self-development Friendly
The key is in the satisfaction of work and balance between professional and personal life. It is essential to understand yourself and know your abilities and limitations to optimise time when working at home or in your office.
This will also be a good lesson when learning what you should do when faced with problems that cannot be solved because then you will feel satisfied when you solve them instead of feeling like a failure who didn’t deal with the situation correctly. The pursuit of success and self-improvement requires us to live in the moment, enjoy it and not overdo everything we do all day long, making our lives miserable – especially by chasing after others for social approval.
How not to Obsess over the Fashion for Productivity and Self-development
People who constantly strive to achieve self-development and productivity look around and compare themselves with others. But yet they do not notice what they have done so far or how much effort they put into this.
The result is a constant dissatisfaction with yourself because there is always someone better than you in some sense. People believe that chasing such goals will lead them to success, but the opposite happens when there is stress and frustration, which causes people to lose weight, sleep poorly, or feel sick too often.
If you want to stop the obsession with your job performance and personal development, then consider these valuable tips:
- Set realistic goals for yourself without imposing unnecessary restrictions on yourself even though you wanted more. You should give yourself enough time for rest and leisure so you can enjoy life and relax.
- Balance your activity so that you don’t always work because it is very difficult to see what good this brings when there is excessive stress and lack of rest. You should take a break and do something else than work because only in this case will you be motivated and ready to start working again.
The Bottom Line
Indulging in productivity and self-development is fine, but only when they are done correctly while people understand what they really need. That way, they will be more motivated to achieve their goals, which brings satisfaction and confidence in your abilities.
Author: Charles Normandin – Writer
Photo credit: Analogicus from Pixabay
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