Anxiety about not being productive enough

[marmotamonax]

I've had this lingering feeling that I'm not being as productive as I should be, and am looking for feedback to uncover the superficial and deeper issues at stake.

Here are some of the things that are bouncing around inside my head about the subject:

1. Creating an imaginary "productive person" - I'm a freelancer, and work in isolation most of the time, so I honestly don't know if I'm being a lot more productive than I think I am. I've worked with others in the past who seemed really productive in specific areas of my field, so I'm sure part of the issue is comparing myself to them.

2. Need to learn to type faster - I never learned to touchtype, and developed my own form of touchtyping that allows me to type fast, but not nearly as fast as I'd like to. Any recommendations on good (preferably free) programs to teach myself touchtyping?

3. Setting realistic goals - I often imagine that I can achieve more in a day than I actually do or wanted to, so I'm wondering if setting realistic goals is a part of the issue as well.

4. Where do I draw the line? - Being as productive as possible seems like a lifelong pursuit, so at what point does one draw a line in the sand and accept themselves as a productive person?

[Peek]

How many thing do you get done in a day, and how many do you think should be done in a day? And I mean really finished.

This sounds like a' I want to be productive, while I need an excuse for procrastinating' to me. -I've been there,-


If you want to win tour de France you need to go day by day, not try to win the whole race in once.

And do not waste time with those who want to win Wimbledon. It is a different game.

Keep going,

[Brutha]

3. Setting realistic goals - I often imagine that I can achieve more in a day than I actually do or wanted to, so I'm wondering if setting realistic goals is a part of the issue as well.

Realistic short term goals are very good because archiving them creates a motivation boast that brings you forward.

4. Where do I draw the line? - Being as productive as possible seems like a lifelong pursuit, so at what point does one draw a line in the sand and accept themselves as a productive person?

The notion is flawed. Successful people don't seek to become more productive because they see a problem with being unproductive but because they enjoy to grow and to become better.
You Can?t Set Goals to Fix Your Flaws Scott H Young is a good article on the problem.

[IEvo]

'Productive' is also an entirely relative term. Your definition of productive will not be your neighbour's, and thus only you can decide when you are truly being productive and when you are not. As Brutha said, setting a goal to 'be productive' is not a good path to walk.

Making progress and moving towards your goals because you are passionate about them and because you desire the end result is a much better path to being productive.

In terms of actually moving towards those goals, taking small (Sometimes seemingly insignificantly small.) steps will help you achieve what you want to achieve. The key to working through goals you set for yourself is making working on them a habit.

For example, I have a goal of editing a book. To start with I did something easy, something that seemed insignficantly small and easy to start my habit rolling. I edited one page a day, but I promised myself to edit the book every single day. As time went on I found myself editing more than just the page of my own accord, but I always edited every day.

It just starts to snowball after a while. You start to like it-- to love it, even. And building the habit is so easy because when you start out it takes almost no effort at all.

The key is not to throw yourself into this ball of goals all at once, because you'll fail. A lot. And that will likely discourage you and land you exactly back where you are currently. Take it one small step at a time and those small steps will evolve by themselves, easily. Try it. You've nothing to lose.

[Brutha]

Mind Hacks: The illusion of progress lights a fire is a nice article to read with the question: "What happens when we set our goals to high to archive them?"

[Angelique]

Originally Posted by Brutha

The notion is flawed. Successful people don't seek to become more productive because they see a problem with being unproductive but because they enjoy to grow and to become better.
You Can?t Set Goals to Fix Your Flaws Scott H Young is a good article on the problem.

Originally Posted by Brutha

Mind Hacks: The illusion of progress lights a fire is a nice article to read with the question: "What happens when we set our goals to high to archive them?"

Great articles. Thanks!

[Mondrian]

Originally Posted by marmotamonax

I've had this lingering feeling that I'm not being as productive as I should be, and am looking for feedback to uncover the superficial and deeper issues at stake.

Here are some of the things that are bouncing around inside my head about the subject:

1. Creating an imaginary "productive person" - I'm a freelancer, and work in isolation most of the time, so I honestly don't know if I'm being a lot more productive than I think I am. I've worked with others in the past who seemed really productive in specific areas of my field, so I'm sure part of the issue is comparing myself to them.

2. Need to learn to type faster - I never learned to touchtype, and developed my own form of touchtyping that allows me to type fast, but not nearly as fast as I'd like to. Any recommendations on good (preferably free) programs to teach myself touchtyping?

3. Setting realistic goals - I often imagine that I can achieve more in a day than I actually do or wanted to, so I'm wondering if setting realistic goals is a part of the issue as well.

4. Where do I draw the line? - Being as productive as possible seems like a lifelong pursuit, so at what point does one draw a line in the sand and accept themselves as a productive person?

I can relate to this as I'm looking at similar issues in my life at the moment. My thoughts:

1. Working alone, does one not tend to get wrapped up in ones own thoughts and to believe their perspective to be a truthful account of how things actually are? Comparison is an issue but is it not an idea of others that we compare ourselves with? This isn't helped by the expected social norm that we are all either highly productive or should be. Do we make out to others that we are more productive than we are while they make it seem to us that they are highly productive? Is the result an unrealistic idea of what productivity is and what we ought to be?

2. I wouldn't have thought expert level touch-typing skills would be particularly useful to anyone but a professional typist.

3. I think one has to be careful setting goals because one can make a loser out of his or her self psychologically if the goals are not scored. Is it a good idea to reduce the working life to a game of football like this.

4. A point I've heard Steve and Bustin Loose book make is that goals have to be precisely defined to be achievable. E.g. we can never achieve the goal of becoming as productive as possible because we could always be a little more or a little less productive.

[PaulDJ]

If you'd like some truth about exactly how productive you are, you could create a log documenting exactly what you've done throughout the day. There's a good article on Lifehacker about this:

Geek to Live: Quick-log your work day