Productivity Guilt Explained: How to Work Smarter Without Burnout

If you ever feel guilty for not doing enough, not doing it fast enough, or not having something visible to show for your work, you’re not alone. Productivity guilt is real—and it impacts high performers, perfectionists, and strategic thinkers the most.

In this episode of The Career Refresh, Jill breaks down: 

• The two most common ways productivity guilt shows up
• Why invisible work triggers anxiety
• How perfectionism fuels guilt (and how to break that loop)
• The difference between perfectionism and professionalism
• Why managing your mindset is the key to feeling accomplished

Chapters

• 0:01 Welcome And Topic Framing
• 0:10 The Pressure To Always Produce
• 1:45 When Work Is Invisible
• 3:29 The Sneaky Voices Of Guilt
• 5:29 Perfectionism Versus Professionalism
• 6:52 Why We Confuse Rest With Laziness
• 7:53 Know Your Rhythm And Energy
• 9:12 Build Systems That Fit You
• 10:01 Schedule Work To Calm The Brain
• 11:02 Imagine The Future Feeling Done
• 12:01 Don’t Aspire To What Harms You

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hi, welcome back. I'm Jill Griffin, your host of the Career Refresh. Today we are talking about productivity guilt. All right. I hear a lot of this where we put so much pressure on ourselves, our teams to constantly produce, produce, produce. We want to prove our value. And it's important to showcase your value, but prove your value has a little bit of a different energy there. And we want to keep up with whatever imaginary pace we think everybody else is operating at, right? We are judging other people's outsides by our insides. We think we need to keep up that same pace. And in some environments we do, but for the most part, what I'm seeing is this push for productivity, which after years of coaching leaders, running workshops, building content, hosting this podcast, I can absolutely slip into moments where I feel like I am not doing enough. I'm not doing it fast enough. I'm not producing something that's visible yet that others can see. So what did you do today? What do I have to show for my work product? Right. I get it. I get it. And I spent years working in global strategy for well-known brands. And you could spend a lot of time doing research or having conversations with uh potential consumers or doing focus groups where there isn't a work product yet. There isn't a creative or an execution or a piece of content yet to showcase everyone. And that's where I find people fall into. When we're not sometimes producing something that's visible that others can see, we suddenly feel like, well, I'm not doing enough. So I find that this shows up in lots of sneaky ways, and we are gonna dig into it all today. All right, let's do it. So the guilt shows up in sneaky ways. It can be feeling bad that you didn't get it done, worrying that you didn't get enough done. It can be thinking that you're always supposed to be doing more, feeling like in order to rest or to pause or to have a night off, that you have to earn it. And it can be feeling really uncomfortable when your work, like I said, is strategic or it's invisible until it's visible, or if you're writing, right? It takes a while before you can show something to somebody else, maybe before there's actually some meat there to show somebody. And that's where it hits so hard. Our modern thinking has us in this place where work is often thinking or cognitive work, but we confuse that with work that again has this physical output. So strategy, planning, analyzing, prepping, data analysis, writing code, sometimes the output isn't always tangible and you can't hold it up as proof. Or we live in this world on the other end of the stick, which loves receipts, updates, deliverables, progress notes, photos, behind-the-scenes clips. Everything becomes visible. And when your work isn't necessarily visible, you can start to question whether or not what you're doing or how you spent the day counts. My clients feel it. I know I have certainly felt it, and I'm guessing many of you have too. So productivity guilt can sound like in your head, let me know if these feel true for you. Something must be wrong because I can't get everything done. Other people seem to be doing so much more. Other people are being invited or included, right? And it's based on that, yes, they may have connections, but it's because they've done something. It's the belief that they've done something that they're being given a different opportunity than you are. And sometimes that might be true, but I would just pause before we let our brains run off on a wild tangent if it really is true. Um, this idea that you have a weekend and therefore you could use it to get ahead, get ahead of some work. Um, or this idea that I don't want people to think I'm slacking, so it can fall into presenteism, right? You want to stay on the teams or the slack, you want to make sure that you're still there for a while to make sure that you know people know that you're not goofing off, right? And this is rooted in this belief, again, that our work product has to be visible. I also want to talk about my friends, the perfectionists. So lean in. Perfectionists tend to get hit really hard with this because perfectionists say is do it perfectly or don't do it at all, which can lead to delay. It leads to guilt, right? And perfectionism, it's a lie because you can't possibly get it all done. So you're trying to make it perfect. There's like an untruth in that, right? And then this guilt that you should have been doing something different starts to lead to comparison and you're in this cycle that repeats. There's a quote that's been contributed to Dolly Parton. I know, kind of random. I mean, I think she's a national treasure, but I don't know that this is actually something she said, but it was hard to find whether or not she didn't say it. And it's what she says is that perfectionism is about approval, and professionalism is about excellence. So professionalism lets you finish things. Perfectionism keeps you stuck. So where does the productivity guilt happen? Well, we're taught very early on that work gets rewarded and that if there's any rest, we're lazy. So if there's almost no narrative around the reward that comes from rest or pause or creativity, then we're trained to celebrate the grind and not the recovery. So, what do you want to do about it? All right. Well, we want to break the pattern. First, I want you to know your own rhythm. Your brain has its own timing and its own texture. People sometimes thrive under pressure, and sometimes people do not do well under pressure. Some want routines, some don't want routines, some lack spontaneity, others don't. The the I know with my own brain, like I need a long period of time to be able to like meditate and get into my like thinking vibe before I can actually get to be creative and get into the flow. There's no universal path, there's no best way. It's your way. Your brain is the method. So notice what is your rhythm. Then I want you to notice what actually works for you. So instead of copying someone else's approach, really think through well, when are you at your best? How long can you focus? What drains you? What replenishes you? What motivates you? Yes, there is data that says that our brains work best in 90-minute sprints with a 15-minute break, right? That's been proven. But your brain, that may not be right for your brain. So really figuring out what is best so that you notice what actually works for you. I'm not an early morning person and I'm not an evening person. I'm an afternoon person. So, based on that, I like to get some strategy done late morning, right? Not 9 a.m. If I could do it like 11 a.m. or 12, that would be perfect for me. That's the way my brain works. And knowing that over the years, and how do you then prepare your work accordingly? So your personal data, the information you have on yourself is going to be more valuable than whatever book or hack tells you. Yes, I can give you tons of suggestions. You can go back through former podcasts and also see tons of suggestions. There are books out there. But just because it says it, I don't want you to now use that as like, oh, I should be doing it this way or it's wrong. That's not what this is about. That's not gonna get you. That's more guilt, right? And the guilt isn't gonna get you to a solution or an answer or to creativity any faster. So I want you to schedule your work versus reacting to it. Again, looking at your day. This one can be huge. If you have something hanging over your head, your brain might spin. The moment you schedule it, even if it's days ahead, there's data that shows that your nervous system calms down. So if you've decided that, you know what, it is really better for you to carve out that Sunday afternoon, which is not typically a work day for you, because you want to get ahead, then do it. Fine, go for it. But have it on as something that's on the calendar that you're working with instead of reacting to. Because when you're in that reaction, it's really hard to think clearly because then you're in the reaction and you're not thinking clearly. I don't keep long to-do lists. I put my task and the things that I need to do directly in my calendar. Because a to-do list, I'm using that notebook, I'm using a notes app. Did I put it in my Notion? I was using Evernote for a while. Like, I'm not chasing down my to-do list. I now just put it right into my calendar. That's what works best from me. So if it's in my calendar, it means that I know I'm doing it at that point, or I'm free to do something else. I want you to imagine a future that feels better, knowing that procrastination is really fear. It's fear that you're not going to do it, you're not gonna have the idea, that it's not gonna be good enough. We often resist tasks because we're imagining a future that feels worse or harder or overwhelming than where we're at right now. So I want you to pause and really think about shifting that, right? This is about imagine what it feels like after it's done. Lighter, clearer, spacious, free time, playtime, whatever it is. That's that teeny dopamine hit that you need. That if you go into the future, imagine what it's like to feel done, then you're calmer or clearer or lighter, then you come create from that feeling, right? Because our thoughts create our feelings and our feelings create our results. So we always want to be thinking about how what is the feeling we're using as fuel as we're going through things and we're creating what's next. And then don't aspire to what harms you, right? This is a mistake that a lot of people make. They try to force themselves into someone else's system, someone's routine, another productivity method or discipline, but it doesn't work for you. It doesn't work for you, right? And this is where working with a mentor, a therapist, or a coach can be really invaluable, someone who can help you sort of untangle your thoughts, what works for your brain, offer you suggestions, but not as in how to, as in give it a try and see. See what actually works with you. I've over the years worked with quite a few neurodivergent um individuals who have found the safety and the container of working with a neutral third party like myself to help them create what it is that they need to create, especially if they have um like an ADHD approach to the way that they approach their work or a diagnosis, that it's easier to do it with a neutral third party than it is to do or hear from a boss, a peer, a colleague, a roommate, someone who's like shooting all over them, right? That's what we want to get to. We want to find a neutral third party that can really help us untangle our thoughts, how we approach things, and then create patterns and work styles that really work for you. All right, friends, short and sweet. That's what I have for you this week. I would love to hear how productivity, if you have guilt around it, how it shows up for you. Email me at hello at JillGriffincoaching.com. You know, I will get back to you. I'll even bring your questions on the show if you have them. Before I go, I want to ask you, who are you getting your support from? Because I would love to help you. Again, all my information is in the show notes, or you can go to my website, Griffin Method or Jill Griffin Coaching.com and get all the information there. All right, friends, I appreciate you so much. Stay in Possibility and always be kind. I'll see you soon.