Today’s WorthWorkin4 Wednesday blog post touches about toxic productivity and how you could be a victim of it. So, this is what toxic productivity looks like in the life of a woman with a perfectionist mindset: Often enough in our personal and professional life, we have felt the need to get more done in less time! We want to be efficient, tick off more things from our to-do lists, and get them done in the most perfect ways.
Aren’t we pushing ourselves to be relentlessly productive 24/7? We are not actually being productive; we are, in fact, victims of the mindset of toxic productivity. This kind of mindset emerges when you have been raised in a culture of urgency. You have studied in institutions or have been working for an organization or clients that glorify productivity that is unhealthy.
Alongside, we choose to run our homes and personal lives in the same manner. Each day and every week, we try to pack in more and more tasks to take care off.
Despite feeling harried, frantic, pressurized, we continue to push ourselves forward! We jump to a challenge every time because we have been fed with the notion, that if we are not 100% productive all the time, then we are lazy, unambitious and a burden. We are made to feel that we are bringing down everyone’ morale and performance in our team and in homes and holding them back. We are made to feel that we are bringing a negative energy and vibe to the group by choosing to go at a low pace. Consequently, just to feel that we are bringing in our 100%, we push ourselves relentlessly to the brink of exhaustion.
Here is How a Toxically Productive Mindset Thinks…
You would ask yourself:
But isn’t this pressure for our own good?
I get more done this way!
I will be able to get ahead, make progress on my goals!
I feel more accomplished personally and professionally!
If the answer is yes, then let me ask you:
How long is this mindset and this progress sustainable?
How long would it be till you start to feel pressurized, stressed and harried?
Here is how toxic productivity negatively impacts you, your mindset, health, relationships and your life.
Top 5 Signs of Toxic Productivity
These are the top 5 characteristics of a toxically productive mindset:
Impossible Expectations
You start setting high standards for yourself and for others in an attempt to be hyper productive. Your high expectations from yourself and others make you gauge every moment through the lens of perfection and progress.These standards are hard to meet, and w the other person is unable to meet them, when that perfection and progress isn’t there, you feel let down and disappointed.
Impatience
You feel that others who are going with their own flow are slow and dragging you down. This makes you irritable and incapable of doing team work.
Missing out on the Unexpected
You are taught to keep the end result in mind, so you singularly continue to focus on it, while missing everything in between, the minute details, the detours and the unexpected gains and wins.
Inability to Do Deep Thinking
Toxic productivity makes you think about the end result all the time. Due to keeping your eyes focused on the goals and the finish line, you tend to ignore the process. Working in a fast and excessively focused manner makes you unable to think strategically and creatively.
Quality Versus Quantity
When you start giving priority to maximum outcomes and quicker results, you start prioritizing getting the most done in the least amount of time. Faster doesn’t always mean better! You do need time to go over things in order to fine tune thee. But when you start giving priority to the quantity of outcomes than the quality. Sometimes, quantity is what matters; however, at other times, the lack of quality, mistakes and oversights do end up making you and work look bad.
The Negative Impact on Relationships
When we are solely interested in outcomes and end results, people and relationships become secondary to us. We don’t invest time in getting to know people, talking, connecting, while going about our personal and professional lives, because we are excessively focused on our goals and the results. We want to just get ahead and get things done! Thus, we end up robbing ourselves the opportunity to get to know others better. In the professional world, this means lack of communication, lack of training opportunities and networking.
The Long-term Impact of Toxic Productivity
Productivity that brinks on excesses and imbalance creates short-term productivity gains, but it has a detrimental negative in the long run. Toxic productivity negatively impacts mental and physical health. Exhaustion and eventual burnout are the eventual outcomes. According to a BBC report, a recent survey results from the US think-tank Future Forum revealed that 42% of workers globally reported experiencing extreme burnout. What’s alarming is that WHO and the International Labour Organization conducted a joint study about the negative consequences of poor work life balance for health in May 2021 and found out that nearly a million people die from ischaemic heart disease and strokes because of extended working hours.
Learn to Create a Work lifestyle Balance
We all get it! Work is important! Things are needed to be done! Things are urgent too! And you have to be there! You have to respond! Be productive by all means, but don’t fall for toxic productivity and the glory it promises! Instead, strive to create a healthy work and lifestyle balance. Learn to delegate, take it easy! Learn to say no sometimes! Let go of your notion of perfection!
To Sum Up
Today’s fast-paced professional world ruled by performance pressures and deadlines creates a work culture that promotes toxic productivity. Surprisingly, our personal lives are no different! As women, we continue to work ourselves to exhaustion everyday because of either having no option, or being made to believe that toxic productivity is a great way of working that is, maximizing your potential, our hours, our abilities. But ultimately, it’s our bodies, minds and souls that pay the price! So, break the cycle of toxic productivity before it breaks you!
