Doing nothing at work, but feeling guilty? Stop doing it then!

Introduction

Can you also have such trouble doing nothing for a while? Do you already feel guilty if you read the newspaper while there is also other work to do? Then realize that you are only getting in the way of your own happiness and achievements.
Lazy at work. Skipping a meeting. Sending a difficult letter later. Fixing your agenda. Having to organize your emails.did nothing at work, feeling guity

And all day chores at home as well. Having to do the dishes. Shopping that needs to be done. Reading a book (preferably one that is useful to you). Finally cleaning the inside of the fridge. Playing sports, even if they are your favorites. Organizing your wardrobe. 

Read below and you will not feel guilty doing anything anymore (at least for some time). Check out my last paragraphs for your perfect way out and set your own schedules instead.

There is a name for it

Productivity guilt, it is called. And you can blame your work-driven nature, which actually means that work is a virtue and laziness is a sin. Still more, working is ok, but working harder is even better. Of course, you also know that you have to recharge and that perfection essentially does not exist, but still. What matters is that things go the way you planned or other people had been expecting of you.

You have always done it this way and never had second thoughts about it. It simply is the way you were brought up. Your parents did the same, your friends and the rest of the family.

But what did it bring you?

trying hard, more fun?You will think that the hard work has brought you a lot. You are committed to making your life better and it works, your efforts make sense. So the more you try, the more fun your life will be. Life is full of opportunities, but of course, you have to seize them. Logical, right? So it’s very desirable that the things you do should be useful, and that you secretly feel guilty after a lazy rainy day full of Netflix. Or you feel guilty because you did not go to work, because of a simple cold. 

The urge to get better also started early

From your lace-up your shoe diploma to stickers when you neatly cleaned up your room, from doodles on the back of a drawing to a nice report. You learned early on what you had to do – and you were rewarded for that. As you get older, however, you discover that in society it matters little and next to nothing when it comes to business. Over there, stagnation means decline. It is all about economic growth, profit maximization, competition, and the drive to achieve. But can we do something about it, aren’t we simply victims of our own human nature?

motivation pyramidThe motivation pyramid

We still regard our development drive in accordance with the motivation pyramid of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow.  In the twentieth century, he made a hierarchical order of our needs and stated that when we have fulfilled one level, such as food and safety, we are committed to trying the next, higher level, such as self-actualization.

And so on. I am attaching a picture of this very important pyramid here so that you can see and study it for yourself.

Performance culture

In itself there is nothing wrong with making efforts to feel better, were it not for the fact that we look at this in a very one-dimensional way. The well-intentioned advice to work hard rather than idle has evolved into an outright performance culture. It’s not usually better to do your best, no, it’s required. In these times of goals and success, we are only too happy to deal with targets, promotions, and to-do lists. Also in our spare time. We need to look busy-busy-busy, right?

What is the result?

does guilt workIt’s the idea that your efforts lead to something, luck probably, but now those tools have almost become the end goal themselves, and not using them for a while leads to that nagging feeling that you should. And that while scientific research has proven that guilt not only prevents us from enjoying life, it thwarts our thinking. And be assured that those who experience guilt, will perform worse when it comes to concentration, creativity, and efficiency. In this case, you might ask yourself: what the hell would I feel guilty of?

Advice to you

Ask yourself: in the midst of everything you do and want to do, is productivity really that important? And do you really want to plan every minute of your life and make every day go down to the last detail as you planned in advance, super productive and efficient? No room left for wonder and surprise?

If you think about it, life is completely arbitrary. Just think about the moment your parents met: if the past had gone just a little differently, you wouldn’t even have existed. Small things can have a big impact. What if you started doing more of what makes you happy instead of what makes you feel busy?

What if you start your own internet business?start online business

Has it ever crossed your mind to start your own business? I bet you have thought about it but did not know how to do this. More and more people have become entrepreneurs and still, more would like to become their own boss. There is an easy way to start your own business with the help of the internet and become your own boss. Anyone of us can do it, you just need to be told how.

The internet contains a ton of possibilities, yet you need to find the best, honest and scam-free options. I can help you in the right direction and point you to the best internet business support program right now. One of the most popular business models is affiliate marketing. I will explain to you in short how this works.

Affiliate Marketing

You will need to create a website and the program I will be proposing will take care of that. Then you will choose your website niche (a topic you are going to write about). There are millions of niches, but you should pick your topic from one of your hobbies, passions, or interests.

As soon as you have that, you can start building out your website with articles relevant to your niche and with the aim to help people. Subsequently, people will begin visiting your website and as you build further, you can start promoting products relevant to your niche.

You will find these products on the net with various merchants and you will look for the ones with affiliate programs. You apply for their program and as soon as accepted, they will give a link to their products for you to be promoted. Your audience will then be directed to the merchant’s website through the link on your site and when sold, you will receive the commission. No need to buy, store or deliver anything! The investment for this program will be minimal.

Here is the program I recommend as number 1.

Wealthy Affiliate (WA)

Established in 2005 by two Canadian entrepreneurs this unique program has been growing ever since to become the most popular of its kind. Low investment, the best training, and an enormously strong and helpful community have attracted many newbies as well as professionals. But there are so many features that make them great.

Being a member myself since 2014, I have prepared a full review of the ins and outs of this world-class program. You can access this review by clicking here. The review also contains a link with which you can become a member for one week for Free, without any commitments whatsoever. In this way, you can experience the system firsthand.

4 thoughts on “Doing nothing at work, but feeling guilty? Stop doing it then!”

  1. Unknowingly, I was immersed in the writing.
    It seemed to be looking back at me, who was crazy about productivity and efficiency. The pattern for unraveling the content is also great. Simple and clean page organization also plays a part!
    I’m still a beginner with no experience enough to evaluate someone’s content. What I felt after reading this article was that the craving for a new challenge would naturally come out as my hidden secrets about what was said in the article were unraveled.
    Although I am lacking, I will study a lot and get inspiration from these articles and content.

    Have a nice day!

    Reply
    • If you can come to understand and appreciate the message of this article and in fact many of my articles, then this will greatly help you on your way. Firstly in your working career and secondly in your private and social surroundings. Your willingness to do so bodes very well for you. If you can accept an attitude of curiosity and your craving to satisfy it, you will go far.

      Reply
  2. I enjoyed reading your take on our busy lives and how we are taught from a young age to be productive every minute of the day. Having retired a few years ago and being able to craft my idea of the perfect day and life for myself now, it’s been an interesting journey. At first, I did absolutely nothing for a year, I had worked physically hard for the previous 16 years caring for my mother on a farm. It was hard labor and I needed to heal. I did occasionally feel very guilty not working to a plan, with goals and achievements all planned out but it was heaven to go with the flow. Eat when I was hungry, sleep when I was tired, read all day, watch movies and walk on the beach. The problem was that I was bored.

    Now I have crafted a life with a balance of hobbies (internet business and music), walks, and fun times with my husband, and never feel guilty. I think it’s all about balance!

    Reply
    • You have a very good point saying that it is all about balance. If I know that I am doing enough in a job, but sometimes when I am a bit lazy, then I will not feel guilty. Can’t do that every day though or even every week or month.

      Levels of energy in people change day by day through all kinds of influences from outside us (we should learn to have an inner balance ourselves). Then we can face the outside challenges all the better.

      Reply

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