The biggest sign you are being too productive is when you end up putting in so much of your time and end up nowhere. Being productive is a good thing. Being too productive is a bad habit that needs to be fixed. Otherwise, you will always feel like you are staying behind.
I’ve been there before. You’re working into the night and burning the midnight oil. You think you are doing great things by putting in the time and more effort than anyone else. So you think you are progressing and progressing further than anyone else.
That’s not how it works. Progress isn’t determined by how much hours you put in. Progress is determined by how much results you are generating. There are people who put in minimal number of hours and get massive results. Some need more effort than others.
Measuring progress by input is a surefire way to fail. When I work, I measure success by how many things I got done in the day. Not by how many hours I put in to get the results. That was one of my biggest downfalls and something that I’m working to fix.
Being too productive is a huge trap. Many people fall for it because you have billionaires telling you, you need to work 80-100 hours a week.That’s not how money works. You’re supposed to make more money by working less hours, not more.
This is the biggest lie people try to sell you.
3 Signs You are Being Too Productive
So then what are the concrete signs you are being too productive? They are as below.
1) Your Output Doesn’t Match Input
If you put in 10 units of input and are only getting 5 units of output, something has to change. Twitter is a great example. There are people who tweet 5x a day and gets 1/5th the level of engagement that I do. It’s not about the quantity of work, it’s about the quality of work.
The level of engagement, impressions, likes, and retweets really matter in measuring your efficiency. There’s a reason why there’s accounts with 2 – 5x the amount of followers that I have who get 1/5th the level of engagement that I do.
Having a bigger number of followers does not mean you have a bigger number of influence. That’s not how influence is measured. When you are being too productive, measure your input/output ratio. That ratio has to be improved if you really want to progress into the world.
It may be a reason why you are having slow progress.
2) You’re Too Productive if You Still Have Much Work Leftover at the End of Day
Work is endless. There’s an endless amount of things that you can work on every single day. However, at day’s end is a good way to measure when you already put in enough work. If you still have a lot of work leftover at the end, that means something went wrong.
I personally have a bad habit of leaving things out until the end of the day because of my digestion issues. When I’m digesting, it’s very difficult for me to focus on my work and pay attention to what I’m doing. So then I end up working longer hours than anyone else.
it’s just not efficient and one of the signs I’m being too productive. There should be a good baseline stopping point for you at the end of every day. 24 hours is a lot of time to get things done. Too many people don’t understand just how long 24 hours really is.
When you still have work leftover, there’s some change that needs to be implemented.
3) There’s no Balance in Your Life
Life isn’t all about producing as much as you can. When there’s no balance in your life and all you think or do is work, then you are being too productive. You should enjoy life. It’s not healthy for you to be in a constant state of pressure all the time.
You don’t have to produce endless amounts of work and results to live a fulfilling life. Work is very fulfilling. However, if there’s no balance in your life, you’re not going to enjoy the journey. The journey truly is remarkable. You don’t appreciate it until you reach the ending.
Working during the weekends is fine. However, if you’re not using the weekends to at least relax and enjoy it, then there’s something wrong. You should have hobbies and interests you should be pursuing and balancing throughout the weeks.
For me personally, work is my hobby. I gladly spend the weekends working on projects that I actually enjoy working on. This blog, for example. However, I still spend time with friends and go outside. Life is about having a balance.
What To do When You Are Too Productive
So what are you supposed to do when you are too productive? The answers are as below!
1) Measure Success Based on Results
Your output is what matters in the world. It’s not your efforts and it’s not your input. It’s about your results and output. Your success is entirely dependent on what you put out into the world. Whatever your output and metrics of success is, that’s what matters.
If you’re a social media influencer then it’s not even about the number of likes or engagement. It’s about how much cash you generated and how much did you help people at the same time? If you’re a 9-5 employee, it’s not about the hours you put in or how much your boss likes you.
It’s about what are you getting paid? Are you getting promoted in line with your output? Does your boss even think that you are worth the expense? That’s what it truly matters. Otherwise, you are just staying too productive and staying in this endless loop of putting in more time than is necessary.
Your results matter in your life, not anything else.
2) Take a Step Back
When you are too productive, you don’t know the meaning of taking breaks. There’s a reason why Ford invented the modern day weekend. He realized that it was in his best interest that his workers get a break throughout the week.
When you end up being too productive, you end up being under productive. We can’t keep going all the time and expect our body to be completely OK with it. That’s not how any of this works. I can’t keep working 24/7. I need to constantly take breaks throughout the day.
In order to be at my maximum productivity level. Sleep is a very important ingredient for me to keep going. There are people who are biologically wired to withstand work without taking breaks. If your genetics don’t support that, then it’s time to take a step back and take breaks.
Your mental and physical health depend on it.
3) Set Clear Deadlines of When You Can Relax
For me, I set a clear deadline of when I can relax. I use the Pomodoro technique and once I finish 30 minutes worth of work, I give myself a 20 minute break to recharge and get back to work. This is how I used to study in college as well. Read for 50 minutes and then a 10 minute break thereafter.
It works wonders and your brain functions best when it takes frequent breaks throughout the day. When you set a clear deadline of when you can relax, follow through with the deadline. Otherwise, you end up being too productive and get nothing done.
There are people who set deadlines for when they can relax and they don’t follow through with that promise. If that’s the case, it begs the question, why did they even say they were going to take breaks in the first place? It just doesn’t make any sense.
Once you take your breaks as seriously as you take your work, everything falls into place.
4) Accept That You Are Too Productive
Some people just can’t walk away at all. Some people feel anxiety when they walk away from work altogether. That’s not a healthy lifestyle or a healthy mentality by any means of the imagination. You will have to be brutally honest with yourself and assess if you are being too productive.
Work is a great thing in our lives. It gives us purpose and a will to get out of bed in the morning to accomplish things. However, that becomes a negative when we take it way too far. We have 24 hours in a day, we can’t spend all of it working to our heart’s desires.
When you think about work 24/7 without getting the results and the productivity that you deserve, it’s time to reassess the situation and see if everything is worth it. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
You can get the results that you are wanting, as long as you approach work in a smart manner.
5) Take a Vacation
With the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, travel has been decimated in 2020 – 2021. No one really took a proper vacation and took time away from work to their desired mental state of mind. Being too productive means you’re not taking proper care of yourself by taking vacation.
We were given PTOs for a reason. Companies figured out that it’s in their best interest to give employees paid time off to rejuvenate and relax. Otherwise, the productivity just falls off a cliff. That’s not good for anybody.
It feels nice to enjoy the money that you earned and to take out of town trips. You never forget the time you went to the Bahamas and sipped on Mai Tais by the beach. Or the time you spent it with your family, just talking and catching up.
Those everlasting memories does wonders for your life.
6) Strive for Efficiency
When I first started my Twitter journey, I was tweeting nonsense and hoping that it would stick. I had no strategy. My tweets were based on quantity and not quality. Therefore, I was tweeting a lot and getting minimal results in return.
These days, as a seasoned Tweeter, once I see a viral tweet, I walk away.
When a tweet goes mega viral and too viral, I mute the tweet altogether. I can’t spend 100% of my time devoting to the tweet with endless notifications that require my attention. I let it go. That’s the most efficient use of my time.
That’s what lets me create more content for my followers that will go even more viral. When it comes to productivity, what matters is efficiency. Output should far outweigh input for everything that you do. When you’re too productive, it’s time to double down on what’s working.
And let go of things when they are not working.
Being Too Productive is Bad
There were many times when I was being too productive without realizing it. What’s even worse is that being too productive puts you in this endless loop where you want to keep doing what you’re doing. Productivity gives us dopamine.
When our brain gives us dopamine that encourages us to go down an endless path that ends up nowhere, that’s when it’s bad. It’s time to take a step back and really assess the situation, on a logical and analytical level.
Productivity is a great thing but taking it too far isn’t. There’s no point in putting in endless effort and hours into your work if you get minimal results in return. At a certain point, you need to get something in return. Otherwise, you’re not going to be motivated to keep going.
What helps you keep going are the rewards and the results. It’s when you realize that others are recognizing and appreciating your work that matters the most. Don’t give too much of yourself and put yourself down a rabbit hole hoping a good thing happens.
Being too productive is a huge curse that many high performers suffer. Especially the ones who haven’t leveled up to manager level status yet or the ability to move up in life. At a certain point, you have to use the tools and resources that you have instead of doing everything yourself.
Your time is much more valuable.
What to do When You Are Too Productive: A Shortlist
- Measure success based on results
- Take a step back
- Set clear deadlines of when you can relax
- Accept that you are too productive
- Take a vacation
- Strive for efficiency
