Summary

The author shares personal struggles with self-worth tied to productivity and offers six affirmations to foster mental stability and self-acceptance during unproductive periods.

Abstract

The article discusses the author's experience with feelings of uselessness during times of perceived unproductivity, particularly heightened during the pandemic. Despite having a job, exercising daily, and having basic needs met, the author feels an emotional dependency on productivity, defined largely by financial gain and self-improvement. The article provides six affirmations that the author uses to reassure themselves: embracing the pursuit of productivity without overburdening oneself, valuing personal ideas regardless of their immediate productivity, acknowledging the worth of contributions beyond tangible outcomes, believing in one's skills and accepting their natural development, recognizing the importance of play and leisure, and understanding inherent self-worth regardless of productivity levels. The author emphasizes the importance of reflection on weekly achievements to combat negative feelings and suggests that documenting these successes can be beneficial.

Opinions

Productivity is seen as a measure of self-worth and success, which can lead to an unhealthy emotional dependency.
The author believes in the importance of being productive but also recognizes the need for balance to avoid it becoming detrimental.
Personal ideas are valued for their intrinsic worth, not just their potential to contribute to productivity or success.
Making contributions to the world doesn't always have to be grandiose; small acts of kindness and creativity are also valuable.
The author has faith in their own skills and talents, acknowledging that skill development doesn't require constant productivity.
There is an opinion that leisure and play are essential components of a balanced life and contribute to overall well-being.
Self-worth is inherent and not solely dependent on productivity; relaxation and rest are necessary and productive in their own right.
Reflecting on weekly achievements is a helpful strategy to appreciate one's own productivity and counteract feelings of inadequacy.

Sometimes I Feel Useless When I’m Unproductive

Six affirmations I use to reassure myself

Does anyone else feel like you’re wasting precious time when you’re not being productive?

For me, being productive usually means making money or escalating my self-worth. It’s a bad habit of mine. I don’t always feel this way, but it’s a bit depressing when I do. I work during the week, so these moments of crisis usually find me on the weekend, especially when I don’t have plans to distract me. It doesn’t help there’s a pandemic decimating any hope of a social life.

I have a job, I exercise every day, and I have a roof over my head. This should be enough to feel satisfied.

This should be enough, but it doesn’t feel like it.

These feelings often pass like a ship in the night, but some days I feel useless. It’s unnecessary, and I know it, but I think it’s important to recognize these feelings and use them to build mental stability.

I don’t necessarily tell myself these affirmations, rather I keep them in my back pocket. These are standards I live by.

The following affirmations are from my point of view. Although I wrote these in the first-person, I want you to read them from your own perspective.

I am the type of person who actively pursues productivity

I am a productive person and I get things done.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather be a productive person than an unproductive one. I want to contribute to the world. I want to continuously improve myself, but being a productive person is a heavy burden.

Productivity is a drug, and I have an emotional dependency on it. It’s not a problem until it becomes a problem.

I wasn't always the type of person to put productivity first. I cruised through college, and I didn't have any aspirations beyond graduating.

Now that I’m in my adult life, I want nothing more than to develop. I see others my age and their success. My idea of success, which is fixated on money, haunts me everyday.

I feel this way because I’m in my mid-20’s and I don’t know who to listen to. The ideal way to live-out one’s 20’s is a hypocrisy. I hear, “Work as much as you can during your 20's” as often as I hear, “Don’t worry about money and travel the world during your 20's.” What’s a millennial to do?

I choose the route of productivity, though it eats at me. I don’t feel I need all the money in the world to be happy. I just want to comfortably support myself. Though, once I get to that point, I need to make sure I live by that standard.

Although there will be moments of doubt, or moments I feel I failed, I know my productivity will take me to the places I want to be.

I have great ideas

My ideas are useful and worthwhile. As long as I think my ideas are good, I don’t care what others have to say.

I pulled out my phone and wrote the majority of this post while lying on my bed. This was the best idea I had all weekend. Though some may say writing a blog post is a productive activity, I didn’t think of it that way. I used it as an exercise to get out of the funk I was in.

Ideas come in all shapes and sizes, and they don’t need to increase my networth or give me new followers. I wrote these ideas on my phone, and I was happier because of it.

I have great ideas, and they don’t always have to be productive ones. My ideas benefit me, but they don’t necessarily progress my character. I can take a nap. I can play video games. I can sit here and do nothing. Everything I do benefits me in some way.

I make useful contributions

I want to make the world a better place, but time moves fast. I can only do so much in any given day.

I’ve made it my goal to write more often. I forget how naturally it comes to me. I majored in journalism after all, and I wrote for a newspaper. I recently turned to Medium as a way to express my ideas, and perhaps to help some people.

When I don’t feel like writing, I help others when it’s asked of me. I give advice when it’s warranted. I take nice pictures and post them for others to see. I make the world a better place to the best of my ability. I don’t always have to worry about what else I can do. One can only do so much at a time.

I believe in my skills

I have many abilities and I truly believe in them. It takes time to develop skills, and failure is a part of the process.

I often feel like I’m failing myself when I’m not working on my talents. For example, I know I need to practice my photography more often, but I don’t always have the motivation. My cameras often collect dust on my shelf, and I have to clean them whenever I go out to shoot.

I need to realize that I don’t have to be productive all the time because my abilities are constantly developing. I have faith in my talents, and I will practice them when I feel like it. I have the rest of my life to work on them.

It’s okay to play

It’s alright to take a day off and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

It’s hard being home all of the time. I work from home, so when I’m not working I usually want to go out and do something. The problem is there isn’t much to do right now, and my friends are rarely on the same page as me.

I dig at myself when I don’t feel like editing, or writing, or working on some project. Many times I don’t want to work, but I also don’t want to play because it isn’t necessarily productive.

I can’t think like that anymore. There is room in life for entertainment. I have hobbies that I thoroughly enjoy, and I’m going to pursue them.

Even when I am not productive, I am worthy

I am worthy of the life I have, and life is meant to be enjoyed. I will find peace in the quiet hours when nothing is going on around me.

There is a time to be productive, and there is a time to relax. To relax doesn’t mean to be lazy. To relax means to rest and prepare for the next bout of productivity.

Final Thought

Something that helps me get through these negative feelings is to take moment each weekend and reflect on what I did the past week.

I sit down, close my eyes, and think of my productive successes. For example, this week I completed two blog posts, worked 25 hours at my tutoring job, started a new client’s website, built my home gym, exercised five times, and finished reading my book. In actuality, that’s a lot of productivity for one week! Even as I type this I’m impressed with myself.

Maybe I’ll make a habit of blogging everything I do each week, or at least write it down somewhere.

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