The toxic productivity that makes you believe that you never work enough

Productivity has been embedded In the current ideology As a scale for success: “If you are very productive, you will do well in the workplace.” However, this is a double -edged sword and runs the risk of falling into a silent trap called productivity dysmorphia: feel that your efforts are insufficient, that you never reach the desired level, despite work tirelessly. This sensation, increasingly common, can have serious consequences In your emotional and physical well -being. This phenomenon, exacerbated by the culture of hyperproductivity and constant comparison in social networks, leads to believe that it is always necessary to do more, drives To work tirelesslysacrificing free time and mental health in that search for satisfaction that never comes. What is productivity dysmorphia? Productivity dysmorphia is not a pathology officially recognized in diagnostic manuals, but part of a self -diagnosis of the writer and productivity journalist Anna Codrea -ado When analyzing your inability to Recognize your professional successes. The writer claimed that the idea arose when he read the memoirs of Otegha Uwagba, ‘We Need Talk About Money‘who described his relationship with his finances as monetary dysmorphia. Something similar happened to her, but with her productivity. “It is possible to feel that you do not have enough money and act accordingly, even when you have it,” Uwagba wrote in his book. Productivity dysmorphia is a distorted perception of our own productivity. Those who suffer from it feel that they never do enough, regardless of how much they work or achieve. This sense of insufficiency can lead to an excessive work cycle, physical and mental exhaustion which ends up deriving in states of chronic stress, depression, anxiety and low self -esteem. According The published by codrea -ado in Business Insiderproductivity dysmorphia may be caused by high levels of self -examination and perfectionism. As explained A group of experts At the International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik, social pressure and constant comparison in social networks, it can create a distortion of the real perception of our work, exaggerating the “imposter syndrome” until it becomes toxic productivity. Symptoms and triggers The Productivity dysmorphia symptoms They are varied and are closely related to self -esteem. On the one hand, the persistent feelings of guilt or anxiety not to be working They are common, which complicates to enjoy free time without feeling guilty for not being doing “something productive.” It is done more difficult to relax Or enjoy leisure activities that should be pleasant, since it always seems that there is something more important than attending. The constant comparison with others is another significant symptom. Exposure to idealized images on social networks, and poorly managed perfectionism can lead to “Burned worker syndrome” or Burnoutas the meta -analysis elaborated by scientists from the University of York St. John and Bath (United Kingdom). This constant state of activity without place for rest, inevitably leads to situations of physical and mental exhaustion that derives in Mental health problems more serious and exhaustion. Some of the main triggers of productivity dysmorphia is the work environment pressurepersonal expectations with unrealistic objectives and the influence of hyperproductivity culture are some of the most common. Strategies to combat productivity dysmorphia Fortunately, There are strategies to avoid falling into the trap of the dysmorphia of productivity, which largely coincide with the measures to Prevent burnout. One of the most effective is to establish clear limits between the Working hours and staffrespecting both one and the other. This implies dedicating time to social, family and leisure activities that allow to disconnect of labor objectives. If necessary, schedule that leisure time as if it were a meeting or any other labor obligation. In addition, it is important Recognize and celebrate your achievements professionals, however small. Recognize what has been able to assess the effort made and contribute to Strengthen self -esteem and feel more satisfied. According to the psychologist and leadership coach Jacinta M. Jiménez, “achievements or great experiences can improve our mood temporarily and make us feel great, but the effects can be quite fleeting.” Practice self -pity It is also crucial. Being kind to yourself and accepting that you can’t do everything allows you to face the situation without generating feeling of guilt for not being a superhero. Michigan University Psychologists They discovered thatthe way in which we talk to ourselves (self -dearly) when we experience unpleasant emotions or challenging situations can increase the ability to regulate emotions. It is also recommended to reduce exposure to toxic figures on social networks and unrealistic comparisons, in order to focus the focus on most realistic own goals and objectives. As we say, although productivity dysmorphia is not a medical term in itself, but a form of toxic productivity related to the real distortion of your effort, its effects can lead to Mental health problemsas depression or anxiety, which must be treated by a medical professional. In Xataka | Boreout: When you get bored at work you can ruin your professional career as much as being burned by stress In Xataka | “Doing nothing” is a great technique to improve your productivity. Neuroscience is clear Image | Unspash (RAD MINE, 8 pour)

We have filled ourselves with digital superstitions. They are a fright for our productivity

There is something inherently human in our desire to find patterns where there are no, to attribute causality to mere coincidence. Centuries ago they danced to rained. We organize ours Notion To be more productive. Same superstition, different ritual. Cal Newport baptized him very well as “productive rain dances“: those activities that we do convinced that our results will improve, but in reality They are mere rituals without much real impact. We spend hours configuring time management applications (guilty), categorizing emails (innocent) or testing methods as if they were magical (guilty) potions. We dance around the bonfire of productivity, hoping that the gods of performance will pity us. Elí, Elí, Lama Sabactani. The interesting thing about these digital superstitions is that, unlike those of our ancestors, they are backed by elegant and metric interfaces that feed our illusion of progress. Three hours reorganizing cloud folders They do not produce real work although they generate a rewarding sense of order. Cleaning notifications constantly does not advance projects, but it gives us small doses of dopamine. And so we build belief systems. “I can only concentrate using this specific application.” “I need my 17 -step morning ritual or the day is lost.” “I have to answer each message at the moment or I am a terrible professional.” The problem of these rituals is not that they are useless (some have a certain value), but that We confuse the medium in order, the activity with the result. In Newport’s words, we are “focused on the activity of the moment instead of the results over time.” And while we execute these dances with devotion, the important projects, which really change our trajectory, remain intact in our slope lists. Pragmatic austerity is needed to break these digital superstitions. Start by asking if this activity produces a measurable result or if it only gives us the illusion of advancing. If we are confusing movement with progress. The most affective rituals are usually the least spectacular: Uninterrupted time blocks, Limitation of notifications and focus on the specific results we want to generate. Maybe it doesn’t hurt to stop dancing to rain and start building aqueducts. In Xataka | The little great jewel of productivity is a simple method: the rule of the “two minutes” Outstanding image | Andreas Klassen in Unspash

Why an astronaut was obsessed with failure (and the lesson that leaves us to improve our productivity)

Most of us avoid thinking about failure. And when we do it is usually something inevitable, but ephemeral, because we flee from that thought. Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut who commanded the International Space Station, did exactly the opposite throughout his career: Metustically visualized each possible failure. Because? To prevent it. What seems like a paradox (focusing on failure to achieve success) makes some sense. Precisely in its workplace, space, an error can mean death. There, NASA dedicates Much of the training time to practice the response against emergencies. It is not pessimism, but strategic preparation. It is a method applicable to everyday life and on the earth’s surface. When We visualize what can go wrong in a project or an important decisionwe are reducing anxiety and uncertainty. And improving our response capacity. It is like having a mental GPS that has already calculated alternative routes before encountering the first obstacle. But there is a trap: The key is not to become obsessed with the worst scenarios, but to turn them into contingency plans. Hadfield did not limit himself to imagining disasters, but developed specific responses for each one. He turned fear into something productive. The method can be reduced to three steps: Identify fissures. Develop a specific response for each one. You practice those answers until they become automatic. This method makes sense and works because Eliminates the surprise factor of failure. When you have already visualized a problem, and practiced the answer to it, our brain processes it as a similar situation, not as a crisis. Hadfield came to command the International Space Station preparing obsessively for everything that could go wrong. We, at a more mundane, literal and metaphorical level, we can achieve our goals by systematically proof all possible fissures. It is not something that guarantees success, but it is a way of thinking that it will make us more competent already proof of failures. Outstanding image | NASA / Wikipedia Commons In Xataka | We are most concerned about procrastination. There is a dark reverse: “Precrasting”, do too much ahead of time

“Doing nothing” is a great technique to improve your productivity. Neuroscience is clear

A priori, staring at the infinity without doing anything can collide frontally with the concept of productivity. However, according to science, You are opening a new space in your brain in which to settle knowledge or combine abstract elements that become creative ideas. Against all prognosis, it seems that those small vacations that we give to the brain in the form of dreaming awake – what is commonly known as being embossed – allows to activate parts of the brain involved in the generation of ideas and learning new concepts. Therefore, it is advisable to allow, from time to time, Look at the screen and disconnect from the world Not doing anything. Conscious rest but without connection. Technically known as a quiet state of vigil, or popularly as dreaming of awake or being embobey, it is a relaxed state of environmental awareness that helps the mind to process complex thoughts while it is awake and at rest. Would be the equivalent of putting the Airplane mode on your mobilesince the mind is aware, but somehow the environment disappears and takes prominence more abstract and creative thoughts. Easier. Some people have a special ease to achieve that mental state, but others get it by performing simple and repetitive tasks such as scrubbing dishes, cleaning the car or laying the casting. Many great ideas arrive while you showers or while cooking. Bill Gates has assured In one of his rounds of questions with Reddit users who one of his favorite activities to enter that state of mental relaxation is to scrub the dishes. Science supports it. Do nothing potency memory. The science has triedthat stress harms long -term memory recovery, so a remedy to stop that loss is to make it The brain takes a respite From time to time. A study published in Nature He has reviewed the neuronal mice activity while they dream awake, revealing the activation of different neuronal patterns and activating the hippocampus, the area responsible for memory and learning. These findings indicate the importance of incorporating this disconnection time for the brain to consolidate knowledge and assimilate new data. By anecdotal that seems, it seems that this phase of “doing nothing” contributes to being Much more efficient and productive when you return to activity. Let crazy ideas flow. When he was barely 16, the Nobel Prize Albert Einstein had the inspiration to develop his theory of relativity that would forever change the concepts of modern physics. Although development was the result of years of work, Inspiration came to him while dreaming awake. The evidence. A study published in 2022 It indicates that the mental state that reaches the brain when it enters this state of conscious reverie is similar to the one it adopts during creative processes, so it is not surprising that the result is the generation of new and creative ideas as a result of the combination of the combination of Abstract elements and knowledge that we have learned. In that state, the brain becomes a drawer of cognitive sand for ideas and has fun playing with them and giving new approaches in a subconscious way. The scenario is similar to the one that occurs During the first phases of sleepwith the advantage that, when you wake up from that conscious “trance”, you will remember the idea and you can develop or discard it, something that is not always achieved with ideas during sleep, which are forgotten when you wake up. I’m not empanado, I’m solving problems. Another benefits of achieving a mental state of conscious reverie demonstrated by science is problem solving. Studies relate The increase in creativity in this state with the increase in the ability to solve problems. Researchers have discovered that people who take time to dream awake before facing the resolution of a problem demonstrate greater capacity and do so more creatively. To the Perform magnetic resonancesFrom their brains, they have found that several regions of their brains were very active, including the executive network related to the resolution of complicated problems. In Xataka | There is a way to stop procrastination and increase your productivity: the five second rule In Xataka | Science has denied the morning mantra of productivity gurus: cold shower is as useless as early morning Image | Pexels (Sora Shimazaki) *An earlier version of this article was published in January 2024

From smart monitors to others oriented to productivity and gaming. The five best LG offers

Although most offers are concentrated in suppliers, occasionally the official brands of the brands also launch their own campaigns to lower the prices of some of their devices. Now, LG has left a good assortment of monitors very cheapand there is everything: from more oriented monitors to work to others dedicated to gaming. In addition, when using the coupon LGXConcursillo10 Before processing the purchase, we can show us an additional discount of 10% (5% welcome and 5% extra) LG Ultragear (Plane) by 117.05 eurosideal for those looking for a good cheap IPS monitor for gaming or to work. LG Ultragear (curved) by 162.44 eurosa 27 -inch curved screen monitor. LG Myview by 163.11 eurosa monitor that has Webos 23 operating system, so it has some of the functions we find on smart televisions. LG Ultrawide by 254.89 eurosa monitor that mounts a large screen goes 34 inches. LG Ultragear Oled by 899.56 eurosan off -road monitor that comes with a good panel and has a large 34 -inch screen. LG Ultragear (Plane) If we have an adjusted budget and look for a Gaming monitor That is cheap, but also has a good quality, one of the models with the best value for money is the LG Ultragear in its flat screen version. Its price in the official store (without applying the coupon) is 117.05 euros And it comes with an IPS panel of 23.8 inches that offers a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and a 180 Hz soda rate. It is also compatible with HDR10 and with NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD FREESYNC and comes equipped with an HDMI port and another display. * Some price may have changed from the last review LG Ultragear (curved) On the other hand, if we have a larger budget, but it does not reach 200 euros, the LG Ultragear You can also find with a curved screen. In this case its price goes up to 162.44 euros (without applying the coupon) and comes with the same characteristics as the previous monitor, but in this case with a Curved screen Va of 1,000 R and 27 inches offered a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. * Some price may have changed from the last review LG Myview Although there are not too many, we can also find the occasional monitor that comes with operating system, thus allowing some of the functions that we find on smart televisions. The LG Myview is a productivity -oriented monitor and has now dropped to the 163.11 euros (without applying the coupon). Comes with webos 23 operating systemmounted an IPS screen of 31.5 inches that offers a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and is compatible with HDR10. It also comes with integrated speakers and has a port HDMI 2.1. * Some price may have changed from the last review LG Ultrawide Above the barrier of 200 euros, we find some quite interesting monitors, being the LG Ultrawide one of those who have a better value for money, since it is now offer for 254.89 euros (without applying the coupon). This monitor is also productivity oriented, it comes with a screen goes 34 inches with 1,800r curvature which offers a resolution of 3,440 x 1,440 pixels, allows you to visualize content of two devices simultaneously and comes with two HDMI ports. * Some price may have changed from the last review LG Ultragear Oled And if our budget is quite high, nothing better than the monitor LG Ultragear Oledwhich has now dropped from 1,299 euros to 899.56 euros (without applying the coupon). It is a quite interesting monitor for both productivity and gaming, it comes with a 33.9 -inch OLED screen with 800R curvature that offers a resolution of 3,440 x 1,440 pixels and up to 240 Hz, it is compatible with both HDR10 and Nvidia G-SNC and AMD FREESYNC. In addition, it has two HDMI 2.1 ports and one more displayport. * Some price may have changed from the last review Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Images | LG In Xataka | What a monitor buy to work. Purchase guide and 11 productivity monitors from 100 to 600 euros In Xataka | Five things to consider before buying a gaming monitor

Justine Musk revealed one of the best productivity secrets that Elon Musk shares with Warren Buffet: saying no

Justine Musk is the first wife and mother of six of 11 children children of Elon Musk. He shared a life with Musk even before he became a millionaire after the sale of Zip2. This perspective of Elon Musk, before and after being a millionaire, has allowed the now writer and lecturer to discover one of the secrets of the success of the richest person in the world: say no. During a TEDx talk in 2014Justine Musk highlighted Elon Musk’s ambition and ability to focus, but also a talent that not everyone possesses, such as saying no. Saying no is saying yes As Justine Musk explained, a good part of her ex-husband’s success lay in saying no to many things that they were going to consume your timeto say yes to others that were going to lead him to success. “He said no to people who wanted his time, attention and energy. He said no in a way that protected his resources so he could channel them toward his own goals. And I understood that behind every no there is a deeper ‘yes’ to what what you want,” Justine said in her talk. “Your deep yes is your right to dream,” the writer concluded. The author of six books pointed out that this ability to saying no is a talent which is acquired at a young age and their children also began to develop it. As Justine Musk said in her TED talk, her children were already exercising their power by refusing to do certain things, thus reaffirming their individuality and the talent of wanting to be masters of their own schedule. However, Justine herself recognized that she herself had lost that ability to say no to others between the ages of eight and thirteen. The writer highlighted that this ability to know how to say no to other people not only denotes power to confront negative reactions of whoever requests to occupy your time, also reveals precision in the management of one’s own time and intention. Warren Buffett has his calendar full of noes Elon Musk is not the only one who values ​​his time above anything else and therefore preserves it from any interference. Warren Buffett is also very careful with the use of his time and has the ability to keep his calendar with large spaces available. This was revealed by his good friend Bill Gates during a intervention on the Charlie Ross show in which both millionaires talked about the topic. Bill Gates pointed out how careful Warren Buffett is with his time. “The fact that he’s so careful with time, he has days where there’s nothing on (his schedule)…sitting and thinking can be a priority much older. “It is not an indicator of your seriousness that you have occupied every minute of your schedule.” Greg McKeown, in his book ‘Essentialism‘, highlights a curious paradox about productivity, stating that true productivity is not about doing more, but about doing less. Saying no to other people prevents you from loading your to-do list with tasks unrelated to your goals, so they should be eliminated at all costs. At first, saying no may take an internal effort, but in the long run, that turns into more time to dedicate to what really interests you. In Xataka | Being kind at work is positive, as long as doing so does not affect productivity: the benefits of saying ‘No’ Image | Flickr (NASA HQ PHOTO), TEDx Talks

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