<ul><li>We link our behavior, our performance, our productivity, with our self-worth.</li><li>We also mistakenly believe that there’s actually a point where we get everything done that we want to, or should, or expect.</li></ul>And we start to associate relaxing with being lazy, bad or worthless,

Reasons for productivity guilt

We don’t have to rank, compare, compete.Do not be anxiously concerned with ranking and comparisons. Instead, be concerned with doing a good job.

Beyond comparing and competing

Reframe your life as a process of growth, not of being done.You can celebrate your growth instead of feeling guilty for things left undone or incomplete.

Recognize process over endpoint

Here’s a powerful paradox: We are often most productive when we feel it least, when we’re taking a break or relaxing or doing absolutely nothing.
Resist the urge to fill every empty moment with something — “especially if you need to be extra productive or creative for a task.”

“Wasting time” also is productive

Are your expectations actually attainable or more like unattainable ideals? If your expectations are more realistic, you will have more energy to be productive.
We must alternate between times of action and times of reflection and rest. It’s just the way organisms work.

Reevaluate your expectations

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One reason we feel like this is because "we link our behavior, our performance, our productivity, with our self-worth," said Julie de Azevedo Hanks, Ph.D, LCSW, founder and executive director of Wasatch Family <a href="https://psychcentral.com/psychotherapy/">Therapy</a>, a private practice in Utah. So when we're being less productive, we feel like we're doing something wrong, she said.
We also mistakenly believe that there's "actually a point where we get everything done that we want to, or should, or expect." (More on that below.) And we start to associate relaxing with being lazy, bad or worthless, she said.
If you're feeling guilty about not being productive, these six tips might help:
1. Move beyond comparing and competing. Hanks cited the work of meta-historian Riane Eisler. According to Eisler, our culture is organized by a hierarchical ranking of its members. In this dominator model, our ranking is always being threatened, Hanks said. That's because "if someone is doing more or doing better, you lose your rank or position in the hierarchy."
On the other end of the spectrum, Hanks explained, is the "partnership model, whose fundamental organization is around linking and connecting."
The key is to recognize that there's another way for us to exist. "We don't have to rank, compare, compete." Hanks likes to visualize everyone on the same level playing field and focus on the similarities among us. "[W]e've all experienced pain, need connection with others, need to work, need to rest."
But what if you work in a highly competitive environment or market?
According to Hanks, "operating out of fear of being 'less than,' not being the 'top dog,' or not getting the promotion will likely make it less likely that you'll get the promotion. [That's] because you'll be anxiously concerned with ranking and comparisons instead of doing a good job."
 2. Recognize process over endpoint. Reframe your life "as a process of growth, not of being 'done,'" said Hanks, also author of <a href="http://www.juliehanks.com/books/burnout-cure/">The Burnout Cure: An Emotional Survival Guide for Overwhelmed Women</a>. That is, focus on growing and moving toward your goals, she said. "You can celebrate your growth instead of feeling guilty for things left undone or incomplete."
 3. Remind yourself that "wasting time" also is productive. Here's a powerful paradox: We are often most productive when we feel it least, when we're taking a break or relaxing or doing absolutely nothing.
As Peter Bregman writes in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Four-Seconds-Counter-Productive-Habits-Results/dp/0062372416/?tag=psychcentral">Four Seconds: All the Time You Need to Stop Counter-Productive Habits and Get the Results You Want</a>: 
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My best ideas come to me when I am un productive. When I'm running or showering or sitting, or doing nothing, or waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling asleep. These "wasted" moments, moments not filled with anything in particular, are vital. They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They're the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen.
</blockquote>
Bregman encourages readers to resist the urge to fill every empty moment with something - "especially if you need to be extra productive or creative for a task."
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Reducing Your Guilt About Not Being Productive 
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One reason we feel like this is because "we link our behavior, our performance, our productivity, with our self-worth," said Julie de Azevedo Hanks, Ph.D, LCSW, founder and executive director of Wasatch Family Therapy, a private practice in Utah. So when we're being less productive, we feel like we're doing something wrong, she said.

Reducing Your Guilt About Not Being Productive

Reasons for productivity guilt

Beyond comparing and competing

Recognize process over endpoint

“Wasting time” also is productive

Reevaluate your expectations

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