ORLANDO, Fla. – Hustle culture, workaholic, toxic productivity, do you have an unhealthy obsession with being productive? A list of tasks that never ends and is never enough? The recent surge of hustle culture has many people romanticizing over-working and subsequently burning out.
When your office is your home, and your home is your office the line between work and home can become blurred. The result, working day and night.
“Going over that limit, it cuts into that time you need to have to have some downtime, to decompress,” James West, LMHC at Total Life Counseling told Ivanhoe.
Whether it’s pressure from work, an extreme exercise routine, learning a long list of new skills, if you don’t take a break all that productivity could turn toxic.
“Not taking care of yourself because you’re filling up all your free time to take care of yourself, you’re filling up with helping other people,” exclaimed.
Signs your productivity has become toxic? You work so much it harms relationships, you ignore needs like eating and sleeping and you expect the same amount of high output every day. Also, if you become restless and can’t take a break or take time off without feeling guilty or lack self-worth.
If you feel your habits may be toxic, consider re-defining your work-life boundaries and re-evaluating the way you set your goals. Make a list of realistic tasks every day that are achievable and focus on quality over quantity.
Remember, resting is not for the weak, our bodies and minds need breaks to rejuvenate. To create work-life boundaries that account for rest, consider setting a minimum number of hours for sleep every night or snoozing your email during non-work hours.