No doubt perfectionism erodes your self-trust (which impacts your self-confidence and your perception of your self-worth). 

Here’s a potential antidote to try: the “minimum baseline.”

Here’s an example of how.

I used to love to promise myself that next week or month would be different.

“Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion, man.” –The Dude

Self-doubt wouldn’t be as much of a problem if we didn’t take it so damn seriously.

Want to stop shaming yourself for being “lazy” or “unproductive”?

Give your brain contradictory evidence. Challenge the idea that you are lazy at all.

With actual facts.

Laziness is a very powerful self-preservation tool.

Next time you think you are being lazy or that you should be doing more, check in with your body.

Baby steps to change your thoughts.

For most of us, it is going to be way too much of a leap to go from “I’m lazy” or “I didn’t get enough done” or “I should be doing more” to “I’m worthy no matter how productive I am” or “I always do enough.”

There’s nothing wrong with productivity. I’m all for getting stuff done.

But if you measure your self-worth by your productivity or if you believe you are inherently lazy, you will never measure up.

So, first things first: Awareness.

Why do we think being lazy or unproductive is a problem? That we should always be doing more? That we have to earn our existence?

What we get wrong about laziness.

There are objective facts about you that could be written down on a piece of paper.

Put into a resumé or a bio.

And there are so many different narratives that could be crafted from those facts.

Resentment and envy have something to say.

I always pay attention to those emotions when I’m feeling them.

Remember you are human. And you take your human brain with you on vacation.

Decide BEFORE you go on vacation, whether you are going to work, how often, and how much.

If you don’t want to work, don’t work. If you do want to do some work, do.

But make the decision in advance.

Resting, relaxing, unplugging. They are hard.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. They aren’t hard when you’ve built the necessary skills. They are hard when you don’t have those skills and don’t know where to start.

I was not good at vacations once I became a lawyer.

I’ve taken plenty during my career.

But…

Are you being selective about when you overachieve? 

Sometimes you might WANT to overachieve. 

It might serve you. You might like your reasons.

But you don’t have to overachieve ALL. THE. TIME.

You have your own story of course. But I see some commonalities.

Overachieving is good isn’t it?

You are responsible for how you show up. That is yours to deal with.

Sometimes other people are going to be uncomfortable with how you show up.