Guilty as charged.
I do this all the time honestly.
So here’s the real question, is it productive?
Well before I answer that, let’s dive into an example of this from yesterday.
I lost a writing deal with a client and was not happy at all. In fact I was borderline depressed. I then started thinking about my problems outside of work, like how my van’s transmission is not working properly.
The negativity in my mindset was starting to build up and get the best of me.
But the good news is that I was back home and my mom asked me why I was upset. So I told her and we had a nice long talk about life and how I have always held myself to too high of a standard.
When I listened to myself complain about my problems with my mom, I realized how ridiculous I sounded. Therefore me holding myself to too high of a standard was bad. I was still on track to make more money than I was spending to live, and all other areas of my life are amazing.
However, before talking to my mom I was only focused on my financial goals and how I lost a deal.
This brings us back to the question of whether holding oneself to too high of a standard is productive.
In my opinion, it is a great start to being productive because it means that you have large goals and want more out of life. But it can become unproductive when the negativity of not accomplishing your goals gets the best of you.
Think of it this way, if you had no goals you would smoke a joint and watch TV all day long. Sure you wouldn’t ever hit setbacks towards your goals, but you would live a boring as hell life.