Each day I sleep with the guilt of not making my day productive but the next day I waste it again. I am getting depressed now. What should I do?

Shawn N.
Front-load your schedule with meaningful, achievable tasks.
Betino Q.
Get a planner and check off what you have done every day. I add ordinary things to the to do list as I complete the task to give me an extra sense of accomplishment.
Mia S.
Start by doing one task at a time. By only focusing on only one specific task you won't get flustered at all the tasks waiting ahead. Also once that one task is complete you will gain a sense of accomplishment and therefore can look at adding more tasks gradually from one to two then three but always finish task number 1 however small it is…
Charline A.
I used to do that too! The best thing to do is to start each morning with the simplest task: make your bed. Seems silly, yes? It's not! You accomplished something! Then go on to your next. You may not get through all your tasks, but you accomplished making that bed! Celebrate your smallest accomplishments as well as your biggest ones!

I was recently diagnosed with situational anxiety and depression, because life. And it's a huge pill to swallow, but I make my bed, and if that's the only thing I get done, at least I did that.

Don't feel guilty!!! Causes worry lines and stress marks. You're wonderful the way you are. Self doubt is destructive, and you're worth so much more than what that guilt is telling you.

Janko R.
I think, you can just be grateful for the day. That you are still be here. By doing that, you will be motivated achieving more…
Kathy P.
Make DOING ONE THING that would make you feel productive your #1 GOAL to the exclusion of everything else till you get that one thing done. Sometimes we just need to build up momentum and bust through the wall we're running into. Make it mantra, e.g. "Sit down at my computer, write the story." Repeat it.over and over in your head. Work for 25 minutes, stand up, tale a break, then start again. Imagine you've put blinders on. Tell yourself that there's a point in time in which you've already accomplished this task, and that you're just catching up to tha moment. Download a web blocker and block all distracting websites for longer than you need to. Make it inconvenient to indulge distractions, e.g. work in a different room from them, leave your phone upstairs, text friends ahead of time "I'm working on XYZ. Don't bother me until then, but check in with me after 9 and ask me if I've done it".
C Lia O.
You might want to try talking to a doctor or therapist if you can, since you say you’re “getting” depressed, but an inability to make yourself do anything can be a sign of depression already.
Try telling yourself that you just have to do one thing each day, or one bit of a thing, and consider that being productive since you’ll have made some progress. If you’re currently doing nothing then that’ll be an improvement, but if you’re currently doing lots of things but still considering yourself unproductive, you might also want to be less hard on yourself, and focus more on what you are doing than what you’re not doing. That is, instead of saying “I only did x today, so I wasted the whole day”, you could try “I did x today, so that’s an accomplishment!” or “at least I did x today, so I didn’t waste the whole day”, even if x is something small like 5 minutes of exercise, or even just getting out of bed, depending on how difficult you’re currently finding things.
Gary P.
there is a time when we waste most our time day after day , you should know your self well and understand that why you scape from the work lr any kind of productive work you want to do ! im sure you can find the answer in your self cause there is allways something from ourselves that is not willing to do the right thing; in the next step you should find why do you think of productive day like that? i mean if you dont want it and youre not doing it so maybe its not right for you and you must change the way you see it. for example I was not working on my project because i was scared of ruin it ! after 2 weeks of non-productiving i get that if i change my enviroment and do something diff from what i was doing something will change!
Also motivation videos help me out!
knowing about your responds when you have some thing to do but youre not doing it right is so imp. for exmple I watch 2 seasons of a series when i dont want to do my work but when i be conscious about my behavior , in the next time i put my phone in thrive mode and hide my comp .you should know your respond and think about problem solving specificly for you .
and just think about that all youre going to do is just for yourself anf your future and no one should make you to do something .
and sometimes the depression is good for some choices.
Elias F.
Start each day by making your bed. There you go! One accomplishment down! It's the easiest thing you'll probably do all day, but the easiest one to overlook.

Getting depressed/down on yourself for not being as productive as you think you should be is a defeatist attitude. At the end of each day, list what you accomplished/finished, no matter how small. You did so much more than you realized. Even if all you did was get out of bed, you did something.

I was recently diagnosed with situational anxiety and depression. I've never been so down, but I remind myself: you fed the cats. You washed your hair. You held meetings. You didn't give up.

You. Didn't. Give. Up.
Remember that

Marc F.
Focus on the tiny pieces of productivity as much as you can. Ie going to the movies is really sitting in quiet observation of the person's reactions
Christoffer Y.
Take one action get up and d0 10 star jumps it sets off the adrenalin and serotonin and will change your life. Also forgive ypurself
Charlie T.
Start small by changing just one thing. You'll waste less and less time or even better, you'll start to make it count !
Dustin C.
I know the feeling, trust me. Let's make a plan in advanced in the evening before you go to bed about what should (or want to) do tomorrow. It helped me to make commitment and I don't have to use energy to take division in the morning.
Johnny F.
What do you mean by the word productive? Every day is productive by the means of you are breathing and being able to control situations
Claude S.
Check out Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages Journaling method. You can follow her advice by journaling in the morning OR do it at night instead. Regardless of what time of day you choose to journal, the important thing is that you get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Be sure to end on a positive note even if all you can muster is to say, “Thank you for the opportunity to begin again tomorrow (… or in each passing moment)”. It’s especially helpful to end by listing 3-5 things you’re grateful for. The more you allow yourself to truly feel how grateful you are for these things the more you will things life will give you to be grateful for. Should you find that this is still not helping to manage the anxiety you’re feeling, then you may want to consider working with a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist to help you break these self-defeating thought patterns. Keep your head up. Remember to stay mindful for life only ever exists in this present moment. The past has happened and we can’t go back there. The future has yet to happen and we can’t go there until it’s due time. The only thing you have power over is this very moment. Reflect on the past, but only to see where things went right or wrong for the sole means of adapting your next attempt accordingly.
Mike O.
Something that helped with my procrastination was making sure I didn’t give myself any leisure time outside my tasks once I got home. I right away began doing all my tasks and then giving myself a long break after doing most of it.
Another thing was that for me, my biggest time waster was social media. Recently, I found a way to block certain apps on my phone during certain times of the day. I’m not sure if other phones outside of Apple have this time limit thing, but it greatly helped me! Now, sometimes I don’t even need it, I’ve just broke out of the habit of using it as a distraction. Although my problems and solutions may not relateto yours as I’m merely a high school student, I hoped it help you think of some new ideas
Claude C.
It's not necessarily that I'm "wasting" my day, but I have trouble finding personal fulfillment because I'm putting so much effort into my first semester of pharmacy school on top of trying to save a failing relationship and being more involved with family. I feel depressed because I don't have time for me or projects I want to tackle, and then it seems like that feeling of depression feeds into the problem more. Responsibilities are just never ending right now, so I'm having to put me on the back burner for now.
Thea C.
For me personally, I give God thanks for allowing me to wake up and enjoying another day because I may not wake up. Book of James explains that my life is just a vapor that appears for a moment then gone. Praise God for my life, not because I'm perfect( I'm not) but able to help others with what ever needs helped and myself. To be a better person thru my mistakes and do the right thing while I'm living in this chaotic world.
Patsy O.
My night-time journal entries for many-a day are filled with this sentiment. I know it well, and I too have these moments when I'm angry and depressed at my lack of productivity. My work just seems to accumulate with no end in sight. Perhaps this stems from two things: procrastination and high expectations. For the latter, the answer seems simple: just lower expectations. In actuality, perhaps this means setting a few small goals for each day and keeping the to-do list short. Keeping it short may mean making tough calls on what not to do. It's about setting priorities. Deeply feel your priorities, and plan accordingly. This is also what you can do with procrastination. Remember the pain you feel at night, if and when you procrastinated, every time that you're tempted to side-track yourself. Stop for a moment, deeply feel the situation, the importance of certain tasks, and let this guide your priorities and actions. The short form for that is "stop, look, choose." Stop, feel the situation deeply, and choose that which you deeply feel is the best direction to head in.
Ronnie X.
Focus. Get rid of distractions in order to be able to focus on plan. Tell others to respect that as I'm interrupted a lot. Maybe put some headphones on.
Ga Tan E.
Prepare mentally and practically today and set a small, achievable goal for tomorrow. For example, put today your yoga mat in the middle of the living room and your sports clothes in the entrance so that you are practically ready. Then, make sure you don't plan anything after work and prepare mentally yourself for tomorrow thinking the positive feeling you will experience afterwards. Set an achievable goal; say 10-20' yoga.
You can make it!
Ashley P.
Forgive yourself, nothing goes waste, all are learning experiences. Instead focus on doing things that you love the next time
Domingos Z.
It's really important to forgive yourself, because it's really hard to stop clinging to your past if you don't do so. And you cannot move on before letting your past be the past. We're all human, and in this day and age, it's really hard to focus on the right stuff all the time. After forgiving yourself, you'll be able to start scratch. Start small. No one jumps over a cliff the first time they try parachuting. Improve slowly, but gradually. Small changes cumulate into drastic shifts. After all, you probably have a lot of time on your hands and a lot of room for improvement.
Valente O.
Let it go. It’s ok not to be perfect. Sometimes life gets in the way and we can’t always do the things we love to do, but that’s ok. Practice makes progress (note, not perfect). The important thing to do is get back to the new habits you’ve created and not to beat yourself up. Where focus goes energy flows and this is true for both positivity and negativity so makes sure you pick the correct one. Stay strong, stay true to yourself and always stay positive, you are awesome.
Floyd O.
For very long I set way to high standards of what I considered a productive day.
Bring your standards down to what is appropriate for you right now.
For instance, just plan one task for the next day.
Complete it and celebrate it. Do this until you start feeling accomplishment instead of dread. Stop focusing on what you have not done and focus on what you ARE able to do no matter how minor and celebrate the fact you were able to finish a task you set for yourself.
Amalie W.
Force myself to do start something small, when I get into the flow, m9re work can be done. The feeling of guilt is terrible and not helpful.
Nolan P.
Before going to bed, write down a short list of goals for the next day. The goals shouldn't be overly ambitious – just something that once done will be an improvement compared to the day before. This way you will slowly create a habit and completing the goal will build up a momentum.
Erik O.
Make a plan for the day
Start doing work in more organized way
Don't think of doing another work unless you finish the one that you are doing it
Tom Q.
Start fresh with a mind dump of everything you feel you need to get done. Look through the list and prioritize them from most urgent to least urgent. Ask yourself if anything can be delegated to someone else. Are there any tasks you've been avoiding? Do that one first and you'll find the rest of the high priority ones easier to finish. Then celebrate!
William C.
You aren't supposed to change the way you act just by feeling guilty about it the day before, you need to encourage yourself to make change happen by telling yourself what you want to be. Not just the night before, but especially the next morning.
Ray T.
Hey. I know how you feel. Th best thing you can do is to forgive yourself. We deserve slack once in a while. As long as you bounce back and make things right.
L Ia C.
Start small. I'm guessing you haven't really defined what you mean by success or what counts as a productive day?
Choose one thing to commit to getting done each morning. Then, set a timer for 15 minutes and work on it. After the timer goes off, stop!
Have a cup of tea or reward yourself nicely.

Do you need another 15 minute timer to complete the task? If so, change your goal – it was too ambitious for the first day. You have achieved productivity on the first day!

On later days you can do more than one timer, but remain aware of how much you need to break up the task into smaller bits that will fit into your timer session.
Don't tell yourself you have failed because you've not achieved a big task. Consider each step a productive victory.

One small thing I'd like to share. When you feel depressed, do the victory breath. I'll teach you how, it's not hard.
Breathe in normally, then hold your breath and repeat "vic-tor-y" mentally. Mentally creating the 3 separate sounds should take 3-4 seconds, no more or less. The breath should not be exaggerated to the extent that anyone would notice. You can repeat it multiple times until you feel relief, usually 3-5 minutes does the job for me.
Good luck!

Catarino G.
Do not go to bed angry at yourself! Nor feeling guilty…Before sleep forgive yourself. Dwelling on guilt is part of the negative cycle that keeps the problem going. It's the "easiest" thing to work on changing because all you have to do is love yourself! And forgive yourself. If this seems hard listen to guided meditation recordings. You might have a long time i grained habit of blame style thinking. And might need to do this nightly for however long it takes. But that's easy, just turn it on as your going to bed. Your subconscious will soke it in.
In the morning plan on how you will thank yourself and reward yourself when you have accomplished one of your neccessary tasks.
Also tell yourself you are doing these task not just because you "should" but because you know you will enjoy the result. You are working for your own pleasure and happiness. It's all about attitude.
Best wishes.
Jose B.
Sometimes just getting halfway and one step more works because it feels easier to finish than to stop. Count down from 10 to 1 and say go and start your task. You sound like your already suffering from depression.