Self-Compassion is Productive

- Written byBy Jacqui Rudd Employability Educator at UAL
- Published date 07 November 2022

I speak to a lot of students who regularly experience negative self-talk, constantly doubt themselves, and put themselves down. Often, I catch them calling themselves lazy for minor procrastination when they probably needed that break.
I want to highlight once and for all exactly why being so hard on yourself is so impractical and showing yourself more compassion can help you succeed!
Five ways self-compassion helps your productivity
- Growth mindset
Self-compassion encourages the belief that improvement is possible and boosts our desire to do better which cultivates a growth mindset and helps us connect with our more authentic self.
- Confidence
By prioritising our needs we can boost our perceived self-worth and belief in our own ability, which will connect us with a new level of confidence in our potential and value.
- Stress management
By increasing our self-compassion we can more effectively identify stressors, calmly accept our level of control and manage our behavioural response.
- Time management
By prioritising our needs and what is helpful for our wellbeing we can spend less time worrying and avoiding stressors and instead spend our time more wisely and take intentional action.
- Work-life balance
By addressing our needs and prioritising what is helpful for our own wellbeing we can more easily set boundaries and organise our time more efficiently.
How to increase your self-compassion
- Prioritise non-negotiables
We all have non-negotiable essentials for our mental health they are Sleep, Water, Movement, Nourishing Food and Social Interaction, but unfortunately, sometimes we let these slip, which lowers our perceived worth which is unhelpful, we need to prioritise our needs.
- Self-care
It's helpful to include self-care practices in our daily to-do lists alongside work tasks. These activities can be anything that involves taking care of yourself, like skin-care, relaxation, hobbies, creative practice, walking, baking or dancing.
- Forgiveness
Stop punishing yourself for mistakes and perceived failures, none of us are perfect, instead, we need to remind ourselves that we are enough. We can practice this by having a note in our workspace with permission not to be perfect and a sick note for when we don't feel our best.
- Mindfulness
Practising reflective exercises, including mindfulness, is proven to promote self-compassion through lessening judgement, labelling and comparison and instead nurturing and accepting ourselves.
- Self-love
Introduce more self-directed kindness by reliving past successes and reflecting on strengths and positive qualities. We can also allocate time at the end of each week to celebrate our accomplishments and achievements - large or small.