Have you ever tried to hide your sources of getting pleasure because they are widely known as embarrassing? Based on various social constructs, some individuals tend to label other people’s choices and preferences as “acceptable” and “unacceptable”, calling the latter “guilty pleasure”. According to the Innis & Gunn Original study, 24% of Scots state they have been shamed by someone else for their guilty pleasure. “You’re 30, and you like scrolling TikTok!” or “Are you still drinking coffee or tea with sugar?”, or “Why would you read tabloid novels? Reading must be educational!”. Such comments aren’t rare nowadays.
Is it social validation that we seek, or just peace of mind and happiness? Given that your professional life frequently resembles a war zone, we just have to find little joys of life that could help us get by in our free time from work. To help you reduce embarrassment, we’re here to present you a list of the top six guilty pleasures at work that are luckily not “guilty” anymore. Who knows, maybe you’ll find the best guilty pleasure for yourself that will substantially improve your working life. Let’s find out!
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The Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries says that guilty pleasure is something that you enjoy even though you feel it is not a good thing. According to the same Innis & Gunn Original study, 47% of Scots have something they enjoy but, for some reason, think they shouldn’t. In other words, they have guilty pleasures talking about, which makes them feel uncomfortable. How come you can like something that doesn’t feel good?
Some examples of the common guilty pleasures may help us find the logic in this notion:
Do you feel the vibe?
Guilty pleasures do contribute to our mental health; they help us feel relieved and happy. However, they are often a far cry from being healthy. First, they are short-lasting, and you need to repeat the action shortly after; second – they are very often unhealthy. For instance, among 2000 people who participated in the MS Society research, 51% had lost weight, 30% had more energy, and 25% slept better after quitting their guilty pleasures. No wonder why we deal with the word “guilty”.
Very often indeed, but not always. To be entirely fair and unbiased, there are some examples of the healthiest guilty pleasures possible:
And there are many more. Even though these actions may also give the individual a guilty trip, they have nothing to do with negative impact. It’s social constructs that dictate the rules of what is right and what is wrong for an adult, for a child, for a woman, for a man, and so on and so forth. Eventually, people end up feeling guilty for something that is neither harmful nor embarrassing.
As a famous English writer said, “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time”. Work takes the lion’s share of our energy and resources. Hence, finding ways to recharge yourself in the shortest time possible is vital. It’s also a good idea to take some preventative measures and allow your brain and nervous system to unwind before getting burned out. Here come our guilty pleasures into play.
You’ll hardly find a single person who has never heard of the Miracle Morning book. The idea is worth our attention: the book teaches how to make the most of your mornings and consequently upgrade your life. Along with dozens of similar publications produced and widespread by “success coaches”, the morning productivity spree was on the brink of becoming toxic and intrusive. If you don’t fit in half a day’s worth of activities before your working day starts, you are a slowpoke with no chance of becoming successful.
Is it true, or is it just another guilt trap? The morning approach may really be effective for millions, but it’s not the one-size-fits-all case. It’s much better to learn yourself and find your personal productivity secret. When you reap its fruit, it won’t matter anymore if it requires you to be overproductive in the morning or, on the contrary, slow down to get prepared for a new working day.
The Statista findings over the 2019-2023 period show that the number of people in the UK who neglect to take days off significantly prevails over the number of those who do. Everybody knows that overworking is fraught with burnout, chronic fatigue, depression, sleep issues, etc. It’s way easier to prevent the problem than to deal with it, so it’s high time to normalise taking all the days off stipulated by the contract. If you’re a manager or a boss, try to introduce the culture of taking wellness retreats occasionally. Encourage your employees to do so even though they are not sick, and clearly communicate that they shouldn’t feel guilty for using this opportunity. Everybody will benefit from it: your team, your company, and you as a boss.
We’ve been blessed with the ability to communicate, but some people still can’t acknowledge it. If somebody expresses their opinion differently from yours, it doesn’t automatically mean they criticise you, undermine your authority, or question your expertise. The same way it works for you – if you have something to say, don’t let the fear of being misunderstood by your boss or colleagues prevent you from expressing yourself. If your comment is reasonable and polite, not criticising or discrediting, there is no room for guilt for disagreeing with your co-workers or superiors.
In fact, no research proves music to be either wholly beneficial or detrimental for a worker. On the flip side, according to BBC, some studies demonstrate that listening to our favourite music positively affects our emotional reactions and improves mood in general, which can reflect positively on our productivity. Favourite music is also able to increase the level of activation, which in turn improves attention and performance.
However, being excessively activated is also no good; there must be a golden mean. One thing is clear for sure: playing Mozart’s “K. 448” in the office is proven to stimulate “alpha band” brain waves that boost employees’ memory, cognition, and problem-solving. Unfortunately, Taylor Swift and Stormzy haven’t been checked on such effect so far.
It’s incredible to look back at pre-pandemic times and understand how unreasonably restricted people were in their jobs. Let’s look at official statistics presented by the UK Parliament Post about remote working:
There is no difference in performance and productivity but a massive leap in people’s well-being. So what’s wrong with using your bed as your office? Especially on your low days, this is a guilty pleasure worth keeping.
Social media has long been something more than just a way to check your friends’ personal life updates. It’s a valuable tool applied in marketing, sales, widening social and professional network of contacts, job search, keeping up with world trends, and many more. The era of giving a person a side eye for surfing social media during work hours must go into oblivion – they might be doing it for business reasons. However, there is nothing criminal if you use social nets just to watch cute kittens and pups – such videos are real mood boosters and can help to distract and relieve stress when having a lunch or coffee break.
