Count me among those unwilling to be featured in an email, but I made this discovery very recently:
I have been dealing with a tremendous amount of anxiety for as long as I can clearly remember. After decades of a vicious cycle of procrastination and depression my ability to perform at an adequate level was entirely gone. I had this way about me that allowed me to appear very busy while accomplishing a criminally small number of tasks and never keeping any promises. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I lucked out by joining a team that was set up to enable this to continue.
After almost 10 years on the team and some treatment for the anxiety I realized that I was performing at less than 10% of my comfortable capacity. With the anxiety lessened, I could go back and trace the path it carved through my life. Regardless of performing in a way that should have had me fired years ago I still managed to be, by far, the most productive, well-informed, and pragmatic member of the team. I spoke with my manager and confirmed that he believed all of this and that, amazingly, he was actively moderating the amount of work sent my way because he was convinced I was overworked.
I had a sudden crisis because this meant that, as an entire team, we had trained ourselves to ignore how poor of a job we have been doing. If my 10% of capacity is that good then the entire team was underwater. Thankfully, my manager didn't try and deny it when I brought it to his attention. He also didn't notice it going on, but once I said the words it was like the clouds parted.
I predict some staffing and management style changes coming pretty soon. I'll call that a happy ending or at least a hopeful future!