Ways to Prevent Burn-out
Introduction
Chronic burnout requires the implementation of sustainable strategies, like losing weight, getting in shape, stress-reduction, etc that requires lasting life changes.
You need more than rest to handle overwork that leads to burn-out.
"...Rest can handle exhaustion, but not cynicism or powerlessness..."
Sarah Green Carmichael, 2022
Other factors that lead to burn out include
- lack of autonomy, recognition and connection
- doing work that doesn't reflect one's values
- unfairness in the workplace
- 'vacation debt' (the extra hours spent preparing to be away and catching up from having been away)
- 'productivity shaming' (this happens when people take time off and feel guilty that they are not accomplishing something important or being productive)
Ways to Reduce Burnout
To handle burnout, there needs to be a significantly lightened workload, ie up to 20%. Other measures include
- setting boundaries (eg do not check e-mails at night and on the weekend)
- develop a balanced work/life with sustainable hours
- connecting with colleagues
- working on projects that are interesting and meaningful
- taking regular long weekends, ie three or four days, every couple of months
- taking time to disconnect from work and reflect on what's important
The aim is
"...to return to work walking a healthier path. And not feeling guilty about it..."
Sarah Green Carmichael, 2022
Some more ways to prevent burn-out include
- starting the day with a relaxing ritual
- adopting healthy eating habits
- good and regular sleeping habits
- regular and frequent exercise
- learning to say no to requests of your time
- learning to delegate
- taking regular daily breaks from technology
- engaging in a creative activity outside your work
- find something that you are passionate about and make time for it
"...need to master meditation, exercise and sleep, emotional, cognitive and spiritual health to go beyond surviving the treadmill in life..."
Helen Hawkes, 2015c
Sufferers of burnout need a period of rest to regain the energy and strength to continue working.
A long-term solution requires an understanding of what is causing the burnout in the first place, ie is it work and/or lack of knowledge or skills and/or people around you and/or organisation and/or location?
. The challenge is to combine work and personal commitments while avoiding burnout. This can be done with a pragmatic approach including keeping to strict routines and pre-planning, which can dramatically reduce stress while lifting productivity and performance. Some examples are
- e-mails (a constant flow of e-mails can ramp up damaging stress. Thus the need to prioritise e-mails so that we only handing the most important while deleting or ignoring others)
- exercise (allocate a daily 30 minutes exercise break and treat it like any other important appointment in your diary)
- technology (use smart phones to reduce stress and clear brain space, etc)
- meetings (allocate time for a break between meetings; allocate a time frame to each meeting of one hour - see section on how to make meetings more productive)
- diet (reduce alcohol, caffeine, sugar, saturated fats and chemicals while increasing antioxidants via organic fruit and vegetables) (Helen Hawkes, 2015a)