Fear you might burnout? 4 Things to Try
Photo by Christian Erfurt on Unsplash
Today we’ve got a guest post from Emily Lundberg over at Prialto. I’ll let Emily take it away!
Todays’ work environment can be a recipe for burnout. There is so much uncertainty from the constant negative news to the dramatic lifestyle shift to the layoffs and pay cuts. Even if you have job security, there’s a good chance that work is more stressful than ever as you strive to reach nearly impossible KPIs or try to save your business all while juggling tons of personal responsibilities.
Despite these challenges, it’s possible to make strides that will help you avoid burnout during uncertain times. Taking intentional steps to minimize our stress and boost our positivity can help us emerge from this period better than ever (or at least intact!).
Here’s how.
Be Mindful, Where You Can
Numerous studies show that mindfulness is one of the most effective ways to prevent burnout. By helping us be present in the moment, it makes it easier to stay positive in the face of all the uncertainty.
A lot of people avoid mindfulness because they think it’s just meditation, which can be a challenging activity to commit to. However, mindfulness can include any activity that helps us be more present and reflective.
Here are some simple ways to practice mindfulness (if meditation isn’t for you):
Go for walks (with your mask on and phone on silent!) and let your thoughts wander
When you drink your morning coffee/tea, just drink it and pay attention to the sensations
Run, hike, and do other exercises that clear your mind and help you focus on the present
Take a few minutes to write down some of the things you’re grateful for
Focus on the taste and texture of your food as you enjoy a meal
When you’re washing your hands for the millionth time today, pay attention to the sound of the water and how it feels on your hands
The key is to find activities that help your mind relax throughout the day, without needing to find big swaths of time to do it.
Eliminate Some of Those Non-Essential Decisions
The average person makes about 35,000 decisions a day. This sounds extreme, but it counts everything from what shirt you wear to the numerous small choices you make when solving a problem at work.
Usually, this is manageable since the majority of our decisions are so easy to make that we barely have to think about them. However, living with uncertainty can add a lot of stress to ordinarily small choices such as how to move forward with projects and when to go to the grocery store.
All of that stress is mentally exhausting and can contribute to burnout. One way to minimize that stress is to reduce the number of inconsequential decisions we make every day so we can reserve our mental energy for the ones that matter.
Here are a few examples:
What you eat for breakfast and lunch > eat the same thing every day or rotate a few options throughout the week
What you wear > shop your closet to find a “work uniform”, so you have one less thing to think about in the morning
What emails to respond to first > try replying in chronological order or based on what senders are the highest priority
What you should work on throughout the day > spend a few minutes to plan your week so you’re not wondering 50 times a day about what’s the best thing to work on next
Giving some of our basic choices default answers can help us avoid decision fatigue so we can focus on the decisions that matter most and get one step further away from burnout.
Reduce Low-Value Tasks
When was the last time you reflected on all of your tasks and assessed which ones have an impact? If you’ve never done this exercise or the last time you did was before the crisis, now is a good time to reevaluate the activities that you’re spending your time on.
A significant driver of burnout is having an overwhelming workload and not feeling like you’re making meaningful progress. Often, when this happens, it’s because we’re spending a ton of time on activities that we feel like we should be doing, but that don’t actually contribute to our success or happiness.
So, what should we do? Try making a list of all the tasks you do every week and eliminating (or delegating) the ones that aren’t required and don’t have a positive impact on your work or personal life.
Here are some common low-value tasks to look out for:
Unproductive or excessively long meetings
Tedious admin tasks
Projects that are extremely unlikely to succeed during the crisis
Pursuing prospects that are extremely unlikely to purchase from you
Keep in mind that many tasks, such as long meetings and poor-performing projects, can be modified to consume less time and add more value. Making an intentional effort to focus on high-value activities will help us avoid burnout by giving us more control over our success and happiness during these uncertain times.
Volunteer Your Time/Skills (ONLY if you have the desire and energy. And don’t feel bad for one second if you don’t!)
One of the hardest parts about burnout is feeling like our work and, in extreme cases, our lives have lost their meaning. This can happen when our work doesn’t have a deeper purpose that we connect with.
Uncertain times can exaggerate this feeling since our jobs may be more stressful and seem insignificant in light of all the issues happening in the world.
However, we don’t need to wait for a new job or business opportunity to find further enjoyment in our work. Using our expertise to support a cause that we’re passionate about is a great way to rediscover what you enjoy about your profession in the first place and make an impact.
During these uncertain times, many nonprofits are struggling to make ends meet and support the increased demand caused by the crisis. The website Catchafire allows professionals to virtually donate their expertise ranging from one-hour consultation calls to help nonprofits brainstorm new strategies and problem-solve to helping with multi-week projects.
Even if you only can commit to a single hour-long consultation call, seeing your expertise make an impact can help you rediscover the fun parts of your work and avoid burnout.
Does that seem like too much work? Perhaps you could offer to take a look at your recently laid off friend’s resume and offer feedback.
Ultimately, if we want to avoid burnout in uncertain times we want to focus on minimizing stress and identifying the activities we can control. In doing so we are taking some protective measures that will help us retain work and life satisfaction despite the deeply challenging environment.