Overcome Burnout before it Overwhelms You
Identify burnout and take charge of your life
“I feel tired all the time.” Do you hear this complaint often? You could be suffering from burnout, seriously. Burnout is chronic stress not managed properly.
Initially, I was an advocate of the “hustle culture”. However, I found out that it was neither practical nor sustainable. Then, I worked hard to impress others with my achievements. What if these achievements fail to flourish? It takes a hit on your progress and you feel emotionally drained. I’ve vested so much into this and never felt more miserable. This is why I want to help anyone struggling with this issue.
If we can’t identify when we’re experiencing burnout, there will be repercussions affecting our mental and physical health. Hence, we’re unable to realize our true potential to live a purpose-driven life. To understand burnout is to interpret and respond to it accordingly.
I concur with the statement that burnout is an organizational and individual problem. On the one hand, organizations do contain toxic environments that make it challenging to work without stress. On the other, individuality does matter when it comes to burnout. Your mind is like a navigator; it determines your outlook and direction in life. If we can’t change cultural workplace norms, why don’t we start with ourselves instead? How can we recognize and resolve tell-tale signs of burnout?
Symptoms of Burnout
Symptoms
#1 Physical
- A loss in appetite
- Falling sick frequently
- Fatigue
Our bodies are good indicators of when a potential burnout may occur; hence we need to be conscious about it. Failing to listen to your body leads to physical implications, preventing you from performing at your best, which exacerbates the problem.
#2 Emotional
- Self-doubt
- Lack of motivation
- Sense of detachment
This is understandable, as self-doubt and a lack of motivation stem from an undermanaged work situation, causing you to question your abilities. Personality traits are also a significant contributing factor in the case of high achievers.
#3 Behavioural
- Procrastination
- Binge eating
- Alcohol
When we have pent-up stress accumulated over a long time, we tend to unplug, to “let loose.” These behavioral signs are a natural way for your body to respond to potential burnout.
Ways to deal with burnout
“Being overwhelmed means that your life or work is overpowering you. Regain control by clarifying your intentions, setting realistic expectations and focusing on your next step.”― Daphne Michaels
Declutter, free up your mind
A messy and cluttered workspace is a possible cause of burnout, as Reliable Plant presented multiple research findings regarding the issue of office clutter to productivity. Studies show the average person wastes 4.3 hours per week searching for papers, which adds stress and frustration to the workplace while reducing concentration and creative thinking.
Reduce paper pileup. Anything that requires us to make notes such as appointments, business ideas, or incomplete tasks should be stored in a safe and controlled environment online. Helpful online tools are ClickUp(many features, user-friendly interface) and Notion (Note-taking). Why let our minds handle everything with technology at our fingertips? I’ve found that integrating such systems took multiple things off my mind, be it a lingering idea or planning my schedule.
Review, Reflect and Re-energise
You review what you’ve gone through for the week, reflect on it, and re-energize by internalizing that there is a brand new week to conquer. This allows you to improve yourself, which compounds on a week-to-week basis. I feel that the review needs to be thorough by addressing what caused the problem, how arises in the first place, and what the consequences were.
I’ve set aside time weekly, especially on Sundays, to plan my week. I have a rough overview of the week to mentally prepare myself for whatever commitments I have for the week.
This is important. Visualizing your work and commitments allows you to embrace the effort required to get through the week. And it is scientifically proven that visualization eases the mental barriers necessary to get work done. Most of us feel that we’re incapable of performing work, which results in a dampened mentality that contributes to burnout. This gives us control over our week rather than giving in to spontaneity, minimizing the variables that contribute to burnout.
Fitness for longevity
I know many of us believe that exercise is all about building an impressive physique to look good. While valid to a certain extent, the main idea of exercise is encompassed around health benefits and increased performance at work. By engaging in exercise more often, work performance can be sustained or improved for the week ahead. The ensued health benefits and boost in performance cannot be missed out.
According to academic research done at the University of British Columbia, researchers found that regular aerobic exercise, breaking sweat, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning. This implies a positive correlation between exercise and knowledge retention, picking up skills quickly, and maintaining a laser-like focus at work by processing and executing tasks more efficiently.
While it seems counterintuitive that exercise helps with office work, exercise acts as a medium for us to get things done. Consider someone that has not engaged in exercise at all in their life; they most likely become susceptible to ailments that inhibit their progress at work. This holds them back from achieving organizational or individual goals, resulting in dips of performance that could set them back 5–10 years of their life. Did I not mention that exercise also helps with mood and sleep? These are vital areas that play a massive role in how we look at and execute our work.
Conclusion
Burnout is a serious cause for concern in a fast-paced and ever-changing world. It must be identified and properly managed to prevent dire implications to a person’s wellbeing. It shouldn’t be dismissed as ordinary stress and should be assessed from physical, emotional, and behavioral standpoints. Start reducing desk clutter, reviewing and planning your week out, and perform any form of exercise to mitigate the impact of burnout.
I challenge you reader, to take the first step toward managing burnout, by implementing these ideas for a meaningful and growth-driven life.
