Did you know that there’s a lot you can do yourself to help prevent and treat burnout? This is great news for workers feeling the extreme and unrelenting pressure that can lead to burnout. So if the symptoms – exhaustion, cynicism, distancing yourself from work, becoming inefficient and feeling ineffective – threaten to rock up chez toi, fight them off using the tips below, as published by The Harvard Business Review.
Prioritise your health
It’s essential to replenish your physical and emotional energy, along with your capacity to focus, by prioritising good sleeping habits, nutrition, exercise, social connection, and practices that promote your general well-being, like listening to music and enjoying nature.
If you’re having trouble squeezing such activities into your schedule, assess how you’re spending your time. Try to identify which tasks, people and situations have limited value and put you in a negative mood, and limit your exposure to them going forwards. Pinpoint the valuable activities, people and tasks that lift your mood and give you energy. Now focus on investing more time in this latter category. Hopefully, you’ll free up some precious ‘me’ time in the process too.
Determine which aspects of your situation are fixed and which can be changed
You also need to address the root causes of burnout, e.g., an impossible workload or insufficient resources. Examine which aspects of your situation are truly fixed, and which can you change. For example, are there tasks you could delegate to free up time and energy? Can you avoid parts of the organisation that frustrate you? Could you benefit from some training in a specific area?
Reduce exposure to the most stressful activities and relationships
You’ll also need to target activities and relationships that trigger stress. This involves resetting the expectations of colleagues and clients about what and how much you’re willing to take on, as well as establishing the ground rules for working together. Perhaps you don’t want to be contactable on weekends or in the evenings, for example.
Seek out inter-personal connections
The best antidote to burnout is seeking out rich interpersonal interactions and continual personal and professional development. Find mentors who can advise you on the subject, and seek out volunteering opportunities as a way of breaking out of the negative cycle.
By implementing these four strategies, you can both prevent and recover from burnout. In a wider context, these tips will help you to have a more sustainable career and a happier, healthier life. Enjoy the ride and, if you’d like any help finding your new dream job and nailing the interview, please get in touch. ABL, your trusted multilingual recruitment partner, is here to help!
