Strategies to prevent Burnout

Brink of Burnout…. A state close to exhaustion, no longer able to enjoy life

We know that exercise, good sleep, good food, time for our hobby, time with friends, meditation, laughter, proper time off to name a few, are essential for a good life, good health and preventing burnout. But if I had time for those, I wouldn’t have a problem, I hear you say!

Instead, let’s get up, check emails, race to get organised and out the door, battle through traffic, check phone for calls or emails. Into the office for rounds of meetings, calls, no breaks, usually working through lunch with the laptop open checking emails or working on tasks, little time outside for fresh air, grab something quick from the canteen or local convenience shop and then back for another round before racing home. If you have family then it’s on to getting meals organised, doing sports drops, collections, checking emails, working on reports perhaps in front of the TV and then flop into bed to rinse and repeat for another 4 days. Perhaps do the same over the weekend and what about holidays… do you routinely answer email and calls while on holidays?

Is this picture familiar to you? Pretty joyless, right?  The impact that this relentless style of living and working has on health, stress levels, energy, eating habits, relationships, in fact life in general is enormous nor is it a happy fulfilled existence to live like this? Many of us are working like this and it seems that the new norm is to be working all through our waking hours? The concept of work life balance or the newer work life integration, was surely meant to reflect that we could do work anywhere thanks to technology, however for many of us, it has meant that we do our work everywhere for much of our waking hours, far longer than is healthy. Many of us are on the brink of burnout, skating a thin line between being always on and absolute body and mind exhaustion. I hold to account organisations which think that this is how ‘high performance’ translates itself, they have a huge gap of understanding to close, starting with how to reflect a more modern progressive true high performance culture which places people’s wellbeing as the most important strategic priority.  

Relentless hours are not conducive to high performance, good leadership skills, being able to think clearly, being empathic or having good decision-making skills - working like this blunts all of our leadership characteristics and will eventually lead down the road to ill health and burnout.

I worked in very busy organisations all my corporate career but the demands and working hours coupled with the speed of change with the impact of mobile devices became far greater in the last 5 years than in the previous 10 I had spent working. I also know for sure that when I became a mum and added another role to my life, I became much more acutely aware of worrying that people would think I was slacking off if I left ‘early’ to do the creche run or if I had to stay at home and mind my sick child. I eventually recognised however that the relentless push on sales, targets, results was being translated into a requirement for late night calls, late meetings, regular weekend work and handling ‘emergencies’ when on holidays. I loved my work and was happy to put in hard yards to get projects delivered or proposals ready however this type of work pattern became the norm not the exception, and couple this with having personality traits of being driven, desiring good outcomes for clients and my team meant that I was always on, trying to get the bottom of my to do list and email even though in reality, that was never going to be possible.      

Burnout is very hard to come back from, mental health and physical health can be seriously adversely effected when the body is burnt out but even if it doesn’t get to that, that’s no way to live and work so what you can do to find time for some personal strategies and habits to protect you from burnout and to have a more fulfilling engaged life with a decent work life balance?

So what to do to keep going during these times? Rather than dumping all the good habits to keep you healthy and well, find time every day for things which will help you to look after your health- physical and mental. Carving out smaller pieces of time more regularly during the day will help keep you going when it is all shoulders to the wheel. These short term strategies are great for intense bursts of working long hours so remember that in the long term, proper rest and time off is essential to buffer the effects of stress in our body

Practice 2-minute breath work

When we are stressed our Sympathetic Nervous system (Our Internal Alarm!) goes into overdrive. A very simple way to deactivate it is to spend a few minutes with some slow focused breathing.  EVEN 2 MINUTES will make a difference and reduce the amount of cortisol flowing around our body and will in turn reduce blood pressure and bring you back to being calmer and more centered. If you are constantly in a state of overdrive and very busy at work, schedule these 2 minute breath breaks to help you cope.

Take 10 minutes outdoors 

We may think that sitting at the computer all day is the best way to work when you are very busy. If your creative juices are really flowing then perhaps best to stick at it but for most of us the longer we spend working without a break, diminishing marginal returns set it, we make errors, we think less clearly. Even 10 minutes away from the desk, outdoors will help to rejuvenate the mind. Preferably longer but sometimes the deadlines are looming. Remember too that, if you get a friend to come along for the company, you get the added benefits of the ‘Tend and Befriend’ feel good hormones being released.

Reclaim Lunch and have a screen free eating break

Constantly working through lunch is a recipe for lacklustre job performance, low energy for life and work, plus is pretty damn depressing. The occasional missed lunch is fine but if you rarely get a lunch break then something needs to change and that change needs to start with you.  Many of us eat in front of our computers during lunch. This keeps cortisol pushed up and will exacerbate feelings of stress. Take even 15 minutes to eat without keeping your screen open and you will help reduce stress in the body. Eating right is also central to avoiding burnout, avoiding the sugar filled treats we sometimes reach for will keep our blood sugar balanced and able to go for longer.

Exercise

Daily exercise is essential for our overall health and wellbeing. When it’s mad at work, try not to dump the exercise, perhaps get up 15 mins earlier and do a short workout at home, can you get out to exercise a few evenings a week. If there is a blank space in the diary, curb the temptation to fill it with calls and see can you get some exercise in. Walking meetings are a great way to get some exercise in.

Visual Reminders of good times you have had

Put something on your desk which reminds you of the things you love to do or the people you love. This helps link what you do and why you do it to occasions of joy and this boost of positive emotions helps to reduce cortisol, reduces stress, helps with better decision making and improves memory – so even if you are too busy to take a break, a small micro break to focus on this will make a difference.

Good Sleep Habits with a Tech Boundary

If you have to work late at night for the next month to get that deliverable done or a paper finished, you should still prioritise a decent amount of sleep as this will help performance and getting the jo done, decide what time you are going to go to bed at and working back at least 30 minutes, close out the device and finish your work. Get up earlier in the morning if you need to, as it is better to be up when it is light than working when it is dark. Ideally you should close the device at least an hour before but sometimes ‘you gotta do what you gotta do’. If you can invest in blue light glasses, these will help prevent the light from your device disrupting your melatonin which is your sleep cycle hormone essential to help you get to sleep, among other vital responsibilities.

These are just short term strategies – in the end you need to have proper rest and down time, there is just no other way to be happy and healthy and ensure you can buffer the effects of stress in the body