May Busch* admits she’s had brushes with burnout but what she did to avoid going over the edge may be of help to us all.
Do you pride yourself on being a hard worker?
Do you try to do your best at every task you take on?
Being a hard worker is an honourable trait and it’s a necessary part of achieving goals and advancing your career.
However, every strength has a downside when it’s taken to extremes.
Hard workers with high standards can’t help pushing themselves to produce excellent results.
Eventually it’s possible you’ll hit a limit and experience burnout.
This is all too easy to do when you’re dedicated, driven, determined and demanding.
The problem is that it hurts your health, your relationships and your career.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Consider the following three steps.
Recognise your patterns:
I’ve found that certain patterns of thinking and behaviour are more likely to lead to burnout.
Do any of these thoughts and beliefs ring true for you?
Hard work pays off, no matter what you’re working on; success requires intense effort; have a sense of urgency; do your very best work on every task; if you want it done properly, do it yourself.
Keep improving it; keep working until you finish.
These beliefs have probably served you well for much of your life and career.
Yet at some point, the approach of redoubling your efforts and bearing down on problems until you wrestle them to the ground may stop working for you.
It can even come close to being your downfall.
So now is a good time to get in touch with what your patterns and tendencies are and see which ones might get you in trouble if you take them to extremes.
Pay attention to wake-up calls:
Once you get in touch with your patterns and tendencies, you’ll find it easier to notice the signs that point to burnout.
In my experience, they usually show up in your health, feeling of wellbeing and relationships.
They tend to start as ‘whispers’ like having trouble sleeping or constantly replaying things in your mind.
Then they get progressively louder until at some point it becomes impossible for you to continue in the same way you’ve always done things.
Often, it takes a serious wake-up call to acknowledge that you might be working too hard.
It could be something like an accident that happens because you were tired and distracted, a panic attack, or becoming paranoid that everyone’s out to get you.
So heed those early ‘whispers’ because you’ll stay on track and have a better life.
Change your approach:
It can be challenging to make a change, even if it’s obvious you need to make one.
You’ll probably be tempted to adopt a temporary fix.
This could be rest for a couple hours, then dive right back in.
Band-Aids like this only put off the fundamental shift you need to make to avoid eventual burnout.
The sooner you transform your approach, the more enjoyable and successful your life and career will be.
Recently, I was faced with a ‘whisper’.
I figured I had better take it seriously and not rely on a quick fix.
I committed to changing my approach to work with the goal of finding a healthier, more sustainable way forward.
Here’s what I did to make the transformation from the burnout route to a sustainable one.
I sat down and made two lists.
On the left side of the page, I wrote down my ‘Old Way’ of doing things and on the right side, the ‘New Way’ I’ll replace it with.
Both sides of the ledger are important.
On the left side, you’re acknowledging the way you’re currently approaching work and life. That’s the first step to any change.
On the right side, you’re identifying the new approach you want to take so you know what to do and say to yourself when your old patterns crop up.
Here are some examples.
Old Way: Hard work pays off, no matter what you’re working on;
New Way: Focus on what’s essential, don’t worry about the rest.
Old Way: Success requires intense effort;
New Way: Find the ease in what you do.
Old Way: Have a sense of urgency;
New Way: Everything in its time and place.
Old Way: Do my very best work on every task;
New Way: Identify what’s ‘good enough’ for each task.
Old Way: If you want it done properly, do it yourself;
New Way: Put together a good brief, create a template, allow others to display their genius.
Old Way: Keep improving it;
New Way: Get to done and move on.
Old Way: Keep working until you finish;
New Way: Take breaks, step away at impasses, share with others, come back refreshed.
Keep this list close to you, where you can see it every day and remind yourself.
What’s the Old Way you most want to change in order to get to the next level of your greatness, and what’s the New Way you can replace it with?
* May Busch helps leaders and their organisations achieve their full potential. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared on May’s blogsite