Beating Burnout - Two things that help

What do you do when you think you might be on your way to burnout?

What will stop you getting there and what might help you recover if you are already there?

In a previous post we looked at the signs that tell you if you are burning out, you can read that post here. We’ve also shared some helpful things around what gets you to that point and why you need to act if you are heading there; you can read about that here.

If you identified five or six of the factors in the previous post as applying to you, then you’re probably dealing with what might be termed “low level constant burnout’. A huge number of people suffer from this, so you’re not alone. However, that doesn’t mean you’re ok, you probably still need to make some significant changes. Once you go past seven or eight then you need some urgent changes before its gone to far.

So, what helps?

I’m sure if you’ve ever shared how you are feeling with someone else you’ve already had some suggestions.

Maybe someone told you what they told me when they said the answer was for me “to not stress about things so much”.

Well, that’s a good thought, but is it a realistic one?

I don’t know about you but telling me not to stress about things so much didn’t help at all; because I couldn’t! Stress isn’t something you can turn on or off completely. Some of us are wired to be conscientious and hardworking and we have drive that makes us want to succeed, so when we encounter stressful situations or problems our answer is to take it all on and just do more, and work more, and try more, until the situation resolves. And if it doesn’t resolve? Then what?

Here's what I learnt – you can help with your stress levels by removing yourself from some situations ( toxic relationships, poisonous work environments etc) BUT you can’t get rid of stressful situations completely – life is full of stressful moments, left field curve balls and unexpected relationship issues – that’s life and life happens to us – and stress while we deal with it is a natural reaction.

So, if you can’t control what happens to you, you can’t completely eliminate stress. But you can change some things about the way you run your life which will really help.

Here’s a couple of ideas that will always come up if you are looking for help with how you’re feeling:

Make sure you take your holidays

Of course you should. For your health, for your sanity, for your family and your body, YOU SHOULD TAKE ALL YOUR HOLIDAYS!

We all know that… right?

Of course we do.

But we don’t all do it.

Do you? Can you?

According to HR Review [1]   A staggering 69 percent of workers do not take all their annual leave, according to data by RotaCloud.  Across all industries, the average person gets a leave allowance of 32 days (31.8) but only takes 27 (26.6). This leaves a full week of time off (5.2 days) left unused each year.”

So, what’s up? Isn’t this a problem mainly of high performance driven business and office environments? Don’t all those ambitious career professionals and executives skew the figures? Apparently not ! this is a problem for all of us.

HR Review quotes “The nation’s hospitality workers take the least amount of their holiday entitlement, according to the research. The study of 7,000 employees found that restaurant, bar and pub staff take on average, just 16.

When researching the big question of Why do workers not take more time away from work?

A separate study of 2,000 workers, found having too much work to do was cited as the main reason why a fifth don’t take all their entitlement.(18%). This was followed by having nobody to hand work over to and having a mountain of work to come back to (both 16%)

Stressing too much about what would happen while they were away was a reason given by 14%. Also, sadly  as many as 11%)claimed it was pointless taking holiday as they would have to work all the time anyway.

So, simple fact, taking your holidays and relaxing will help you reduce the risk of burnout.

But you know this don’t you…it has become increasingly hard to switch off on holiday.

Thirty years ago you booked your hotel, went to the beach or walked in the mountains, had some nice meals and forgot about the office and everything back home for a fortnight. Today, withour great willpower and intentionality that’s not even possible – because technology means that email, texts, calls, social media and internet messaging just invades our life almost as much as they did at home.

Some employers and professional practices even mandate their workers be available on the phone in case there is a problem at the office.

That is a main reason why holidays are not the panacea they used to be.

But the biggest reason why holidays will not completely solve your problem is that your problem isn’t so much about what you do when you are off, its about how you live when you’re on.

And you know that to, don’t you? Especially if you’ve got anywhere near the stage I got to where after a great holiday you’re back at work only a week or two and you’re exhausted again, the brain fog is thicker than ever and you can’t wait to get to your next holiday.

YOU SHOULD TAKE ALL YOUR HOLIDAYS, YOU SHOULD DISCONNECT FROM LIFE BACK HOMW AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE WHILE YOU’RE THERE, ITS VITAL THAT YOU DO. BUT IT’S UNLIKELY TO BE THE FULL ANSWER.

Here’s a second helpful idea - but not as helpful as you might think:

Develop your time management skills

Early in my career I was privileged to have my employer pay for me to attend a time – management course. Everybody who was going to be promoted to manager grade was sent on this course. I took it to heart. I was the king of time management! My colleagues sometimes commented, “I don’t know how you get so much done in a day, you’re so focussed”. And I was focussed. Focussed on getting everything I could done as efficiently as I could.

It should have helped.

It did.

Then it didn’t.

After a few years, I kept bumping up against the same problem. Maybe you’ve experienced the same?

The problem is – The opportunities available to a capable person always exceed the time available.Anyone, with any drive in their personality, will always find that the workload always expands as the time available is created.

I discovered that traditional time management makes you more effective but most people tend to hit a wall where it stops working for them, or even makes things worse on the tiredness, stress and burnout front.

The reason?... There is a limit to the time available, it is a FIXED COMMODITY.

The problem is not the time available, or even if you use it effectively and efficiently; it is the ability to create sustainable margin in that time, which is really what you need. But, most of us find ourselves just managing a growing list of demands with a limited asset.

We also find that time management is subject to the law of diminishing returns – the more you use it, the more you have to settle for small – or microscopic- improvements; while the opportunities available and workload just seem to expand. But deep down, you already knew all that didn’t you?

YOUR SHOULD LEARN TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS THEY REALLY HELP TAKE SOME OF THE STRSS AND PRESSURE OFF YOU. THEY ARE GOOD FOR YOU. BUT THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO PROVIDE A FULL SOLUTION.

The next articles in this series take things a stage further and hopefully will set you on the path to some more permanent solutions.

[1] https://hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/annual-leave-is-not-fully-used-by-the-majority-of-workers/143748