Here's how you can prevent burnout as an engineering manager through self-care.

Actually, I agree that 6 to 8 hours sleep is absolutely essential for maintaining healthy cognitive function and remain firmly present minded on the job. The biggest managerial quality which helps prevent a burnout or become overstressed is not to do all the work yourself. Delegate the work, and you will accomplish more than what you will be able to do yourself. Burn out is a very depressing phenomenon. I have been through it. It made me sick. Slowly I composed myself back by resting, exercise, a game of tennis, squash, and a regular sleep. Any game you fancy is very good for physical and mental health. So this is my perspective on how to prevent a burn out.

Sleep is undoubtedly the most important thing but yet a lot do not take it seriously. I used to sleep for max 5 hours for more than 6 years continuously while I was in my early days and soon I realized it's not healthy at all. Remember compromising your health is not worth it. There are important things in life apart from work.

I believe adequate amount of sleep, proper food, healthy relationships both personal and professional, and proper work-life management are the key. On top of that, try not micromanage and delegate tasks and do whatever works for you. Its a constant learning journey, needs changes according to the situation basis.

Delegating works only as a stress reliever when you have build the right team around you, if not it can only add to more stress.

When approaching burnout, it is not uncommon to be aware of it, but it is confusing to know what to do about it for a variety of reasons. Feelings of failure, letting others down, overly demanding expectations that are presented as non-negotiable, etc, are all indicators. Having a community at work, which is differentiated from a network at work, that observes, perks their curiosity, and asks in the right setting, "Are you ok?" In some countries, it is a nationally recognized technique and is proactively encouraged as part of well-being initiatives. Everybody needs a sounding board, and finding that confidence takes courage and trust, which is not easy, especially if you are relatively new to the team or an assignee to the country.

Looking at all these I would say, they will all contribute to your well-being, not only in engineering management, but every job. As all people are different, some might work for you, some won't. Mental and physical health is everything and way more important than any job. With an engineering management job, comes a lot of responsability, and can indeed be very stressful. In my case, I put more stress on myself than in general my clients do and many times my own expectations are higher than the people around me. Of course it's good to exceed expectations, but it's important to be ok with yourself as well if you just meet others expectations. That sometimes can make the difference in stress levels and prevent yourself from having a burnout.