How do you avoid burnout in a demanding career?

Your family may well recognise the signs and change in your behaviour before you do. Listen to their concerns, don't write them off or blame them. You will be their priority and they only want what is for the best for you. They might say... “You've been working late lot recently...” “You’re looking drained...” “I've noticed an increase in your drinking/eating” “You've had another rough night’s sleep” This is how they will see things manifesting, so take note and start to make small changes to help prevent burnout.

The start of burnout often begins with ? Readily accepting responsibility ? Unbridled optimism ? Compulsion to prove oneself ? High productivity levels But it is difficult to sustain excessive commitment and productivity over a long period of time. We are human and need to acknowledge our psychological and physiological needs. Red flags to be aware of are prioritising work over time with family and friends and dropping self care activities such as exercise, health eating and drinking. These are the very things that provide us with the energy, perspective, space to think, and rest that allows us to be effective. Resilience is the ability to replenish not endure!

This is very true! It's linked to one or more aspects of your career being out of alignment. Your strengths, values, skills, and personality all need to be considered. When you're not using the natural talents you've been given, you'll likely be more depressed because you're not using those innate gifts. When your values are not honored, this will create friction and conflict. When your skills (day-to-day tasks) are draining your energy, it's time to consider the "what you do" of your career. When your personality isn't expressed through what you do, you'll simply experience frustration. If you are experiencing these things, a great resource is a book: YouMap? Find Yourself, Blaze Your Path, Show The World! by Kristin A. Sherry.

The blank space on your calendar is sacred and should be protected at all costs. Blank space can be an important breath in an otherwise back-to-back schedule.

Schedule "me" time to allow yourself catch up time. I set up my calendar so that on Friday afternoon from 1pm until closing, I am not available. No meetings, no phone calls, nothing. That is my catch-up time. It also keeps people from sending me the weekend work dump that somehow seems to happen as 4:30 every Friday.

Healthy boundaries are appropriate and necessary in any work in which we are engaged. So too is tending compassionately to those boundaries by being aware of the shifts taking place in our energy, motivation, emotions, relationships, attitudes, and behaviors. Without clear demarcations for time away from work, time to engage in other activities and interests, time to exercise other skills we have, time to connect with our relationships, time to rest and relax, time to process the day, time to be quiet and reflect, time for physical movement and nourishment, time to feel the value of our lives apart from work, we endanger the very work we love and open ourselves to burnout.

Saying no can be one of the most empowering things as a leader or as someone who is used to "overworking." I recommend practicing saying no to experiences that are duplicative to ones you have already had or those that don’t directly support your immediate goals. You will always be able to make a case for the transferable skills you would learn but signing up for experiences without intention will not sustain you in the long term.

It's ok to walk away from the desk. Go get a cup of coffee, walk about the floor, do something that takes you physically away from your desk. Give yourself that time to clear your mind. It will do wonders.

If I don't exercise in the morning before I start my work day, I'm miserable. I don't perform at my best. I get antsy by noon and am unable to concentrate on what I need to do. Incorporating walks into my day, when I have a few moments to take them, makes a big difference in my well-being and ability to effectively meet with clients. Taking a few moments for fresh air, deep breaths, and meaningful movement seem like small actions, but their results are huge.

I had to leave to get up from my desk and take a walk. The walk helps me reset and refocus. When you allow work to consume you, have nowhere to go.

This one can be a little harder because for a lot of us, we are people who are handed work, most of us don't get to pick and choose our assignments. If you are searching for a new career or are in the beginnings of one, do the research into what you want to do. Don't just take a job because you think it's cool, for the paycheck, or any other reason. You will find it much harder to prepare to leave if you get into it and are caught up with all of this work that saps your energy.

Burnout often develops when we feel increasingly disconnected from what is personally meaningful, deeply valuable, and intrinsically motivating in our work. Workplaces can play an important role in reducing experiences of burnout. When we are treated with dignity and respect in our workplaces. When we are supported in our work roles and also encouraged to contribute. When we feel recognized, acknowledged, and valued for our skills and unique expertise, we feel motivated and committed to our work. When we are invited into dialogue with opportunities to learn and opportunities to have our perspectives heard we feel engaged, we develop a personal connection to our work, we experience the value of what we are doing, and we experience meaning.

Never underestimate the power of a good support network in the workplace. A trusting and friendly ear to listen to frustrations, help you process and work through a particularly challenging situation, or just reduce the feelings of isolation through kindness and understanding, can really make the difference and help prevent burnout. Can you find this person via a staff voice or support group? Are there working groups at your organisation in areas you have specialist interests in? Is your workforce unionised, and do you have a staff rep? Does your organisation have a mentoring scheme? Alternatively, look outside of your workplace for networking groups and forums in your occupational area. If there isn't one, could you start one?

You need to strike the right balance here. Too much socialization when you're burnt out will lead to irritation and can actually turn off the people you're interacting with. However, turning yourself into a hermit won't help with burnout either. The key is to have 2-5 trusted friends / peers / advisors who have been in your shoes and who you can "talk shop" with. It's important to share your struggles or challenges with someone like that periodically. The value this brings is the NORMALIZATION of your experience. The realization that it's not "your fault" will lift a tremendous burden off your shoulders and release energy for you to use elsewhere.

I take issue with the word "balance". The ideal is harmful. Our lives are dynamic systems and we can never achieve the mythical static "balance". It's a moving target. You need to alternate periods of hard work effort with periods of recovery. That's the basis of training for all endurance sports. Your recovery gets to be engaging in activities that fill you up - whether it's reading, hiking, or doing something else non-work related. Just make sure that it's a filling, not a draining activity.

Blocking out time on your calendar is one way of ensuring that you're able to bring balance into your life and focus on hobbies and relationships. It can also be a starting place for bringing more spontaneity into your life. It sounds counterintuitive to schedule spontaneous activity, but when you give yourself the time to explore a new place or see where the day takes you, then you open yourself up to opportunity, adventure, and balance.

I have always found it helpful to get my exercise in early in the day to get the day off on the right foot. Having a positive mindset & a clear head at the start of the day helps reduce stress & burnout On the days that I don't exercise, I find that I am more agitated & sometimes short fused. Having an outlet where you can declutter your mind allows you to look at things in perspective During the day when things get heavy or a little overwhelming, I go for a 15 min walk outside to get some fresh air to again find time to declutter my head Most essential to avoid burnout for me is to have sufficient rest. I know I am not at my best without sleep. I'm one of those people that needs to sleep a minimum of 6 hours!

Here are 3 tips for your consideration if you're going to win the burnout battle: 1. Recognize you need time off and away from work; that you deserve it! Your commitment to your employer should not be greater than your commitment to yourself. Think “and” instead of “or” meaning "I can do great work AND take care of myself." 2. You can’t control how work is allocated to you, but you can communicate capacity to your leader which includes risks associated with the current approach, compromised quality of work, etc. 3. Consider your short-term and long-term strategy to perform exceptionally in absence of consistently being available beyond work hours.

Burnout is complex. It differs in intensity, duration, and experience from person to person. Burnout is also contextual. We must not ignore the work cultures, policies, and practices that play a part in contributing to burnout. Burnout will remain a challenge for us all if we continue to classify it as a personally experienced issue requiring personal solutions. Burnout is a shared experience.