Feeling overwhelmed by the demands of a social impact career?

Acknowledge the stress you're experiencing is the first step towards managing it effectively. As a social impact business founder at Shiftbalance, I've felt this stress firsthand. In a career where your work is closely tied to your values, the pressure can feel incredibly personal and overwhelming. It's important to recognize that feeling overextended is a common reaction to the high stakes and emotional investment of our job. By accepting that stress is a natural response, we can start to address it without self-judgment and move towards finding balance. Remember, acknowledging our stress is not a sign of weakness but a step towards resilience and sustainability in our mission-driven work.

It is crucial to establish boundaries when feeling overwhelmed by the demands of a career in social impact. Defining clear limits on working hours, tasks, and emotional investment is essential for maintaining well-being and effectiveness. Prioritizing self-care through regular breaks, disconnecting from work after hours, and engaging in rejuvenating activities is key. Clearly communicate your boundaries to colleagues and supervisors, and be willing to delegate tasks or seek support when needed. By setting and sticking to these boundaries, you can sustain your passion for creating change, prevent burnout, and uphold a healthy work-life balance.

It's normal to feel overwhelmed in a social impact career. The constant pressure to make a difference, coupled with limited resources and complex challenges, can be exhausting. Burnout is a real risk. Recognizing these feelings is the first step towards finding balance and sustainable impact.

I usually stick to the "plane safety" image. You cannot help other if your are not well and operational first. Hence, take care of yourself to take care of others. Learn to say no and plan realistically, make a daily "to do list" including "you" moments: drinking a cup of coffee while looking at a bird or a garden, listening to music for a break, walking daily to let go, family time and socialising to disconnect. Also, for workaholic like me, highlighting in colour the tasks done during the day in the diary, helps feature how much one has achieved daily and take away anxiety regarding pending work. Finally practice "positive energy breathing" when anxiety shows up: go to your happy place for a few minutes, it works !

At Shiftbalance, I've learned to determine my working hours, clearly define my responsibilities, and recognize when it's time to step back and recharge. Communicating these boundaries to my colleagues has been essential in ensuring they are respected. For me, this means limiting my online time, which helps me to avoid becoming overwhelmed by constant connectivity. I make it a point to spend quality time with friends, which provides a much-needed break and helps me maintain my mental health. Remember, saying 'no' to certain demands allows you to say 'yes' to your health and the quality of your work. Setting these boundaries is not only about self-care but also about sustaining our capacity to create lasting social impact.

Setting boundaries is essential when feeling overwhelmed by the demands of a social impact career. To maintain your well-being and effectiveness, it’s crucial to define clear limits on your working hours, tasks, and emotional investment. Prioritize self-care by scheduling regular breaks, disconnecting from work outside of designated hours, and engaging in activities that rejuvenate you. Communicate your boundaries clearly to colleagues and supervisors, and don't hesitate to delegate tasks or seek support when necessary. By establishing and adhering to these boundaries, you can sustain your passion for making a difference while avoiding burnout and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Feeling overwhelmed? Protect your wellbeing by setting clear boundaries. Prioritize tasks, delegate when possible, and establish clear work hours. Communicate your limits openly and respectfully. Remember, self-care is essential for long-term impact.

Prioritization is crucial to achieving your goals. In prioritizing, a key thing to remember is the 80/20 rule, which is to identify areas that lead to 80% of the required results and require the least effort or would lead you to generally achieve more and then focus on those areas. Prioritizing high-impact areas helps you to get more done and get the most important things done first. This can help reduce the pressure and make you feel more at ease, as it breaks down things into different levels of importance.

Feeling overwhelmed? Focus on what truly matters. Prioritize tasks based on their impact, urgency, and alignment with your goals. Delegate when possible, and break down large projects into smaller steps. Remember, it's okay to say no to overcommitting. Take breaks, practice self-care, and celebrate small wins to maintain balance and productivity.

Having an active response to help your mental health is vital and we need to make sure we are prepared to deal with upsetting topics when you work in social impact. It's normal, for example, to feel that you not doing your 100% to support people from less privileged background. So, it's really important to see things from different angles and speak to people that can help you to be proud of your work. When I was chair at a feminist organisation that support victims of violence, I approved a monthly mental health support to the staff and the director so they could talk to a professional about the challenges they faced in their work. Some cases were very upsetting and could trigger traumas and we are all human beings.

For those that work in social impact in the private sector, I know that, sometimes, we don't feel we are delivering enough and some colleagues don't understand our importance. But, you are making a difference to change minds and lives. For those in charities - You can deal with very complicated and challenging cases, so try to separate your emotions and stablish boundaries so you are strong enough to support others. This is vital! I love to work with social impact and I've found myself in this field. However, it brings different challenges every day and we can feel that, sometimes, we could do more for decision-makers in our organisations to listen and follow our advice. It's tough but be proud and keep going :)