How do you manage burnout as a consultant?

Consulting is not for the faint of heart. It's a constant feast or famine - you can be either running full tilt on projects or looking for more work. You have to LOVE it (which I do) to make it work for you. To avoid burnout, what has worked best for me is to focus on running recurring programs and services so that you aren't "starting from scratch" every year. Set your business up for long-term relationships with your clients, contractors, team members and partners. Focusing on the "long game" is your best bet for maintaining your energy, sanity, and growth - and for avoiding burnout.

Give equal importance to your personal & professional life. Set goals & keep track of progress, this will help keep you motivated. If you still feel like overdoing things at work, then take a break/vacation.

The thing with burnout is that rest alone is not enough to solve it. Often it's not about the workload per se, as much as our perception of what's happening. So, the issues that are contributing to the feeling of stress, are exactly the keys to begin healing. One could be focusing in micro tasks, usually too many to handle, and/or with too little time to do them, and/or there are numerous touchpoints with other team members hard to manage. Or one could be focusing on a perceived unattainable overall goal. Trying to identify one's pain points usually requires stepping back a bit. Then, reframe them, aiming to objectivity in finding the right solutions. If it's hard to do it alone, one should reach for help, for a fresh pair of eyes.

Love what you do! This can be easier said than done at times, but its so much easier to find energy and drive when what you are doing aligns to your greater purpose in some way, and over and above professional growth and career goal setting. Try and find ways to maximise the time and energy you can spend on topics that matter to you - and obviously your clients - and ways to reduce the distractions or operational needs of your role. For me, this includes working with great people and helping them on their growth journey.

Burnout is fundamentally about the alignment between a professional and their position. Addressing burnout in the most efficient and cost-effective way involves evaluating the position for key contributors: inadequate resources or authority to meet expectations, work overload, and toxic workplace dynamics. By correctly identifying and resolving these systemic issues, organizations can avoid the high costs of lost productivity and onboarding. Remember, burnout is contagious—it's essential to intervene before it permeates your organization's culture.

One thing you see all too often, especially with junior consultants, is a tendency to always say yes and to avoid conflict or raising issue. From a leader's perspective this can seem like enthusiasm or a go getter attitude, when in reality it's fear/anxiousness. Sometimes you don't even realise you're saying yes to everything. It's always better to be vocal about setting boundaries and putting your health and wellbeing first, to set the right expectations. If you are working in a good environment this is a priority for the leaders and the organisation as well.

It's always a valid point to consider our well-being and learn to identify when we are getting stressed before it starts eating deep to the points of breaking down.

Successful professionals set boundaries and know the difference between creating boundaries for themselves vs setting boundaries to appease a delicate ego. For example, a leader might want meetings to start on time, so they start promptly at the top of the hour. Whoever comes in late knows noone is waiting on them and they scramble to get up to speed. Where leaders go off the rails is when they decide to make it personal if a participant is late by believing "If they respected me, they'd be here on time." The participant's delay might have been unavoidable but the self-conscious leader just made it personal. Strong leaders build their self-esteem vs veiling their desire for validation and compliance in overly-personalized boundaries.

In my experience, it’s important to be clear on what your role is. Things change pretty fast in the consulting world and it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing more than what was agreed without weighing its impact on you and other tasks.

Set boundaries - yes. Better still, develop super expertise in your subject of choice which you are truly passionate about. Passion for your subject will not only help you achieve excellence, but it will develop resilience. The strength to manage the risk of burn out is a function of resilience. The power to achieve excellence is passion.

In initial phase of consulting career, I enjoyed burnout and considered it an indicator for growth & an indicator that I am pushing myself to the extreme. After, a real burnout I used leave office early, go to Sauna/Jacuzzi , stop caffeine intake & drink plenty of water. I would plan mountain-hikes and do hikes to connect with nature, friends & to connect with the most important person, MySelf. As the career progressed, I avoided it by clearly defining & agreeing on SOW/ToRs/expectations. Extra deliverables are delivered after a written agreement and changes in the timeline. Besides, the above coping strategies when it happens, I arrange parties for friends, family, colleagues, connect with them & search for more consulting work

Consultants, you're not a lone wolf in this corporate jungle! Burnout's kryptonite is support: No Lone Ranger: Don't feel like the lone ranger in the wild west of consulting. Yee-haw for teamwork! Share the Load: When challenges stampede your way, corral your colleagues, mentors, or coaches. They're your posse against work woes. Family Feud Buster: Don't wrangle it solo if the stress rodeo's too wild. Lasso in friends, family, or even a therapist. They're your emotional spurs. Remember, even John Wayne had a trusty sidekick. Round up your support system, and let's ride off into the sunset of success! ????

Offene Kommunikation mit anderen, sei es in der Familie, im Beruf oder im Freundeskreis, ist wichtig. Teilen Sie Bedenken, Wünsche und Grenzen mit, um Verst?ndnis und Unterstützung zu f?rdern. Das Hinzuziehen professioneller Hilfe, wie Coaching oder therapeutische Unterstützung, kann ?u?erst wertvoll sein. Ein externer Blick kann helfen, tieferliegende Probleme zu identifizieren und konkrete L?sungsans?tze zu entwickeln. Der Zaubersatz “Erkenne Dich selbst” ist in der Tat ein m?chtiges Werkzeug, um sich auf den Weg zu machen, ein ausgewogenes und erfülltes Leben zu führen. Es ist ein fortlaufender Prozess der Selbstreflektion, Anpassung und gegebenenfalls professionelle Unterstützung beinhalten kann.

People talk about burnout like it’s just about extreme exhaustion. I like to think of it as more of a "misalignment" issue. It's like your day-to-day grind isn't syncing up with what you really care about. When everything's aligned, work doesn't just take energy from you; it gives it back because you're doing something that matters to you. But if things aren't lining up right—say, your job's draining & you're just clocking in and out—you're going to feel burnout creeping in. It's not just being tired; it's like your soul's tired because you're not working toward what really counts for you. If your goals & daily tasks aren’t on the same page, then it might be time to rejig things so that they match up with what you actually want in life.

I was a consultant & started having physical symptoms: migraines, exhaustion, tears, panic attacks etc. I can now say that I couldn't find meaning in what I was doing. And no one would mention it. It's an unspoken taboo at work. Somehow you should have worked it out! We all tend to resort to say that family & career give us meaning, but it's a massive lie for those who have not taken the time to do their "purpose work". Family & Career Success ain't enough reasons for someone to keep "abusing" their body & their mental capacities through work. It's so important to take the time & seek expert support to make sense of your Personal Life Purpose. Then you can align your career to it. There's always a way when you are clear of what needs doing.

Finding meaning is very important. As a consultant, I used to give assignments to the people where they should play the role of a detective. For instance, I told young persons with less than five years of experience, to find out the origin of their job and the culmination of their job. By repeatedly doing the same thing over and again, they get frustrated and by this discovery, they found meaning in their work and felt the importance of their work.

1) Goal Connection: Link work to your dreams - your job's a bridge to Treasure Island! 2) High-Five Yourself: Celebrate wins, big or small. 3) Recognition Radio: Tune into the station of praise; know you're a rockstar! 4) Helping Hand: Find purpose by lending a hand to colleagues. 5) Skills Safari: Unearth new skills - your toolset for success. 6) Adventure Awaits: Explore new opportunities like a fearless explorer.

I agree! Having the original spark and re-visiting it always helps. I found voicing when I need some time and prioritizing family builds mutual respect between the company and your off time.

Self-care can mean stepping away from work to walk or go to the gym. It is essential to move whenever you can and avoid being sedentary. When I do these things, it also helps my overall well-being and mood.

Blocking time to think is just as important as blocking time to create and achieve. It can be very easy to get caught up in the excitement of finding and reaching success with the next project, but it is important to remember that the journey is the point. Not the destination.

It is also important to get regular breaks. Working intensely for a couple of hours and then chilling over a coffee or having a walk might help. Also if you are travelling as part of work. How do we spend time after work or before work is important. I try to talk to family, go for a swim or just walk around.

I completely agree with the insights shared in the article about maintaining a positive and energetic lifestyle. To further enhance this approach, I'd like to add a few personal recommendations that have significantly impacted my well-being: 1. Surround Yourself with Positive People: Make it a priority to meet people who charge your batteries rather than drain your energy. Being around individuals who uplift and inspire you can dramatically improve your mental and emotional state. 2. Regular Energy Healing: Incorporating energy healing practices, such as Reiki into your routine can be incredibly beneficial. I recommend getting a session at least once a month.

Self-care acts as a preventive measure against burnout by replenishing one's physical, mental, and emotional reserves. By prioritizing well-being through activities like exercise, sleep, and relaxation, individuals can mitigate stress, enhance resilience, and maintain optimal performance. It's a vital investment in oneself, not an indulgence.

I have a mental health day every quarter. I do something new, meet up with some new people, explore something I've always wanted to do. For me I learn a new creative skill last quarter it was the ancient art of pointed pen calligraphy I first saw in Japan. Next quarter I'm attending an event for mixed media artists a far cry from my day job in Cyber Security. The important thing is to step away from your work and your personal life for 4 days a year.

When I feel overwhelmed and too deep into micromanaging things, I take a step back and look at what is in my area of control: 1. What milestone do I strive to achieve? 2. What are my key deliverables for the role I'm in? 3. What are the challenges for me to achieve this goal(s)? 4. What can I do to overcome blockers? You don't have to figure everything out by yourself. Having a clear understanding of the goal(s) and the challenge(s) will enable you to have an honest discussion with the team and identify an action plan.

Burnout is not a problem but a symptom of an underlying problem or a set of problems. Instead of alleviating the symptoms, we should find out the cause of the problem and treat it at its roots. For instance, burnout is like a headache. Through a headache, the body is trying to communicate to us that there is something wrong in the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurological, or digestive systems. We have a tendency to treat headaches by focusing more on taking painkillers and thereby trying to kill the messenger. Just like headaches keep coming back, burnout, too, keeps occurring irrespective of what superficial measures we take. The solution is to change the attitudes, the feelings of self-worth, and the perception of apparent threat.

In my early consulting days, I mistook the burnout as a sign of growth, but since I have realized the importance of self-care practices like spending quality time with loved ones and relaxation, I discovered that maintaining a healthy balance between my personal and professional lives is very crucial, making specific goals, and keeping track of my accomplishments are essential for keeping me motivated. The source of motivation for me is to love what I do and to link my work with my larger purpose. As my career progressed, I've become more proactive in defining my priorities and having a healthy balance between my professional and personal life to avoid burnouts.

Set Clear Boundaries: Clearly define your working hours and stick to them. Avoid the temptation to constantly check emails or take work calls during your off-hours.Make self-care a non-negotiable part of your routine. Regular exercise, a balanced diet s Seek Support: reach out to colleagues, mentors, or friends for support and advice. Sharing challenges and feelings can be therapeutic to help you find solutions. Learn to Say No: Avoid taking on many projects or clients simultaneously. Assess your workload and capabilities realistically, opportunities that may lead to burnout. Mindfulness stress Reduction: Practice mindfulness meditation, or yoga to manage stress. These help you stay calm and focused amidst the demands of consulting.