3 Quick Tips to Avoid End of Year Stress and Burnout

Are you feeling stressed as the year comes to a close?

Maybe your end of year reviews didn’t go as well as you would have liked. Or you feel like you didn’t accomplish as much as you wanted to by now. Or maybe you’re just getting a head start on worrying about next year.

As a master worrier myself, I understand how it feels. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here are three practical strategies to destress, avoid burnout, and feel more energized to achieve your career goals as you head into 2025:

1. Write down your worries

Take out a piece of paper (or open your Notes app) and write down a list of everything you’re worrying about. All of it. This helps you get your worries out of your head where they can ping around and seem bigger than they really are.

Then, once the source of your worry is over—whether that’s an event, a presentation or an interview—go back to your list of worries and write down what actually happened. Compare your before and after.

By doing this comparison, you’ll get data on how disconnected your worrying is from what actually happens. And that will help you to lighten up on the unproductive worrying next time, and get to action faster.

2. Update your thoughts

Certain patterns of thinking are more likely to lead to burnout, which is why some of us (raising my hand here) are more likely to burnout than others. These thoughts might sound like: “Success requires intense effort” or “Do your very best work on every task.”

But, at some point, your old patterns and beliefs may stop working for you. And that’s when you’ll want to refresh your thinking.

Here are some examples of what your thought updates could look like:

Old Way: If you want it done properly, do it yourself.

New Way: Put together a good brief, create a template, allow others to display their genius.

Old Way: Keep working until you finish.

New Way: Take breaks, step away at impasses, share with others, come back refreshed.

What old thoughts and patterns have served you well in the past, but could use updating?

3. Ask who, not how

Instead of thinking about how you’re going to get everything done, ask yourself, “who can help get this done?” In other words, you don’t have to do everything yourself.

This concept comes from Who Not How, an excellent book by entrepreneur coach Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy.

You can delegate parts of the work (or even all of it) to a team member who would see it as an opportunity to step up. Or collaborate with colleagues to get the project done faster and better than any one person could do on their own.

Sometimes when you feel overwhelmed, it’s not about you becoming more productive or working harder, you simply have too much on your plate. That’s where taking a new approach to find solutions and using your resources is a game changer.

So, if you find yourself overwhelmed with end of year stress:

• Over-worrying? → Write down your worries
• Overworking? → Update your thinking
• Overwhelmed? → Ask who not how

Which strategy will alleviate your stress?

Have another method for calming your stress and avoiding burnout? Share your wisdom in the comments.

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