Burnout - stop the spread

Yeah, everybody out there and their mothers are talking about?mental health, but still, you go on working more than 45 hours a week and sleeping less than 6 hours every day.

Don’t fade out like a?champagne supernova?in the sky. Get busy and conquer the world little by little. Here are easy tips you can start applying now to avoid burnout at all costs!

Read on to:?

?? Understand WHY you’re burning yourself out.

?? Easy-to-apply tips to help avoid burnout

?? Sizzling trends

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You’ve got the “Heroic individualism” symptom:?According to human performance expert?Brad Stulbeg, this is an intense feeling that you need to be better, feel better, think more positively, and “optimize” your life only to offer superficial solutions that at most, leave you wanting. Unfortunately, this might lead you to burn yourself out and stop enjoying the simple things in life.?

You’re afraid to delegate:?Freelancers often have trouble shifting from doing to leading. So why do we suck at delegating? We’re overachievers and perfectionists and don’t trust that the other person will do it as well as you do. Acknowledge that?if you don’t learn how to lead, you’ll never be a true leader.?

You’re not prioritizing your digital detox:?You already know that technology overload can have detrimental effects on our health, such as addiction, dependence, sleep deprivation, and fatigue- but still,?over half of all freelancers admit to reading work emails while on holiday. So make on-screen time reduction a top priority.

You’re not setting boundaries:?This means saying no to clients that always give you last-minute assignments, tight deadlines, and poor-pay projects. Instead, learn to prioritize what’s best for you.

Our crazy “Pandemic Brain” is stressing us out & affecting memory loss:?A mix of technology overload, lack of focus, and stress we've felt these past two years. It's like being bothered by a pesky little fly buzzing in your year the whole afternoon, knowing that fly flew away hours ago. As a result, our?cognitive systems are left feeling constant pressure, even when the stressor leaves.

Your “obsessive passion” is getting in the way:?Instead of being motivated by external recognition or being a slave to your pursuit, which is linked to burnout, anxiety, and dissatisfaction- opt for “harmonious passion.” This means focusing on the joy you experience in the work process, not the results- and what many Olympic athletes use to avoid mental health issues as they train.

?? Easy solutions you can try to avoid burnout

Politely set boundaries with clients

• Set up a contract that avoids last-minute work and free labor:?Write down the services you offer, deadlines, and conditions, and have each client sign it. Clients should only get 1-2 chances to assign late work, or you should double your fee. Check out these:?Freelance contract templates.

Become a leader and learn to delegate

• Find trustworthy freelancers and coach them:?Find freelancers to work on extra work?and meet with them once a week to check work quality.?
• Use the 70% rule:?If it can be done by someone else with about 70% of the same level of quality and speed, just delegate it.
• Use collaboration apps to keep track of work:?Split clients with tasks in excel with tabs and establish a deadline calendar.?Besides?Notion, you can also use these apps: to keep multiple clients in one place,?Trello. For deadline-oriented workers:?Asana. For daily do-lists:?Reetro. For design divas:?Figma.
• Learn how to coach others:?We recommend using the following tactic: “Own the “what” + Share the “why” + Pass on the “how” + Pass on the “wow.” Learn about it?here.

Decrease technology use and raise productivity?

• Make digital breaks your new goal:?Flipd?and?Moment?let you set challenges such as “No screen time November” or “No IG” weekend with other users. If you want to take it to extremes, we recommend Appdetox and Shutapp, which completely blocks and shut off apps.
• Use apps to automate, and decrease technology use:?Decrease tedious tasks and?start automating work with these apps.?An easy tool is the?Pomodoro timer?website. It splits work into 25 minutes with 5 - minute breaks.

SLEEP!

• Make sleeping 8-hours part of your work schedule:?No biohackers are wrong?- intermittent sleep is harmful to your health. Studies prove that you generate anabolic hormone production increases for every 90 - minute cycle of deep sleep.

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