10 Tips To Avoid Burnout
Burnout often happens when we end up disillusioned by something we are doing. Even if you love what you do, burnout can still happen. Most of the time, burnout is related to a feeling of mental and physical exhaustion and being unable to do all that you need to do to get to a place of rest.
Taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually is vital to being a healthy person that can avoid problems with burnout. Eat right, exercise, see your doctor on schedule. Talk to a mental health professional or your religious leader if you need help dealing with something.
Follow these 10 tips to avoid burnout. Even if you think you’re already there, these tips can still help you because you can identify what you’re doing to cause it and stop doing it.
Sleep more
Sleeping enough each night is an essential component of ensuring that you live a life that will help you avoid burnout. If you are well-rested, you are going to perform at a higher level every single day, thus making you more productive. If you are tired due to a lack of sleep, problems will seem more prominent and less surmountable. P.S - Exercising every day is a big key to sleeping better every night.
Exercise
Aim for 30 minutes of cardio daily. Studies show most people get the most benefit exercising this way within a couple of hours of waking, but a walk in the evening will help your body prepare for sleep. Try not to exert yourself two hours before bedtime.
Meditation
Having downtime can help you avoid burnout. Meditation is a type of downtime that is very productive for most people. If you fear you are already experiencing burnout, starting a meditation practice today will help you recover. The good thing about meditation is that you don’t need anything special to do it.
Practice Positive Self-Talk
When you’re mindful, you’ll start to notice your internal monologue more often. If it’s negative, it can be a sign of impending burnout. Try to turn those thoughts around to positive thoughts. At the very least, try to make the thoughts more neutral.
Find Joy in Your Day
The best way to avoid burnout is to help yourself feel happier and more satisfied. One way to accomplish that is to keep a gratitude journal so that you can remember that sunrise you saw or your grandchild’s laughter on any given day.
Understand Your Limitations
It’s easy to compare yourself to others. If you see that other successful people are working 100 hours a week, it’s tempting to think you must. However, you really don’t need to do that, nor should you. There are 24 hours in a day, and you need to sleep at least 7 of those hours, exercise about an hour, and eat for about three hours a day and spend time with your family, friends, and yourself learning and exploring.
One of the keys to success in life and avoiding burnout is to learn how to make a reasonable and realistic schedule. Try various methods until something clicks for you. One of the best methods to help you avoid burnout is the block schedule. Another is using the Pomodoro Technique to get your tasks completed.
Know Your Priorities
When you look at your overall life plan and goals, what are your actual priorities? You have priorities for all the different areas of your life, including spiritually, personal development, health, romantically, socially, family, business, career, and so forth. Create one or two S.M.A.R.T. goals for each area.
Reassess Your Goals
The only way you can be sure that anything you do works is to test it and look at the data. Once you do that, you may discover that a goal you made was the wrong goal for you to be shooting for in the first place. After all, as you learn, grow, and change throughout your life, it’s normal for your priorities also to change.
Unplug Every Day Early
It might get old for night owls to hear this but turning off your technology a few hours before bed is essential for a better night’s sleep. Sleeping well improves your health in every way, especially mentally, giving you the strength to avoid burnout.
Let Yourself Get Bored Sometimes
One problem with today’s always-on society besides rampant burnout is that no one is bored. Being bored is a significant catalyst for invention. Spend an hour in a hammock without your phone, go on a walk with your five-year-old. Spend a day fishing. It’s okay to do nothing.