10 Quick Tips to Prevent Burnout at Work
Burnout is a kind of epidemic in the working culture. No doubt, it has to be taken seriously; otherwise, you will get deplorable consequences.
How do you fix burnout at work? Preventing burnouts at must not require a compound strategy, however, you can follow some simple steps to improve job performance without overloading your stress level.
In this post, we gonna focus your attention on some essential tips to minimize burnout at work. Follow them and keep calm, the world will still be there tomorrow!
Every person has a breaking point at work. You may love your job and enjoy working with your colleagues, but there will be times when exhaustion and stress prevails and a sense of defeat sets in.
What are the symptoms of burnout?
The constant stress, physical and emotional fatigue, and negative feelings at work have become a serious problem. All these can threaten job performance and cost your business.
It’s better to be prepared and prevent than repent at the end. Realizing obvious burnout symptoms, you will be able to start making some adjustments. Here are some proven tips to avoid getting burned out at the workplace.
What are the 5 Stages of Burnout?
1. Loss of interest
Every employee has days when they don’t have the energy to tackle our work with passion. If you start feeling this way more often than not, then you should pay closer attention. When you experience a sudden loss of interest that continues for many weeks then this could be the first symptom of burnout.
2. Lack of energy
If you feel fatigued and tired almost every day at work, then this is the second sign of burnout. Just be sure that these feelings of fatigue aren’t the result of stress from non-work factors, poor sleep, or a chronic physical condition.
3. Physical pain
If you have constant headaches and feel achy all of the time, this is also about burnout. When combined with other factors, pain and discomfort may indicate serious problems.
4. Loss of motivation and ambitions
It is actually also about the loss of interest in your work, but it’s a bit more serious as it includes the wider endeavor of your career and your vocation. Burnouts may lead to losing enthusiasm for finishing global projects about which you were previously excited.
5. Performance recession
This symptom is more objective than the others. If you notice a sustained decrease in your performance, you are probably experiencing burnout.
How to Reduce Burnout in the Workplace?
1. Work smarter, not harder
People tend to put in too much time at their offices and long hours at work can contribute to burnout. What you can definitely do is to look at your schedule thoroughly and see if there are ways to cut down on the hours you spend working.
Are you attending unnecessary meetings, “putting out fires” and spending time on rote tasks that could be done using special automated systems. Even shortened Fridays will help you to avoid burnouts giving your team members and your time to recharge that will raise the overall mood in the office.
2. Define your breaking point
It has been proven that the overwhelming workload creates nervous breakdown and physical fatigue. Set your own boundaries even if you are a chronic workaholic. Otherwise, it can cost you your productivity in the long run. It’s not easy to say “no” but if you want to be energetic and stay focused, you have to slow down and determine your tasks wisely. Being a superhero at work will only drain your own energy and take away your motivation.
3. Enhance flexibility
It’s useful to learn how to be flexible. If you have children and need to leave work earlier, or whatever the case may be, try to be flexible in your hours in-office. Improving flexibility will promote greater self-care, lower stress, and enhance a healthier work environment.
4. Escape “energy vampires”
We often have people around us who drain us, instead of energizing us. Try to avoid such people and better think about spending time on activities that will fill you with energy and excitement and make some room in your life for them. Define the situations that cause you the most stress and anxiety and look for ways to prevent or eliminate them. Learning new ways of managing the situations you can’t change can give you a new lease on life.
5. Compile to-do lists
Planning is key to success. If you still plan things in your head and try to remember every single task without making a list, your productivity will suffer for sure. Luckily, today you may find hundreds of to-do list applications that you can choose from beside paper and pen.
An effective to-do list app can help you combine all of your tasks in one place. Its functionality will allow you to track your progress, set priorities, and carry out all the tasks in a timely manner. Be sure, planning ahead will help you reduce unnecessary stress and evaluate your workload.
6. Schedule time for relaxation
You probably know about the positive effects of physical activities, exercises, or meditations, but closing the knowing-doing gap can be hard. When your client is waiting for a report, you will surely skip a meditation session or cancel a morning yoga class. However, if you put your wellness activities into your calendar at least a week ahead, you’ll increase the likelihood you will stick with them.
Scheduling time to take care of yourself may have a long way toward arriving at work full of enthusiasm and motivation and will make it easier to avoid burnout.
7. Try a productivity method
Perhaps you always get stressed out because of your own to-do lists. In this case, it’s critical for you to commit to any effective productivity method.
One of the most reliable ones Getting Things Done by David Allen. The method is trusted by thousands of project managers all over the world. With its help, you can plan out each step in advance in order to reduce unnecessary stress. Moreover, you can easily integrate this method with your preferable project management tool to get more done.
8. Find a new productive hobby
Another great way to avoid burnout at work is to find a productive hobby you can deeply immerse yourself in for a few hours a week.
Read books, meditate, learn a new language, play the guitar, or enjoy frisbee. Productive hobbies provide a therapeutic release, so and you can come to work recharged and ready to rock. After all? you can initiate any corporate event. Even your team is distributed, you may organize any virtual team building game. Your team will appreciate it for sure.
9. Focus on harmony and finding balance
Focusing on harmony and finding work-life balance means prioritization personal and professional activities.
For many individuals, happiness is defined as having no differentiation between professional and personal lives. Some time ago, the line between professional and personal was clearer and it was harder to take work home. Now there are many opportunities to work remotely and perform great results.
10. Ask for help if you need it
No one can be good at everything that is why team collaboration is often the key to a business’ success. There is no shame to ask for help from your team members. It will not make people think less of you.
look for any efficient collaborative platform to enhance team performance and optimize your workflow. Minimizing stress before it builds up and backfires on your work productivity, you will make one more essential step to prevent burnout.
The final tip
If nothing works – take time out. In case you have done everything from the list above and you still feel exhausted, – it is a sign to take a step back and have a break.
The burnout process at work can extremely exceed your ability to cope. Do not be afraid, it’s ok to take time out and put yourself first, taking care of your health for now.
