Avoiding Burnout
Many of us are torn between juggling heavy workloads, managing relationships and family responsibilities, and trying to squeeze in hobbies. So, it should come as no surprise that more than one in four Americans describe themselves as “super stressed”. In your effort to “do it all”, it’s easy to forget that as your stress levels spike, your productivity plummets. Stress can limit your ability to concentrate, make you irritable or depressed, and harm both your personal and professional relationships. What we are describing here is known as burnout.
If you are self-employed, you may not always know when your next project or paycheck is going to come, which can add pressure to say yes to every job opportunity. However, if you are taking on too much work, it can leave you sacrificing valuable things like family, friends, creativity, sleep, and health. Working nonstop can leave you feeling burnt out, unmotivated, and over time could jeopardize your career. Work burnout can cause mistakes to occur, unhealthy habits to form, and increased stress. If you want to do your best and be your best, you must avoid burnout. We wanted to discuss some tips to avoid burnout, maximize your productivity, and ensure you are adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Be Aware of Burnout Signals
It is so important to be self-aware and pay attention to the early signs of burnout. Keep an eye out for; trouble sleeping, irritability, challenges concentrating, tiredness, lack of motivation, and feeling overwhelmed. If this sounds familiar, it is time to start to practice some self-care and re-evaluate your current workload.
Master Time Management
A huge cause of burnout is not being realistic about how much you’re able to accomplish in a day. Rome was not built in a day, and you aren’t able to do 3 days’ worth of work in 1. Monitor how long it takes you to do things, so you can gain a better understanding of your limits. Make sure you are allotting yourself sufficient time for things that often get overlooked like editing, researching, setting up, etc. Figure out ways to save time by using your calendar. Schedule your daily work and allow a realistic amount of time to finish each task. Build in a buffer of time to tackle unforeseen items. Schedule yourself some free days each month to unwind and focus on self-care so that you’re refreshed, and you can perform at your best when you are working.
Mitigate Distractions
If you are not actively aware of distractions, it’s easy to find yourself spending many valuable hours on social media, socializing, texting, doing chores, or basically anything but work. If this sounds like you, it can leave you scrambling to get jobs finished after hours and cause you to feel like you’re always trying to catch up, because in reality, you are. Eliminating distractions from your environment can significantly increase your productivity and reduce burnout. Try turning your phone to silent or putting it off to the side. Use your work computer for work tasks only. Set a timer for 25 minutes and do focused work during that time frame then take a quick break. This will allow you to focus on the task at hand and forces more productivity.
Establish Healthy Boundaries
Setting boundaries is crucial in preventing burnout. It can be tempting to work a few extra hours each night or take calls and answer emails during off-hours, but doing these things creates an expectation with your clients that you have no boundaries, and they can have access to you at all hours. If you agree to tight or unrealistic deadlines, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated with a project. Utilize upfront and honest communication with your clients. Discuss ahead of time how long a project will take, and that trying to complete a task in a shorter timeframe could produce lower quality results. You are the professional here, it’s up to you to set healthy boundaries and realistic deadlines so you can produce great results and maintain your sanity.
Don’t Do it Alone
Don’t feel like you must do this thing called life all alone! Whether at home or within your business make sure responsibilities are evenly distributed and clearly outlined — you’ll avoid confusion and problems later. There is nothing wrong with delegating! Make sure you carve out time to chat with friends and family. People with strong support systems are able to navigate stress better than those who do not.
If you want to be successful and happy, you must learn to take care of yourself. It’s pretty simple. You are your business, if you aren’t functioning well, neither will your business. Managing your time well, knowing how to communicate with your clients to develop realistic expectations, avoiding distractions, and being aware of when you’re getting close to being overworked, are all important actions to prevent burnout. The time you spend working should be balanced by time spent with friends and family, being physically active, traveling, and doing other fulfilling hobbies. Learning work-life balance will ultimately lead to more success within your business and a more fulfilling personal life.
