Are you a high achiever? Are you passionate and focused?
BUT…
Your performance has started to slip because you’re completely exhausted and unable to maintain the high level workload?
How long do you think you can keep this up?
I mean your children are forgetting what you look like because you’re never home and when you are you don’t have the energy or the will to engage with them.
Your doctor has told you, you need to start looking after yourself, find a way to de-stress or you’ll end up in hospital…or worse?
I understand where you’re coming from, I’ve seen it many times…but unfortunately it sounds like you’re on the road to burnout.
What is Burnout Anyway?
Burnout is not something that happens overnight, it creeps into your life like a silent burglar.
If you don’t address prolonged periods of stress, you can end up experiencing burnout.
Burn out is one of the 3 killers of your health.
Burnout is worse than just feeling stressed, it’s on another level again.
It’s a state of emotional, mental and physical fatigue resulting from excessive and prolonged stress.
Once you get to this point, it can affect your health, relationships and performance at work.
How do you know if you have burnout?
Here are some of the symptoms of burnout:
- You feel emotionally numb
- You feel hopeless
- Unable to engage with others
- Unmotivated and dissatisfied
- Plagued by negative emotions
- Get sick a lot
- Fly off the handle a lot, frustrated
- Your health is on a downward spiral
- Relationships problems
- Having to drag yourself out of bed each day to face the day
- Problems staying focused and mentally sharp
Maybe you’re thinking…‘I can push through it’.
THINK AGAIN! Because your body is smarter than that and it has different ideas.
When your body starts giving you physical and emotional signs that things are out of balance – it’s telling you that you are on the road to burnout.
Of course it’s not too late…you can do something about it. You can overcome it…you just have to start looking for the clues, signs or symptoms and then be willing to do something about them. It may seem hard to do but the harder option is actually doing nothing – this only leads to disaster…may be a huge mistake at work or your relationship breaking down or being rushed to hospital because you have chest pain.
Ultimately…it’s your choice….do something about it now or wait until disaster strikes, make better decisions or continue on the same path (to burnout and pain).
I know this may sound blunt because it is. There is no point in dancing around the issue!
6 Simple Ways To Beat Burnout
Here are 6 simple steps to get you started –
1. Do something you love every week
Don’t forget to have fun!
Life is there to enjoy not endure. You wouldn’t make your children do school work all day every day. You understand their need to enjoy life and have fun.
Don’t forget…just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you don’t need to have fun and enjoy life! In fact the most successful, happy and healthy people in the world know how to tap into their playful side.
2. Look after your health
- Get good quality sleep
We’ve all heard this one before. It is so important to get good quality sleep because it’s during sleep that your body and mind repair and recover from the stresses of day. If you don’t give your body and mind enough time each night to repair they slowly begin to show signs of overuse – including fatigue, sickness, inability to focus, mood swings and weight gain.
- Exercise regularly
If you have a life that is go, go, go all the time. You really want to do a type of exercise that helps to balance this out. Choose something that is slower and more gentle. This is useful tool to get your body and mind back into balance.
- Eat a healthy diet
Minimise highly processed and refined foods, drink plenty of water, eat plenty of vegetables, reduce your intake of caffeine and alcohol and eat plenty of high quality fats (good brain food!).
- Develop awareness of your physical and mental wellbeing
Become aware of any physical pain/discomfort or aches – see you medical professional if you have persistent symptoms.
3. Take time out for yourself
It’s not a matter of finding time…it’s a matter of making the time to do this. I’ve had so many clients tell me they forget to take time for themselves. Because they schedule everything else in but not that. Unless you schedule time in for you, it won’t happen! So just block out some me time and don’t back down.
4. Work in a job you are passionate about
I get it though… you may not be able to just up and quit your job. So, if you can’t quit your job then find areas of your life that have meaning for you.
5. Create a support network
Life’s challenges are much easier to deal with if you have healthy relationships that support you and vice versa. We all want to feel like someone has our back, but in order to strengthen these relationships you need to open up and connect with those around you.
6. Plan and prioritise
The fantastic Jim Rohn is known for saying, “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” So to reduce stress and overwhelm and to increase your enjoyment in life…
- Know what your priorities are
- Share your priorities with your loved ones
- Make your decisions with those priorities in mind
If you’re worried about your health please see a medical professional.
Good luck with making changes to your health and performance by firstly becoming aware of potential burnout and then stepping up and actually doing something about it (I salute you!).
Just remember, YOU have the power to steer your own course in life and health.
Jen
P.S. If you’re currently feeling the effects of burnout, and you’d like some help with dealing with it, you can book in a free 45-minute Energy Optimisation Session with us.
During this call, we’ll go through the 5 key causes of stress, take a look at what’s causing your burnout the most, and brainstorm ideas together on how you reduce it. Moreover, you’ll walk away at the end of the session with an action plan you can begin implementing immediately.