What is Burnout and How to Avoid It.

Burnout is one of those things that tends to creep up on you, often without you realizing it.  When it does it can significantly affect your mind and body, causing complete exhaustion, anxiety and often causes depression. If you dont stop burnout before it takes hold, it can lead to more serious issues such as heart attacks or strokes.  As I said, often we do not even see it coming. A few things to be conscious of:

Take a serious look at your Workload. Be realistic about the hours you are putting in at work. Also take into account how many hours you are working without taking a break as this will contribute to burnout.  Remember when it is break time, you must take it, take time away from your job to relax your mind and body, even if it is only a short ten minute break. Breaks are necessary to refresh and rejuvenate your mind. Go for a walk, read a book, or just remove yourself from your source of tension for a few minutes.

Next, be critical of your time management techniques.  I know from my own experience, I would tend to be working on one task and then move to an email when it came in, then back to the task etc. You must learn to work efficiently, complete tasks before moving on, avoid interruption in order to do so and you will find you achive more in less time.

Be in tune with your body and know when you are reaching overload or exhaustion. Look for the warning signs and think through what you can do to avoid things getting worse.  It may be that you need to take a day off, or a weekend away or simply spend time at home relaxing both your mind and body, away from the telephone and the computer.  Work out what it is you need to do in order to take time out to recharge! If you find that you take a short vacation or a day off only to find the old feelings welling up again, then perhaps its time for a re-evaluation of where you are in life, and perhaps a life change is necessary to avoid burnout altogether.

I think the single most important thing you must do if you are to avoid burnout is to learn the art of saying NO. It is great to be accomodating and helpful however not if it is at the expense of your own health.  Quite simply nothing is that important if it comprimises your health to that degree.

For quite sometime I worked overseas with a lot of international travel thrown in. I was expectected to put in the long hours, jump on a plane and head off overseas for a week, then back again and into the 60 hour working week.  Unfortunately I didnt see the warning signs until it was too late.  It took a complete re-evaluation of my life and where I was at and to make some serious life changes before my health suffered more than it already had.  Once you reach burnout believe me, its difficult to work your way back from it.

Michael Licenblat, an Australian who devoted a large part of his life to people as a Shiatsu Massage Therapist with a Bachelor of Science (Psychology), has put together an excellent ebook on recognizing and relieving stresses and pressures whilst increasing your productivity.  Well worth the read and I only wish I had read it sooner!  Get your copy here. Click Here!

By MaryAnn Roche.

Tags: anxiety, burnout, de-stress, exhaustion, life balance, Success, Time Management

Burnout Relief Strategies

Are you suffering from burnout? Whether it’s caused by work issues, stress at home, relationship challenges, or a combination of all them, it can cause a frightening feeling of hopelessness!

Burnout often causes a feeling of numbness and not knowing how to get your life headed back in the right direction.

Take heart – hope is not lost! There are some strategies you can utilize to overcome burnout, once and for all.

Try these techniques to get relief from burnout:

1. Don’t blame yourself.

Life is hectic and stressful, especially with all the intense demands placed on our shoulders. If you’re feeling burnt out, rather than blaming yourself, be proactive in getting back in the saddle so you can feel like yourself again.

* Remember, you’re in control of your destiny. Focus on what you can do, not what you think you should do.

2. Stop being so serious.

With the stress and responsibilities you carry on a daily basis, you may be in need of some plain ol’ silly time. Release your inhibitions and have some fun!

* Whether it be dancing in your living room or swinging on the swings at a local park, take some time to find your inner child again. This will help you let go of your current stress level, even if it’s just for a little while.

* Making time to have fun will give you a chance to refocus and get your life and priorities back to where they need to be.

3. Stay healthy.

It’s important to stay in peak physical condition when you’re under constant stress. Eat many servings of fruits and vegetables, drink large amounts of water, and exercise.

* Fit exercise into your busy schedule by making an appointment with yourself to exercise, and then keep your appointment!


4. Improve your time management skills.

You may be burnt out because you’re trying to fit a week’s worth of stuff into a single day. Unfortunately, that’s impossible! Learning how to budget the time in your day more effectively will relieve a lot of this time pressure and stress.

* Good time management will lessen the feeling of being overwhelmed, as well as enable you to have the time you need to do what you want to do.

5. Get enough sleep.

This allows your body to rest, rejuvenate, and start the upcoming day with more energy. You can also deal with stressful situations better when you’re alert and focused.

* If you adhere to the 8 hours per night rule, you’ll find yourself more focused, levelheaded, and patient.

Final Thoughts on Burnout and Stress

No matter how you may try to sugar coat it, modern life isn’t easy. It’s no wonder that sometimes we feel like we can’t juggle everything any more!

Although these feelings are normal from time to time, they can escalate out of control. Before we reach that point, it’s important to get our lives back in the right direction. These burnout relief strategies and tips will enable you to better handle every-day stresses so you can enjoy all the amazing gifts life has to offer!

Tags: burnout, Burnout Relief Strategies, Relief, stress

Want to Lose That ‘Burn Out‘ Feeling Now? Here is what Im doing to lose my own burnout feeling!

Have you bitten off more than you can chew? Feeling burn out creep in to your life?
Read on to find some ways to deal with it!

So what do you do when you find yourself suffering from burnout? or that you’re stressed out and you feel like you just can’t do it anymore?

Well, these handy hints have helped me through the bad times, in particular the bad time Im facing right now!

If you can, I think you should get away from your work. Its usually work that is the instigator in burn out! Heaps of people try to work through it, but that doesn’t work for me – it just makes the problem worse. When my mind wants to go on strike, I have no choice but to let it have a couple of days off!

I used to be an entertainer! One thing I really enjoy is singing. I don’t know what your interests are, but there’s got to be something you do for relaxation. So – Just do it! You really need to get away from work if you possibly can. Act like work doesn’t exist for a while! (lucky for me – but maybe not my neighbours, that I have a great personal music room in my house!)

Secondly, after you have had a bit of a relax and you start stressing because you should get back to work, just sit down and write up a list. Make it really basic and simple to start. If you are suffering burn out because you’ve been too hard at work, make a list that will be easy to achieve.

I have been making my lists pretty miniscule lately, very easy and haven’t bothered with much else. This is good for two reasons. The first good thing is that at least I’ve accomplished something during my day and the second is that I dont put any pressure on myself, because although 2-3 things is about 1/20 of what I would normally do, doing something is definately better than nothing!

Soon, as you start getting back into the swing of things, you can increase your regular work load back to a sensible amount to avoid future burn out! If you are finding that increased workload is also increasing your level of stress, stop! Don’t go beyond your limit again.

You need to learn to recognize your trigger switch! Learn to cut yourself off. This can be so terribly hard for me, but sometimes I just have to stop! It is especially hard when you are starting a new venture or a new job, but think about how you got to how you now feel? probably doing exactly these things!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a tough act to perform! If you give it a really good shot, you should get better at it with time. I hope I get better at it too!

You know, I could be considered a total workaholic! and….my stress and consequent burnout has hit epic proportions of late. I was having a really hard time relaxing – so I started a new project! I have found this to be a great idea and instead of concentrating on the feeling of burn out, I now feel re-invigorated! My major stress lately prompted me to develop another website! You are reading from it right now!

So……..I have done something different with my current burnout, and started developing a stress relief course to help myself and others! Thats pretty logical – dont you think?

Whatever you do – do something about how you feel, or it will only get worse! I hope these tips on dealing with burn out help you too!

Tags: burn out, burnout