Fighting burnout in time of a crisis

Recognising burnout     

The first step to finding a solution to a problem, or preventing one is to recognise the problem. Learning to recognise when you’re suffering from stress, and when it is too much for you to handle. Educate yourself on the possible symptoms of burnout so that you will be able to recognise them if it happens. The earlier you recognise that you might be suffering from burnout, the easier it is to get to the root of it and prevent it altogether.

Finding an outlet

Keeping all your feelings and emotions of anger, frustration and stress will eventually blow up. An outlet to release pent-up emotions going through your mind is therefore beneficial.

• Do you explain away stress as temporary (I just have a million things going on right now) even though you can’t remember the last time you took a breather?
• Do you define stress as an integral part of your work or home life (Things are always crazy around here) or as a part of your personality (I have a lot of nervous energy, that’s all)?
• Do you blame your stress on other people or outside events, or view it as entirely normal and unexceptional?

One healthy outlet for stress is exercising. Exercising increases serotonin levels in the human body. Also known as the “happy hormone”, this increased level of serotonin helps to reduce stress, thus making you feel better and less prone to burnout.

If you’re worried about not having enough time to squeeze a workout in, know that you don’t have to. All you need is as little as 15 minutes of high-intensity exercise a day, and you will feel the benefits of exercising soon enough.

Another outlet for stress are those around you. Share what you are currently going through with either your colleagues, friends, or even your bosses and create a supportive environment around you. This way, if something bad ever happens to you, you have people that you can fall back on and help you bounce back up.

Practice positive thinking

As cliché as this sounds, positive thinking can be a game-changer. Positive thinking does not however mean that you just ignore the bad things in life. Thinking positively and having a positive outlook on life means that you take bad situations and approach them in a more positive light.

For example, if your superior comes to you with an assignment or a project that is new to you, instead of thinking “this is something I have never done before, what if I mess this up?”, try thinking “this is an opportunity for me to learn something new”. The mind is truly a very powerful thing. As Napoleon Hill once said, “whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve”.

These are some methods we recommend for reducing the risk the experiencing burnout. If you are experiencing burnout, it would be best to consult your managers, or seek professional help if you need to.

This article was adapted from PERSOLKELLY.