I’m tired of hearing how in order to combat burnout, you need to be resilient. According to dictionary.com, resilient means “spring back; rebounding” or “returning to the original form.”
Burnout usually hits, in any industry, about year one or two. The newness of the job has worn off. You get into the daily routine, and rarely are things exciting anymore. You get complacent, and too much complacency can turn into burnout.
When dealing with burnout, if you’re resilient, that means you’ll go back to how you were before burnout. And all that gets you is the same path of having burnout in your future.
What you need is something different. You need awareness of what leads to burnout, so you can prevent it in the future. Better equip yourself with the skills to adjust, tweak, and alter your path when the signs of burnout arise. If you’re flexible, and not determined to adhere to how you’ve done things in the past, the likelihood of you experiencing high burnout decreases.
Burnout is not about springing back to how you were before. Again, if that’s the case, you’ll get more burnout. And the more you experience burnout, the longer you stay in burnout, and the harder it is to get through it.
You can grow, learn, and flourish through burnout and help prevent the depths of burnout from happening over and over. The biggest thing that leads to burnout is your inner dialogue (that’s a whole other post). It’s a daily practice to pay attention to your thoughts, stop the negative ones, and rework the self talk to positive action and better results. Here are some other ways to help you with burnout.
1. Look for the signs of burnout—exhausted, lack of motivation, disconnection, mood swings, disengagement, increase in negative thoughts (just to name a few)
2. What can you do to decrease burnout—focus on why you got into your specific profession, add fun into your work environment, ask your boss if you can change up your tasks (burnout can occur if you do mundane tasks consistently), participate in activities/hobbies/interests outside of work, have an emotional support system inside your industry and outside of work
3. How to prevent future burnout—have a daily self care ritual (reading a book, going on a walk, meditation), find what brings you joy and do it every day, spend time with those you love (no excuses), hang out with friends or a positive support system (get rid of the toxic people in your life), create a fun, trusting, respectful work culture (makes work more enjoyable)
Don’t allow yourself to fall prey to burnout. Listen to your body, mind, and emotions. They are telling you something all the time. If something is off, pay attention. Constantly be in tune with your internal communication. Be brave and willing to have courageous conversations with yourself. Ask yourself the hard questions (some of those hard questions are: what am I pretending I don’t know? What am I ignoring? What am I feeling? Why? What will I do about it?)
Catch burnout before it occurs by implementing ways to prevent it and being aware of the symptoms when they arise. When you’re able to do this, you’ll increase your performance at work and joy in life.
Jessica Rector’s mission is simple: transform lives. With a BBA, MBA and BS, Jessica started, hosted, and produced her own TV talk show in Los Angeles with just an idea to help others which launched jessICAREctor International. Through her own experiences, research, and strategies, she helps you improve performance, increase sales, and enhance influence with the art of courageous conversations. As a thought leader, keynote speaker, and author, Jessica consults with companies, coaches individuals, and speaks at conferences, conventions, and organizations helping you change what you say to yourself about yourself to change your work and home lives. Jessica is a Contributor for The Huffington Post and The Good Men Project and has been seen on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Business Journal, and Market Watch. Get Jessica’s new book, Breaking the Silence: Taking the Sh out of Shame at jessicarector.com. Follow her on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.
