If You’re Chasing Success But Hate Burnout, These 4 Habits Are Game-Changers
If you can't ignore the grind, try these things instead.
gradyreese | Canva We all know what stress feels like. Perhaps when you’ve gone through a particularly demanding time at work. Stress is an extremely common experience. However, feeling burned out can take your stress to an entirely new level. Burnout is essentially a state of emotional, physical, and psychological exhaustion.
Recent research suggests that burnout may even be capable of changing our brains. One study, which examined a group of “burned out” individuals in comparison to a group of “healthy” controls, found that many members of the burnout group had enlarged amygdalas (the part of our brain associated with emotional reactions).
A 2016 study found one important factor that determined just how burned out people became. A group of chief medical officers (CMOs) at 35 large hospitals was assessed for their levels of stress and how they cope.
Although 69% of the CMOs said that their current stress levels were “severe,” “very severe,” or “worst possible,” the majority didn’t say that they are burned out. So how could this be the case? They all had high emotional intelligence.
Being aware of our emotions allows us to understand what causes our feelings of distress. Moreover, understanding others’ perspectives, emotions, and attitudes might give us the ability to show feelings of compassion and empathy and stay level-headed when we experience difficulties.
If you’re chasing success but hate burnout, these four habits are game-changers:
1. Understanding your limits
A report by the World Health Organisation found evidence that high job demands, low control, and effort-reward balance are risk factors for both mental and physical health problems. It is not, however, only the workload that can burn us out.
Researchers have found that, in addition to a taxing workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values all affect burnout. When difficulties begin to arise in one or more of these domains, we become more susceptible to stress — and then burn out
Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses may help you identify areas in which you excel and areas in which you may need more help with. Becoming aware of your workload limits can also be useful in recognizing when you are on the verge of burnout.
According to an article from the University of Oregon, while goals should be specific and difficult, they should also be achievable. If a goal is too easy, motivation can drop. If it is too difficult or unattainable, people may abandon it entirely, leading to feelings of failure and discouragement.
2. Using mindfulness practices
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Bringing your attention back to the present moment can help you manage feelings of anxiety. It brings back a sense of self-control and openness to solutions.
Mindfulness strengthens the ability to focus, which is a crucial skill for productivity and efficiency. Studies have shown that it can increase your working memory capacity, enhance attentional functioning, and reduce your mind from wandering.
3. Taking a break
There are many different ways to take a break. It might be a holiday, it might be some time off work, or it might be reducing your workload.
When that happens, we are not functioning at our optimal levels, so we should take a break. Taking a step back from our external pressures can often help us feel less stressed.
4. Challenging your perspective
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When we are in a state of extreme stress, it is easy to perceive everything as a stressor that we simply cannot avoid or resolve. Re-evaluating our situation and realizing that there are other options available to us can be a huge help in bringing our stress levels down.
Being burned out isn’t a great feeling, but you also have to remember that there are ways to cope with it. Try relaxing and staying present.
Mary Andreadis is an AHPRA-registered Psychologist and freelance writer who focuses on health and wellness, self-care, and mental health.
