The Complete Guide to Managing Burnout in Work and Life
Burnout is a silent killer of productivity and wellbeing - but it doesn’t have to be. Learn how to recognise, prevent and recover from burnout in every aspect of your life.
What is Burnout? Understanding the Signs and Symptoms
Burnout is more than just feeling stressed or tired. It’s a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion which is generally caused by long-term and excessive stress and pressure.
Although it may show up for people differently, these some of these common signs and symptoms:
Reduced productivity and finding it difficult to focus
Finding yourself procrastinating more
Feeling irritable
Withdrawing from others
Feeling tired or exhausted most of the time
Disturbed sleep or insomnia
Feeling helpless or trapped
Experiencing self-doubt, feeling like a failure or worthless
Feeling overwhelmed or demotivated
Not finding joy in the things that usually bring you joy
Persistent feelings of dread, worry and anxiety
How Burnout Differs in Personal vs. Corporate Life
Although we mostly hear about burnout from work, it can also stem from your personal life.
In corporate settings, it’s often linked to lack of control, unclear expectations, toxic workplace culture or a very high workload. In your personal life it might arise from not enough rest and looking after yourself, taking on too many responsibilities, feeling like you need to be in control or perfect at everything, experiencing stressful situations, not having a support system or a prolonged overloaded schedule. Individuals can also experience caregiver burnout.
It's important to see your life as a whole and although it might be obvious where your burnout stems from, it will often seep into all areas of your life.
How to Prevent Burnout Before It Starts
Rather than having a reactive attitude towards handling burnout, preventing it before it starts and taking a proactive approach is best. Prevention is rooted in consistent self-care, intentional boundaries and identifying your support system.
1. Setting Healthy Boundaries
Saying yes when you really want to say no takes a toll, whether this is always saying yes to more responsibilities at work or saying yes to dinner plans when you really need a night in. Every time you do this you’re saying no to yourself - what you want and what you need.
When I work with clients who are experiencing burnout, nearly all of them struggle to set boundaries. They feel that it makes them a “bitch” or means they don’t care about others.
I want you to realise that you are the priority and setting boundaries (and upholding them) is ESSENTIAL to sustainable living. Saying “no” is NOT a bad thing.
Start by identifying what’s draining you. Where are you saying “yes” when you want to say “no”? Are you overcommitting yourself at work or maybe in your personal life?
Once you’ve identified your needs, the next step is to start communicating them. This may be challenging in the beginning as people around you may be used to you saying “yes” but remember that boundaries protect your energy, and you don’t feel guilty for prioritising your wellbeing. Remember, every “no” to something external is a “yes” to yourself.
2. Prioritising Rest and Recovery
Rest is a non-negotiable and it’s not just about sleep. Did you know there are actually 7 types of rest? I’ve shared more details of each of these types of rest and some suggestions of how you can implement each of them in this piece.
Here is an overview of each:
Physical Rest: Incorporating physical rest can help rejuvenate your body when you feel physically exhausted. You could book yourself a restorative massage or create a relaxing evening routine to ensure you sleep for a solid 8 hours.
Mental Rest: You may need mental rest to calm an overactive or anxious mind. You could schedule mindful moments throughout your day or dedicate some time to a mindful activity, such as using a colouring book.
Emotional Rest: If you’re carrying heavy emotions and feel in need of some relief then you may need emotional rest. You could try journalling to release your thoughts and feelings or organise to speak with a trained professional.
Social Rest: Are you in need of a rest from being around other people? You could organise some “me time” and treat yourself to something utterly relaxing and nourishing for your soul (my go-to is always a spa day).
Spiritual Rest: You may need spiritual rest if you’re feeling a lack of purpose and meaning in your life. You could volunteer for a cause you care about or reflect on your life’s purpose and what you can do to achieve this.
Sensory Rest: A sensory reset helps soothe your senses when you feel overwhelmed by noise, screens or notifications. You could organise a “no phone” day or think about how you can limit screen time in your evenings after work.
Creative Rest: Creative rest involves shifting focus to find inspiration again. You could try a new hobby purely for fun or visit a place that you know brings you inspiration, for example an art gallery.
Learn more about the 7 types of rest and think about how you can build rest into your schedule to support yourself. Being proactive with this helps you to a safety net against burnout.
3. Identify Your Support System
One of the key things I see with my clients who experience burnout is a feeling that they have to do everything themselves and can’t ask for support. Asking for support is not a sign of weakness, in fact it is a sign of strength and something we all need. Take some time to identify who is within your support system and who you can reach out to for help. This could be speaking with a trained professional, creating an accountability group with friends to keep you focused on taking breaks and setting boundaries or this could be spending time with a family member sharing your concerns, so you don’t feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.
Remember you do not need to do life alone!
Burnout and Perfectionism
Lots of people throw around the word perfectionist but for some, experiencing perfectionism can be debilitating. This character trait leaves individuals feeling like they must be perfect and anything short of perfection is a bad/wrong. They often set very high and exacting standards on themselves and sometimes others. This might just relate to work or all areas of an individual’s life.
Very often perfectionism is linked to fear – a feeling that “if I’m not perfect then…”, I will be a failure, rejected, not liked, left out, fired, made fun of or it means I’m not enough.
There is a link between having strong perfectionist tendencies and burnout because it can be exhausting trying to maintain the high standards which are often impossible to achieve. There is always a higher benchmark, and you often think you should have done more or better.
If this resonates with you, reflect on what is at the root of your perfectionism, what are you scared will happen if you’re not perfect? Or how would you feel about yourself if you’re not perfect?
One of my client’s struggled with perfectionism and imposter syndrome, so much so that she was completely burnt out. We worked together to get to the root beliefs underpinning these feelings so we could breakthrough them and reprogram her mind. This helped her to finally feel enough, confident in herself and her abilities and set more achievable goals she felt excited to work towards.
How Corporate Leaders Can Prevent Burnout in the Workplace
As a leader, you can play a pivotal role in preventing burnout within your team. Creating a culture that focuses on balance, support and wellbeing, alongside leading by example is key. Consider the following suggestions:
Promote Open Communication: Encourage conversations relating to workload, capacity and any concerns. Ensure you’re checking in regularly and be awareof the signs and symptoms of burnout.
Normalise Mistakes: Helping your team to realise mistakes are normal can go a long way in taking the pressure off, especially for those struggling with perfectionism. Think about how you can reassure your team that mistakes are part of learning and provide a supportive process if they do make a mistake.
Set Realistic Expectations: Plan projects with achievable goals, taking into consideration the capacity of the team or individual.
Provide Wellbeing Resources: Offer support through wellbeing resources, which may include access to coaching, specialised workshops to help overcome perfectionism or yoga sessions.
Model Healthy Habits: Lead by example with your healthy habits, whether that is taking breaks, respecting work-life boundaries, taking a lunch break away you’re your desk. Employees who see this are more likely to think they can behave like this too.
Email Etiquette: Often individuals can feel like they need to respond to emails instantly, which can lead them to feel like they can never switch off. Set some email etiquette within your team, whether this is not sending an email out of office hours or making it known that if you do, it doesn’t need to be responded to until work begins again.
This won’t be a one-size-fits all but think about what support your team could benefit from and how you can start to implement some of these into your workplace. If you want to discuss how I could support your employees, please get in touch.
Experiencing Burnout
As shared in this article, the priority is to prioritise your wellbeing, so you don’t reach the point of burnout. Sometimes this isn’t possible and if you feel that you’re experiencing burnout right now, take the first step to recover by reaching out for support. This could be your manager or HR team, a friend or family member, or a coach or therapist.
