The Cure For Burnout
Abstract:
With more and more people realising that they might, in fact, not be boring or lazy but actually burnt out, there’s a rising demand for a way out. From my own experience as well as my work with my clients, I can say it’s definitely possible to recover from burnout.
What’s almost more important, though, is to make sure burnout will never happen again. I call it burnout-proofing your life.
Your mission today is to learn about the cure for burnout.
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Task 1: Discover how not to cure burnout
Sometimes in order to learn something, you need to first understand what you should avoid. I’m making this the first task because the general practice I see in many places is counterproductive.
It goes something like this: You get sick leave for about 6 weeks and are advised to learn meditation, do autogenous training, and practice self care. All of which are great and they’ll make you feel better in the short term.
However, if they’re used as a band-aid in order to paper over a much larger problem, then you have a problem. It’s the larger, underlying problem that needs to be addressed.
Task 2: Burnout-proof your life
In order to prevent burnout from ever happening again, you need to make some fundamental changes. If you do the “recovery program” as advised and then go back to your previous job and life, you’ll burn out again.
Realise that you need to change things in order for things to change. I just published an article on just this subject, which I warmly recommend.
In short: Work less (or change jobs), work fewer hours, learn to set boundaries and say no more often. Ask for help from friends and family, get coaching. Learn to prioritise the things that actually matter in your life and get rid of the rest.
It can hurt, but it’s the pain of a wound being cleaned. You’ll feel relieved afterwards, and it gives you a chance to actually heal – for good.