5 Ways to Survive and Emerge Refreshed from Business Burnout
It is the plague of all workers, not just small business owners or entrepreneurs. Burnout is a crippling, financially draining, momentum killing, goal slaying event. It’s hard to prevent and it rarely has a one-time occurrence. No one is immune.
It becomes a frequent visitor especially during times of business growth, industry changes, or personal life fluctuations.
There are ways to survive burnout and to emerge from it refreshed. These tactics can play a part in holding off the next one from being severe. If you are in the position to impact some of these changes for your own staff then do so and by all means share the this article because your team needs to be performing at their very best. So do you, so get your pen out and start checking things off this list.
1) Burnout survival requires a change in scenery. The space in which you live and breathe “work” has to be different. Otherwise you just keep drudging along never fully pulling out of the muck that has you stuck. Start with your work space. Totally clean off your desk and rebuild your area. Change picture frames. Change the pictures. Throw away the old pencil holder and use something unique and creative to keep things at the ready. Change your visual area from where you look up from your desk. Move your desk. The important thing is that everything looks different so things feel different. Schedule a quarterly do-over in your calendar to combat a relapse of burnout in the future.
2) Change your routine from beginning to end. Shake up what you usually do. For a week or so drive a different route to work even if it is longer. Listen to a different radio station. Build a new playlist of music for your commute. Read a different kind of book during your public transport. Stop somewhere different for your morning coffee. Drink something different. Take lunch at a different time. Go to lunch somewhere different. Pack your lunch so you have time to eat in peace rather than fighting crowds (you’ll save money as well as time). Switch up the order in which you tackle everyday tasks. The point is to stop doing the ordinary and make your day extraordinary.
3) Before, in the middle, or at the end of your work day fit in some exercise. Whether it is a walk, climbing the stairs a few times, or changing your clothes at work so you can go directly to the gym or the track after the end of the day, it has to be done. Exercise is essential to combating stress, burnout, and keeping you energetic, alert, and creative. Nothing can take its place. There is no substitute. Schedule it in and commit.
4) Buy a plant that you like looking at and put it in your line of vision. Orchids are a great choice since they are long blooming and most varieties are easy to care for. Be committed to caring for it and helping it thrive. It will pump more oxygen into your immediate work area (spider plants are great for this) and it will allow for you to focus on a living thing and giving to it, even in a small way. It will help remind you that the world is more than just your desk, work area, or office. Get that oxygen level up and beautify your visual work world — go buy your plant.
5) Your digital connections to the world occupy a great part of your day. So make changes there. Put your smartphone to work for you as well as your computer. Set up a good email system that files them into categories for you so you don’t have to break away to scan them frequently (Gmail and Outlook are good choices). Change your mobile phone ringtone to be something that is a slight nudge for your attention versus a full out scream. Change the background of your home screens for a new visual stimulation. Unsubscribe from the marketing and email lists that you never open but spend time deleting every day. Delete any emails you haven’t opened in the last 14 days or at least send them to an archive file so you don’t see the hundreds of unopened ones needing your attention. Revisit and eliminate any non-essential task that blinks at you every day telling you that you aren’t getting everything done. Some of the digital world we invite into our daily work lives really doesn’t need to be there so eliminate it completely and you’ll be more productive and feel unburdened. Become disciplined in unplugging daily to have personal time. Turn off your text, email, and voice mail alerts after work is over and check them at set times if you must. It is important to limit the access business has of your personal life. You have the control, so use it and be present in your life rather than living digitally.
Burnout is damaging and costly to your health and your progress. Don’t keep heading down the path toward it and make the above changes today. If you are in the middle of a burnout then begin now. Give yourself permission to step out of the flames so you can accomplish what needs to be done to come out on the other side. In doing so, you will feel revitalized and remember why you began this journey in the first place.
Please share and recommend this article to others — together let’s help everyone grasp a new outlook and slay the burnout plague and don’t forget to do it for YOU. Make your day at work anything but ordinary and it then has the potential to be extraordinary.
