Coming from someone who has an extremely busy schedule at the minute, I have had many burnouts. Making sure that I do everything I can to avoid burnout has been a huge priority, so I am going to share my tips on How to avoid burnout.
1. Plan the work you need to do
It’s probably best to sit down at the end of the week or the start of the week and plan everything you need to do.
If you don’t know an overview of all of the work you need to do, then maybe you sit and do this every morning.
Having an overview of all of the work you need to do for the week will already feel like a weight lifted off your shoulders because you have a plan of everything you need to do, and you won’t be trying to keep it all in your mind.
Top 3 priorities
At the start of the week, choose 3 things that are your main priority, that you would feel really happy if they got done.
This makes you feel less stressed because the idea of having only 3 things to complete seems totally manageable, and it is sustainable to do.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t get anything else done in the week.
Maybe your top 3 priorities take days to complete and so you chip away at them, and whilst you’re working on them, you may have other little things you can do in the week which is great.
I have a post about organising your life if you want more detail! http://bigsisterera.com/how-to-organise-your-life-to-change-your-life/
2. Plan your days
At the end of the week or start of the new week, plan every hour of the day and make sure you know what you’re doing.
From someone who thrives off having a routine and a schedule, this is the most important thing for me!
Planning your days will make sure that you know everything you are doing that day (duh). It will make sure you’re not going about your day aimlessly, tying to find the time to do things.
You need to be in control of your schedule to get control of your tasks.
Be realistic
If you are creating a to do list that is impossible to complete in the week, you are going to start to feel overwhelmed and either procrastinate, cry, or all of the above.
You will really quickly start to feel burnt out if you have set yourself too much to do.
Knowing how long it takes you to do different tasks is really helpful (and giving yourself a little bit of buffer room because I swear we think we can get things done way quicker than what’s realistic).
3. Plan time for REST / time off
I know this may seem counter productive, planning time to actually rest when you could be using that time to do work.
But let me just tell you… resting IS PRODUCTIVE.
If you never rest, you will feel burnt out and probably lose even more time than you lose during your planned rest periods.
Think about when you were in school, you had breaks because we do need them.
Something to remember when you’re resting:
Remember to actually rest and don’t feel guilty about it.
A lot of the time when we ‘rest’, we are thinking about the next task to be done, or we are thinking 100 million different things we should be doing right now, etc.
This is not resting. If you do this, do you ever wonder why you feel like you haven’t had any rest at all and are feeling like you’re going to burnout?
It’s because we’re not actually letting ourselves rest and totally switch off.
If we try and do work when we are literally half asleep, we’re probably going to have to redo it the next day anyway, so you might as well take the rest.
Sometimes it’s hard to plan rest because you don’t know when you’re actually going to need it. Listening to your body is key.
Quick rest ideas:
- Read. Reading is a great way to 100% take your mind off the things you need to be doing because you are in a completely different world.
- Walk. Whenever I’m starting to get a bad head from working, going for a walk outside makes me feel so much better. It gets rid of my headache from looking at a screen all day.
- Tv show / movie. Similarly to reading, watching something like a tv show or movie can take your mind off of your to do list, because you are transported to another world. If you have a particularly chaotic to do list and everything is super stressful, I would avoid watching something that used a lot of brain power and causes a lot of stress. You don’t want to add to the stress you already have.
- Yoga. Yoga is great especially if you have been sitting all day. It allows your body to feel less stiff and re energises you.
Self care / pamper rest ideas
These are things that help avoid burnout may take a little more time than just getting outside on your lunch break.
- Long hot bath. There is absolutely nothing like a long hot bath. Especially when you don’t have to wash your hair, and you can just watch a show, movie, or read a book.
- Pamper evening. We’re getting the face masks out, we’re painting our toenails that haven’t been painted in months (yes, I’m calling you out) and we’re having a full body shave and shower. Feeling clean and fresh to reset.
- Spend time with your loved ones. This is what life is really about. Not stressing over your to do list. Make sure you see your loved ones and make memories with them.
- Journal. Sometimes this may take 5 minutes, sometimes it may take an hour. A long journal sesh could be all you need to get everything out and help you feel rejuvenated.
I have more self care and wellness ideas here: http://bigsisterera.com/wellness-practices-to-always-make-time-for/
5. Plan times for social outings
For all of you introverts out there (hello, I am one of them), sometimes a social event, big or small, can be a lot.
I personally don’t count being social as resting, but some people find that they feel recharged after being social.
The key here is just knowing yourself.
If you are a huge extrovert and thrive off being social, I would definitely recommend planning more social outings.
However, if you are an introvert, you should still plan social outings, but maybe not as many.
Why?
Although being social may drain your battery, especially as an introvert, we can’t be using up all of our energy for work.
Life is not about working all the time, and not having any energy to see your friends and family.
Life is about making memories, spending time with the people you love, and enjoying yourself.
So make sure you are saving some energy, and using it to make memories!
I know I’d far rather have burnout from being social with my friends and family than from working too hard!
Thank you for reading <3
I hope this post gave you some tips and ideas on how to avoid burnout and make sure that you are prioritising yourself.
Burnout effects all of us, so I definitely actively try to avoid it by doing these things!
Let me know if you have any other tips and if some of my tips worked for you!
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