Ayala Pines and Elliot Aronson define a burnout as “A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations.” The WHO stipulated burnout characteristics are “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.” As such, it can cause low productivity, high absenteeism, low creativity, and even health problems. Here are five tips to avoid work burnout during the pandemic
Work on your Schedule
Your schedule is definitely an important part of your career and should be given enough thought. One way to make it work for you is to include some free time on your calendar, just like you would schedule a meeting, and stick to it. Taking breaks from work and exploring your favourite leisure activities have been proven to increase inspiration and productivity. You can make time for your favourite hobbies or just relax until the next task. As more aggressive Covid-19 variants continue to bridge a gap between your workspace and home, it’s necessary to distinguish between home tasks and work loads. Working from home often comes with distractions like children, spouses, and household chores. keeping organized will help you easily pick up where you left off. Calendar apps and other online productivity tools can help you hit your deadlines, and storage bins can help you declutter your physical space.
Team work makes the dream work
One of the reasons why taking time off from work seems like more work for entrepreneurs is that they are one man parties and each break translates to piles of work before deadlines. Something that a vacation might not fix right. What fixes that is a good team to assist in keeping the ball rolling. As they say ‘team work makes the dream work’ your dream probably needs more than you to be sustainable and more impactful. Wouldn’t it be lovely to have a good team you can trust knowing that work is done whether you are personally on it or not.
Know your breaking point
The challenge that entrepreneurship can bring is that when you are working for yourself, getting your hands off work seems far fetched. It may seem impossible to unplug and so burnout becomes almost inevitable. Nevertheless, it is important to yourself to know how much stress and work pressure you can handle before a burnout. If you feel like you are approaching a burnout, take time to wind down. Things like confiding in a friend, a short work to grab food or simple exercises can help to take the edge off.
Build a support system
Burning out when you are working from home or the office can take a toll on your health or your family’s well-being. It would help to create a circle of people you can find support from. The support and efficacy need not be one way, shifting the concern from your pressure to understand and help someone with theirs can help draft solutions for your own situation. And besides, one good deed deserves another. If this happens beyond what you can handle, it could be time to seek out support from a professional.
Be kind to yourself
As we have already established, a burnout can also spill over into your personal life, negatively impacting your well-being and your relationships with friends and family. This is why it’s important to ensure that it doesn’t get to happen. To avoid burning out, take time to understand your personal needs and address them when it comes to work. Find a conducive environment and schedules that work well for you.
In conclusion, the consequences of burnout can potentially be severe. It can pose much damage to your work, physical and mental health, reducing creativity and productivity. Once one is burnt out, they tend to lose interest in the work they do and in turn miss out on opportunities. Why not take time to evaluate yourself. Are you burning out, is working from home taking a toll on you, do you need assistance or perhaps professional help? Eight2Five has built an environment where you can grow your business on or off site. The onsite space provides an opportunity to take breaks, be organised, build a team and feed off from peer support which can also happen online. Do call in and find out how we can help you. That being said, mask up and stay safe.
