Many people dream of working in an engaging work environment where their efforts are appreciated and they are able to enjoy their time at work. Unfortunately, many people don’t work like that and end up experiencing burnout. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion. It’s caused by prolonged and excessive stress, often from work.
It’s a serious issue, affecting many people across various professions. In fact, it’s so serious that you might even need to seek an employment lawyer like HKM if your work conditions are causing this level of stress. In this article, we will give you a few tips to help you avoid the causes of burnout so you can work productively and happily.
Set boundaries
Having a set of boundaries that are clear and apparent is one of the best ways to make sure you avoid getting burnt out. What it does is provide a clear line between your working life and your personal life.
It takes the ability to say no when those boundaries are being pushed. Unfortunately, many people feel that if they say no to a task or request they will be seen as not hardworking or lazy. What it actually means is that you value your mental health and won’t risk it to take one for the team.
You should also use boundaries to manage your workload. Understand that you can easily overload yourself with work if you don’t set up boundaries ahead of time. Try to plan things out so you have your weekends free to do the things you enjoy and don’t have to make up for work not completed during the week.
Stress management techniques
Stress is unavoidable at certain points during work. This means that you need a plan to be able to mitigate that stress before it becomes chronic and leads to burnout.
Some very effective exercises that reduce stress are deep breathing exercises, which help to calm the mind and body. Stress causes us to take short, sharp breaths that don’t help to soothe us. Deep breaths that are long and slow helps to bring in lots of oxygen and promotes relaxation.
Yoga and meditation are also very effective stress busters. Yoga helps to concentrate your mind and release serotonin into the body. Meditation is a way to tune out the world and focus on your mind so you can rid it of stressful and racing thoughts.
Look for support
Having a support network is essential to maintaining the strength needed to get through tough times. Look for people to support you at work and in your personal life that can give you advice.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed at work, find the people who you feel are on your side. You can also let a supervisor know what is going on in your mind and how you are feeling.
Those people may be able to work with you to find a solution such as giving you some time off or delegating some of your workload to others.
