When you are operating within the modern world, it’s important that you are able to operate at peak capacity. This means being aware of your body’s needs and responding to them as and when you need to. This is because if you don’t understand when you are under real pressure, and you simply cannot take it anymore, you actually run the very real risk of burnout. Simply put, burnout is a type of condition that will make it very hard for you to either work or deal with the stresses of your domestic life and could even leave you in a mental institution. 

 

The good news is that this guide has been created in order to outline not only what burnout is but also the different methods that you can put in place in order to avoid it, no matter whether you have taken on a high-pressure job or you find yourself working too much at the moment. This is something that is crucial to understand if you want to absolutely ensure that your life is a happy and harmonious life. This means it is deeply recommended for you to read the rest of this guide which has been written for your reading pleasure below. Please take a look on now in order for you to learn all about it. First of all, it’s worth learning the answer to the question: 

 

What Is Burnout? 

 

Burnout has been described as an occupational phenomenon by the World Health Organization. There are at least three ways that you can define burnout and its effects. They are: 

 

  • Feeling exhausted or depleted 
  • Feeling disconnected or cynical about the work you are doing 
  • Having a reduced professional output 


In many industries, such as healthcare or finance, people might just say that burnout is part and parcel of the job, but this is a very negative approach to have because burnout is not just an annoying facet of work. It can actually result in serious negative effects on your brain. If you would like to avoid burnout, then it is highly recommended to read the rest of this guide which has been expressly created for your reading pleasure. 

 

Establish a Work-Life Balance 

 

The balance between work and life has been blurred significantly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, largely due to the fact that people have been working from home more, meaning that they are finding it a lot harder to switch off. Nonetheless, a work-life balance isn’t just crucial. It is also part of your legal rights as a worker, meaning that you need to correctly identify what you can do in order to achieve the perfect kind of work-life balance that works for you. 

 

When you are looking to achieve the perfect work-life balance, it is likely that you are going to get stressed if you believe that you have to conform to any normal idea of what that looks like — for example, starting work at nine am and finishing at five pm on the dot. Work can be messy and asynchronous, and sometimes there are those projects that do actually require you to go the extra mile. It’s worth defining what kind of work-life balance works for you before figuring out a way to stick to it. 

 

One tradition that you might take inspiration from comes from Germany. Known as the ‘Feierabend’ — literally translating to “after-work” — it is a semi-philosophical idea that allows inhabitants of the famously productive nation to disconnect from their workday. The usual tradition for Germans is that when they finish working, they either have a beer to take with them on the commute back or they head to a local pub. This is a symbolic way of breaking from work and then allowing time to truly relax and work. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have a beer; you can find a different way that works for you. For example, you could:

 

Establish a Fake Commute

 

Due to this blurring between work and life, people found during the pandemic people are not commuting anymore. This has been a positive development for a lot of people because they find that they don’t actually like the commute. The sad part is that this so-called commute is good for your health, meaning that if you have stopped doing it, your body could be feeling it, especially due to the way that the commute actually helps people to properly disconnect with their workday. 

 

One way to get around this is to establish what people have been calling a “fake commute”. This is where even if you have been working from home all day, you make sure that you go for a walk in the morning and a walk in the evening in order to bolster your spirits. If you are not sure that you are able to actually commit to such an idea on your own, the best idea is to get a dog. Once you get a dog, then you will basically have to go on this walk anyway every single day.  

 

If All Else Fails, Quit 

 

If you are working too much, it’s worth remembering that 99 percent of the time, the problem isn’t you. The reasons that you are working too much usually occur because you need to work this much in order to make enough money to make ends meet, or you are in a job with a poor organizational structure. It’s worth remembering that, deep down, it doesn’t actually have to be like this at all. This means that sometimes the best option is to just quit. 

 

You shouldn’t quit right away, however. You can ask for a raise, thereby making it easier for you to stomach a large amount of work that you have to do, or if you get paid by the hour, meaning that you can get paid more for doing less. Or, if you have a salaried job, you can ask them to respect the boundaries that you have between work and life. You might find that they will respond positively to your concerns. You should just remember to be polite and to firmly state your case as to why the working relationship has to change. 

 

Nonetheless, if you find that, despite your deep concerns, they are still unwilling to accommodate you, then it might just be a good idea to quit. Quitting a job that causes you burnout might cause you financial strain or anxiety about the future, but it will solve the burnout problem that you have pretty quickly. It’s just worth bearing in mind that this isn’t the kind of decision that you should enter into lightly. 

 

In fact, if you plan to quit your job, you should definitely make sure that you have a plan for the future. The first course of action is to make sure that you have the necessary funds available to make sure that you are genuinely able to handle the economic future ahead. Generally speaking, you should be making sure that you have at least six months’ worth of funds, so you know that you will be covered in the future. The second is to give the necessary notice to the company that you are leaving so they are able to plan ahead for the future of the company without you. 

 

Seek Therapy 

 

If you find that you are not able to negotiate with work in the future or to figure out the best practices around, then it is never a bad idea to actually look for a medical intervention. You might be surprised by the fact that there are therapists out there who are actually trained in the ways and means of helping people with burnout. If you schedule a session today with a therapist, you will be surprised by how much your life could change as a result. There are two options when it comes to finding a therapist. The first might be to look around in your local area, although you should be aware that therapists are currently in rather high demand due to the stresses of the pandemic. The second could be to look online, where you will find a much larger pool of therapists to talk to from all over the world. 

 

Conclusion 

 

It has been the express aim of this guide to give you the complete overview when it comes to learning about burnout and some of the tools that you can use in order to avoid it. You might find that when you simply have a high-pressure job or too much work going on, you will end up having to push through it anyway, but at least this guide can give you the necessary tools when it comes to thinking about stresses in general. Additionally, just by reading this guide, you have acknowledged that there might be a problem with regards to how much you are working, and now you have some methods to fight it. Just by making this first step, you should be proud of yourself.

By Manali