7 Ways to Avoid Burnout (Based on Your Own Values)
““Burnout occurs when we are out of alignment with our values””
It can be so hard to know when to stop. Push on and it might just be your body that eventually says no, with burnout halting you in your tracks. In a society that equates productivity with success, how do we protect ourselves from burnout and prioritise good health?
Psychologist Suzy Reading suggests trying these 7 stress-busting steps for keeping calm and energised.
Author, psychologist and yoga teacher Suzy Reading (photo: Natalya Chagrin)
Know yourself.
We all have our own warning signs and triggers. Get to know how stress manifests for you and listen to those early signals. It might show up in poor sleep, low mood, fatigue, overthinking or physical pain and tension. This knowledge allows you to take swift action and top up your ‘energy bank’ before you hit empty. If there are regular stress triggers, it’s good to be aware so you can proactively respond with a more positive activity or thought. Challenges are a normal part of life – this is about planning ahead to boost your resilience, taking action to help you cope in the moment, and giving yourself time and space to restore following difficult experiences.
Build your mindfulness muscles.
Regularly check in with your feelings – physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically. This is the habit that is fundamental to avoiding burnout which can creep up on us when we are on autopilot. Know when it’s time to stop and give yourself permission to take a moment to fill yourself back up.
Reclaim the ability to relax.
There is nothing lazy, luxurious or indulgent about relaxation - this ability is literally the antidote to stress. Keeping yourself calm helps you avoid flipping into fight or flight mode where it is so hard to think straight. Knowing how to soothe your nervous system allows you to acknowledge that there are things required of you but you avoid triggering the cascading of stress hormones. This needn’t take large chunks of time either – it can be as simple as using a coping tool like asking yourself ‘what lies within my control’ and taking action there, or taking a few smooth breaths, making the exhalation longer than the inhalation.
Commit to regular restorative practices in your week.
Micro-moments of calm can help us keep stress at bay throughout our day but to really protect yourself from burnout we need time to unwind in longer stretches. Just as it’s important to nourish ourselves with our food and movement, we need to engage in activities that calm the nervous system. There are many ways of doing this, so choose what’s personally resonant for you. Think of this as mindful downtime. Instead of scrolling on social media or watching a visceral film that puts your nerves on edge – it can be some time in Nature, hugging, breathing practices, journaling, reading, yoga or gentle stretching, guided meditation or relaxation or listening to an audiobook, podcast or TED talk. This is a chance for you to enjoy an absence of effort, there is no striving and you are receiving energy. For those pressed for time, resort to 5 minutes of having your legs up the wall and it can do wonders.
Prioritise sleep and lifestyle choices that promote it.
Sleep is the stuff that resilience is made of… be mindful of the effects of your visual diet, observe a digital detox before bed, commit to a soothing pre-bedtime ritual, make your bedroom a haven for relaxation, and give yourself ample time in bed to get the 7-9 hours of sleep that most adults need to function.
Build a mood-boosting toolkit
Start to use these tools in your daily life, such as when you’re brushing your teeth. Jot down the things that fill you with zest – connection, music, colour, scent, creativity, movement, gratitude, kindness.
Connect with your values.
Burnout occurs when we are out of alignment with our values. Spend some time thinking about what’s most important to you in life. What qualities do you aspire to possess? If you’re not sure where to start, take the ‘Values in Action Character Strengths Survey’. Let these strengths and values guide you in your decision making and from that congruence comes a deep sense of clarity and peace.
Suzy Reading is a psychologist, author and yoga teacher. Her latest book 'Self-Care for Tough Times' is out now - you can find out more about Suzy at suzyreading.com or follow her @SuzyReading.
Is Burnout An Actual Disease?
According to the World Health Organisation: “Burnout is included in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon. It is not classified as a medical condition.”
The WHO definition:
Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
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.
““The accumulation of hundreds or thousands of tiny disappointments, each one hardly noticeable on its own””
When Did Burnout Become a Thing?
Writing for the Association for Psychological Science, Alexandra Michael notes:
“The psychologist Herbert Freudenberger is credited with bringing the term “burnout” into the research lexicon in 1974, defining it as the loss of motivation, growing sense of emotional depletion, and cynicism he observed among volunteers working at a free clinic in New York City. Formerly idealistic mental health workers were finding themselves depleted and weary, resenting patients and the clinic…
“APS Fellow Christina Maslach, professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the foremost researchers on burnout, began studying this emerging phenomenon in the 1970s through a series of extensive interviews with employees in service organizations. In analyzing the interviews, Maslach and colleagues noticed a trend: Workers often reported feelings of profound emotional exhaustion, negativity directed at clients and patients, and a crisis in feelings of professional competence. Much like symptoms of depression, burnout was asphyxiating people’s ambitions, idealism, and sense of worth.
“The 1976 publication of Maslach’s article “Burned-Out,” published in the magazine Human Behavior, generated a huge public response — popularizing the concept of burnout within the popular press. Maslach received an incredible outpouring of letters and phone calls from people who were grateful to find out that they were not alone in their experience of burnout…
“Richard Gunderman, a physician who serves as a professor of radiology and philosophy at Indiana University, described the incremental onset of burnout as “the accumulation of hundreds or thousands of tiny disappointments, each one hardly noticeable on its own.””
>> Coming soon, we’ll be interviewing Professor Christina Maslach about burnout - more than 40 years after she first identified the condition
