Feeling burnt out? You’re not alone, boss.
Last month, Cosmopolitan found that nearly 3/4 of women suffer from stress-related anxiety. These symptoms are indicative of burnout – a state of chronic stress that can quickly escalate and lead to more serious mental healthy disorders, even depression.
In today’s video, I unpack the harmful ways in which our burnout culture causes too many of us to sacrifice our personal well-being in the quest for success. As it turns out, investing in your long-term, sustainable success requires a different set of strategies.
Watch today’s video and see below for the top five ways too many of us set ourselves up to burn out:
1. Take on too much
So many of us feel like ‘having it all’ means having it all right now.
As we talked about in earlier videos this year, it’s so important to prioritize and tackle your goals one a time. Focus is everything, boss!
2. Be “too busy” for exercise.
Let’s be honest: when our schedules get crazy, working out is the first thing that goes out the window. I get it, and sleep is important too (I’m not suggesting that’s what we should sacrifice either).
But we need to remember that exercise is for sanity – not vanity! It’s not just about fitting into your skinny jeans, working out is a must for your mental health.
So if you want to prevent burnout, you’ve got to get in that workout.
3. Work for longer, continuous hours.
While this is what we’ve been taught will give us better outcomes, we all hit a point of diminishing returns, when our strategy of working hard and putting our nose to the grindstone starts to backfire. It’s not just you.
We humans are more productive when we fluctuate between periods of focused effort and periods of rest and renewal. That might mean taking a midday meditation session, going for a walk, taking lunch away from your desk, or calling a friend.
Whatever helps you unwind, remember that taking breaks are important for keeping you engaged over the long haul – and preventing burnout!
4. Always stay connected.
Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram…the list is always growing. We are inundated with feeds of information coming at us at all points of the day!
With our smartphones always by our side and more of us working behind screens every day, it’s hard to be mindful about the “information diet” we’re consuming.
Your attention is a precious, limited resource. Cut the cord to make sure you’re reserving some brain space for yourself.
5. Never take a vacation.
In 2014, the US Travel Association called found that 4 in 10 American workers let paid vacation days expire. What the what?!
It’s not that we don’t want to take a vacation. Most people cited not having “enough time or money” to take the kind of vacation they really want, and also alluded to a deeper fear: that by taking a proper vacation, you put your career trajectory at risk.
This is symptomatic of our burnout work culture – one that we all need to change. It starts with good leadership at the top that invests in workers, sees the real ROI on having a more engaged (less burnt out!) workforce by making it socially acceptable to take a real vacation. And then, it comes down to us. We have to advocate for what we need to be sustainable – including taking our vacation time!
If you’re on the brink of burnout, we can turn this around together.
Are you ready to take your power back and own your life again?
That’s exactly what we tackle together in my online program, Bossed Up For Life, a step-by-step burnout prevention plan for women who hustle.
If you’re ready to beat burnout for good, head over to www.BossedUpforLife.com now and join our community of ambitious women who are investing in their sustainable success.
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