Obituary about yourself and 5 more non-standard ways to deal with burnout and stress

Burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion. It is often confused with depression, and it is not surprising, because the signs are similar: lack of strength and loss of motivation, a negative and cynical attitude towards what is happening, a feeling of uselessness and helplessness. Lifehacker has collected six unusual ways to deal with these symptoms.

1. Spend half an hour in complete silence

Meditation can help you deal with stress. It is also effective in combating burnout.

It is not at all necessary to master the techniques of movement and breathing - you can just spend a few minutes in silence. Without being distracted by your smartphone, with your eyes closed, doing absolutely nothing. It seems that it is quite simple, but in fact, not everyone can withstand even 15-30 minutes without work and a single sound.

The most radical practices are to meditate for up to an hour a day. One of the main proponents of this method is venture capitalist Naval Ravinkat. For more than two years, he has begun every morning with the "hour of silence". This helps him to disconnect from negative thoughts and worry less. Only in this way, says Ravinkat, you can really assess the quality of your own life. During such a silent introspection session, he says, your mind will resist: “I hate this! I can't sit still doing nothing! " But gradually you can come to understand what exactly is the cause of your anxiety and what can be done to cope with it.

Perhaps, after going through such an amoeba-like state, you will understand that everything is not so bad: for example, work is much better than inactivity, and burnout quickly passes if you take breaks for rest in time.

2. Create and regularly update an autobiography

One of the most important steps in overcoming burnout is finding its causes. This can be helped by the method of writing a detailed autobiography, which is used by students of the Swiss business school IMD and the American INSEAD. It is called Identity Workspaces for Leadership Development / INSEAD The Personal and Professional Identity Narrative (PPIN), literally translated - "Narration of personal and professional identity." This is a detailed text about yourself for 10-15 pages, which is composed according to the following rules:

In the text, you need to tell about the main events, places and people in a person's life, the current state of his affairs, the general direction in which his life is heading.
Special attention should be paid to personal, rather than professional, experience.
It is advisable not to use presentations, bulleted lists, and copied sections from your resume. Only text, first-person narration and reflection.
If over time a person rethinks some moments of his life, he must make changes in his autobiography.
After writing, it is advisable to discuss your text with a mentor (coach or psychotherapist) familiar with the PPIN method, or with a friend whom you trust and whom you think is competent enough. If this is not possible, you need to at least independently re-read the text from time to time and try to look at your life from the outside.

The PPIN will help you understand the causes of anxiety, fatigue or disappointment even at the stage of creation, as well as formulate goals for the future and outline ways to achieve them. In addition, your biography needs to be constantly supplemented and rewritten, if necessary. Business school students do this throughout their studies, which helps them better understand themselves and the key events in their lives, as well as achieve their goals. For example, to understand that they did not quite correctly imagine the desired area of activity or underestimated the importance of other areas of life not related to career: relationships with friends and family, favorite hobbies, and so on.

3. Write an obituary about yourself

This is also a kind of PPIN technique. It is used in some other business schools and consists in the fact that a person must write an obituary about himself. This is a note Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. Ed. D. N. Ushakova, written about the death of a person, which provides important information about his life and work.

It can be useful to write such a text about yourself. Obituaries are often short, so your description should not be very voluminous. Talk only about the past, not touching on the future. Usually 25 minutes are given to compose it. And another 30 - in order to comprehend the experiences experienced at the same time and write them down.

This exercise can be emotionally difficult, but it is also very rewarding to make tough decisions. For example, if you are contemplating a job change that pays well but sucks the juice out of you. In addition, according to the doctor of psychology Andrew Bland, a person has a feeling of acceptance of his life and a desire to live, the desire to revise his habits and addictions, to become more compassionate.

4. Compose a letter for yourself

If you find yourself in a difficult situation and do not know what to do, take note of the F. Grinda method. A framework for making important decisions: Step 1/4 of the French millionaire and venture capitalist Fabrice Grinda - write yourself a letter.

When faced with a problem that bothers you (for example, if you feel that you cannot fulfill yourself in your current job), state all its details in writing. Then complete this description with every solution that comes to your mind - even the one you don't like.

At the same time, it is important not to exaggerate your capabilities and the likelihood of a favorable set of circumstances.

Then Grinda offers to send a copy of this letter to one of your relatives, friends or mentors - a person you trust and whose opinion on this issue is important to you. And only after that you need to choose one of the options and act.

It is believed that the search for options is one of the main Job burnout: How to spot it and take action / Mayo Clinic ways to combat burnout and dissatisfaction with life, so the Fabrice Grinda method can really help.

5. Realize that in some ways you are better than Mozart and Van Gogh

If it seems that your life did not work out, and your professional activity is worthless, remember how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Vincent Van Gogh ended their lives. Both of them are rightfully considered geniuses, but at the same time they died in poverty. Mozart at the end of his life was forced by G. W. Abert. A. Mozart. M. 1987-1990 to hide from creditors, and Van Gogh's talent was recognized after his death.

Often we are overly dramatic when thinking about our problems, and at the same time overly idealizing the lives of other people. This leads to uncertainty and dissatisfaction - this condition is called loss of profit syndrome (FOMO). Yes, perhaps at work you do not save lives every day, and the whole world does not know about its results, but if you do it conscientiously and do not feel the need, then everything is not so bad. In addition, you always have a chance to change something: just use one of the methods above or refer to more standard methods.

6. Accept that life balance is difficult to achieve

When you feel tired and emotionally drained, it seems the right decision to just start working less and, as they say, redistribute the balance of life. However, there are many pitfalls here.

So, the work stress accumulated during the day will not disappear anywhere S. McCletchey. From urgent to important. A system for those who are tired of running on the spot. M. 2015 is in itself, if you spend less time at the workplace.

If you do not leave work problems at work, then it does not matter how many hours a day you work, 10 or 6. Moreover, it will not help in any way if you consider your efforts useless.

Everyone has their own work-life balance, and it is impossible to measure it. Even those who work 50 hours a week or more can feel good about the goals and results of their work. Although Lifehacker does not recommend doing this.

As mentioned above, sometimes we torture and limit ourselves. Sometimes it is enough to understand that it is impossible to do everything and focus on solving today's problems and tasks. This will help you stop worrying about things you can't control and focus on more meaningful things.

The above methods allow you to evaluate Job burnout: How to spot it and take action / Mayo Clinic your capabilities, understand the causes of burnout, find support from loved ones, relax, feel more confident and re-evaluate priorities. Some methods, such as writing an autobiography or writing to yourself, are also effective in R. Knight. How to Overcome Burnout and Stay Motivated / Harvard Business Review for Overcoming Feelings of Routine.

However, mental health, like physical health, requires the most careful attention. If you feel overwhelmed for a long time or are literally on the verge of breaking down, see a therapist.