How to deal with burnout: 15 tips from psychologists

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Remember that you are a living person, not a robot. All living people from time to time get tired, get sick and do not want to do something.

With the transition to remote work from home, the problem of emotional burnout is becoming more relevant than ever. Indeed, for many, changing a workplace turns into constant stress, especially if there is no secluded corner in the home for comfortable work. Experts from the Vdoh Center for Psychological Assistance, who run the Telegram channel, talk about how to deal with burnout. Here are 15 helpful tips from them.

1. Consider the cause of your burnout. People burn out due to three factors.

• Overload: when working too hard despite being tired.
• From lack of development: when you can't reach your potential.
• From indifference: when they do not receive feedback and do not feel their contribution.

Once you understand the reason, it will be easier to deal with it.

2. If you think that you are working ineffectively, stop and think about why. Maybe you quarreled with someone and it affects you? Or didn't you get enough sleep and feel bad? Or is a feeling of uncertainty pressing on you? Or something else? This will help you stop feeling guilty and will give you an opportunity to deal with the real cause of the problem.

3. Try to structure your day as switching from one work stream to another, rather than multitasking. Engage in one narrow task for a while, then another for a while, and do not try to quickly switch between them. When multitasking, we get very tired and can't concentrate.

4. If you're dealing with complex problems that don't have a known solution, try treating them like hypothesis testing. You are able to prepare, but you cannot predict the outcome 100%. Whether the hypothesis is confirmed or disproved, it is a valuable outcome that brings you closer to a solution.

5. Try to challenge the belief that you should do everything and always do perfectly. Imagine that you have done some task imperfectly. What's going to happen? What will be the consequences of this? How awful are they? How realistic are they? Often it is enough to do well or even moderately - and the world will not collapse anyway.

6. Think about what needs you want to meet with your job. Need for approval? In recognition? Be good? Be helpful? Get the result? It's good when the work covers your needs. But it's important to remember that work isn't the only way to satisfy them.

7. If work seems to be the only center of life, take the time and think about where else you could meet your needs. What would you do first if you had free time from tasks? What makes you happy? What is of interest? What is inspiring? What energizes? Who can support you in this?

8. If at work you are told that you are lazy, it is often manipulation and an attempt to move from a business discussion to the category of evaluation and morality. Maybe you are "lazy" to do not your job? Or take a project for which you do not have enough resources? Or interacting with a toxic colleague? Try not to accuse yourself of "laziness", but to understand the reason for your resistance.

9. Remember that laziness is not a personality trait. Laziness is a shortcut to the tangle of unpleasant feelings that keep us from being active. These feelings can be noticed, and problems can be solved without moralizing and violence against oneself.

10. It is normal to be tired, bored, and not motivated from time to time. Listen to yourself and think about what makes you feel. Perhaps you need to take a break or switch to another task.

11. Remember that you are a living person, not a robot. All living people from time to time get tired, get sick and do not want to do something. You, too, can get tired, sick and not want to do something. It is important to remember this in order to rest on time and avoid overwork.

12. Saying no is okay, it doesn't make you a bad person. With burnout, it can be difficult to be aware of your boundaries and maintain them when other people invade them. Therefore, it is important to protect yourself "in manual mode".

13. If someone at work makes you feel uncomfortable, try writing an angry letter. Imagine composing a message to this person and tell them how you feel and think. You can start with phrases: I don’t like it, it makes me angry, I’m tired, I can’t, I need it, I want it, I’m sorry, I’m afraid, I’m worried, I’m worried, I understand, I hope … Sending this letter is not costs. The exercise is useful for helping you better understand how you are feeling and to be able to analyze your feelings.

14. Do not forget about the importance of sleep - both the quantity and its mode matter. Getting enough sleep on weekdays, but getting enough sleep on weekends is a bad idea. After a lack of sleep on weekdays, efficiency and well-being are drastically reduced, and on weekends, sleep breaks down. It is important to constantly sleep as much as you need, because sleep is the basic mechanism for restoring physical, mental and emotional resources.

15. Remember that you are not only your job. Then the difficulties and failures associated with it will be perceived easier - and more resources will appear for solving problems: related and not related to the profession.