Three Keys to Avoiding Burnout

Burnout effects everyone. I get close to burnout at least once a year (if not more often), and it can be difficult to prevent it from happening. But, I’ve got some strategies to share that tend to pull me out of the cycle pretty effectively.

Take a break.
Depending on how severe your burnout is getting, taking an afternoon or a day off can do wonders. The main catch is that you can’t do ANY work during that time off. That means put your laptop away, turn your phone off (or unplug it), and basically forget that you even have a job/business/etc.

Take a vacation.
This is a bit different than a day off, as what I’m talking about requires actually leaving your house or other place of business for at least a couple days.

Work in bursts.
Working in bursts helps to free up large portions of your day for things other than work. Make a to-do list at the beginning of your day and then work in short bursts with breaks in between until everything on your to-do list is done. This works especially well if you’re self-employed or telecommute. But even if you work in an office for someone else, you can adapt this to your work schedule (the key is to generally look like you’re busy…or you can always pretend to be on a conference call or in deep thought).

Bonus: When all else fails, do a forced burnout: just load up on coffee (iced mint mocha latte’s are my favorite), and work until you absolutely can’t work anymore, and then you’ll crash for a couple of days and be completely non-functional, but you’ll feel surprisingly better afterward.

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