Preventing Burnout: How to Work Without Draining Yourself

Work is a key source of stress for many people. Stress, on the other hand, leads to burnout. One of the symptoms of burnout is exhaustion. This happens when someone experiences physical, cognitive, and emotional fatigue that hinders them from working effectively and feeling positive about what they are doing.

This stems from having too much to do, demands coming up every time with intense time pressure, making an individual lack control over their work and feeling like they are insufficient to accomplish the tasks. At this point, they are unable to concentrate, think straight/clearly or even see the big picture.

Burnouts have been shown to produce feelings of futility and alienation, diminish the quality of relationships and destroy long-term career prospects.

We all know how easy it is to get involved in our work that we burn ourselves out. Whether we love what we do or not, if care isn't taken, we might start to find it boring simply because we have to repeat the same thing every day. That is why we must recognise when to take a break and pause before exhaustion takes over.

One thing I have learned is that waiting until burnout happens before we understand that a break is necessary is a terrible approach. When I notice signs of overworking, I take a step back and rest.

One way I do this is by prioritising self-care. This is the moment I replenish my physical and emotional energy. This is done by incorporating habits that are healthy such as embarking on regular exercises like jumping, stretching, doing some simple workout exercises that don't involve hard movement, getting sufficient sleep and finding hobbies to manage stress outside of work, i.e, reading a book or simply sitting down while folding my hands with my eyes closed for some time.

Another strategy that helps is breaking tasks into smaller parts. Instead of choking myself with everything at once, all in the name of completing the tasks on time, I allocate time for each task and schedule breaks in between. With this approach, I can complete my work efficiently without feeling drained. It also ensures I don't push myself to a limit where exhaustion forces me to stop.

However, there have been times when I got carried away, ignoring the signals that my body gives until I hit a wall. When that happens, all I do is reset, as I wouldn't have a choice then. This is done either by taking a shower or getting some sleep (I don't compromise this for anything). I've realised that if I don't take action fast concerning this, it leads to physical effects such as headaches, body aches and even a slight fever.

One beautiful thing about the body is that it gives warning signs first, and when we ignore them, it shuts down completely, and that can be dangerous at times.

We need to understand that rest isn't a luxury - it's a necessity when it comes to avoiding burnout at the workplace or anywhere. No matter how passionate or zealous we are about our work or when we are someone who want to meet all deadlines no matter what, we can only give our best when our bodies are in the right state and when we've rested well enough.

So, whether it is by scheduling breaks, listening to our body, or simply taking that time away for a while from work, we need to be intentional about maintaining balance. At the end of the day, work will always be there, and in fact, we can be replaced at any time, our health and well-being should never be sacrificed but prioritised for productivity.

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_{Both images generated from Meta AI}