Burnout is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly popular among people today as they work harder and longer hours. It is no wonder that today, with this work climate, that people cannot be productive as all their energy is spent at work, leaving them none for when they get home.
Often linked with depression, this article explains “What is burnout?” as well as the stages of burnout, how to prevent burnout and most importantly, how to recover from burnout if you already have the symptoms.
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What is Burnout?
Burnout is a feeling that is most likely generated from extreme stress, usually from over-working, which will result in a person feeling as if all their energy is depleted, and strong negativity to activities that require lots of energy.
During my productivity journey, burnout played a massive role in my procrastination. I still suffer from it now. Before, I would get burnt out from doing an hour of work, after which I would feel like I didn’t have the physical energy to do anything.
Using my steps for how to recover from burnout, I was able to rejuvenate my energy levels and stay productive. I also learnt how to prevent burnout when I could start to feel the stages of burnout appear in my life. This has enabled me to avoid procrastination even as a busy student, and accomplish my goals in my fitness, business, and mental health.
The Stages of Burnout
Rather than a straight line, the stages of burnout can be portrayed by a circle. This endless cycle can be something that you are thrown into without knowing it, and it’s extremely difficult to get out of. If you can relate to these symptoms, then you most likely are stuck in this cycle, and you should read about how to recover from burnout below.
The Stages:
- Often what comes first is something that seems positive. It is the idea that you can work like extremely hard, which often sparks from a moment of motivation and desire to improve your life. When this motivation is taken to too much of an extreme level, it means that you often put your own needs, such as physical and mental health after your excessive ambition.
- Then, you start to work like a maniac, and it inevitably results in failure, and therefore stress. Often, we can ask ourselves questions like: “Why can’t I be productive?” and we become clueless as to why we cannot achieve our extreme goals. The answer to this is simple: you are trying to do too much at once. If you want to form good habits, they take time.
- This failure and stress can often evolve into depressive thoughts, emotional and physical exhaustion, and frustration. If this persists, a person will most likely end up mentally or physically collapsing. This is the worst stage of burnout, as it feels impossible to get out of. But it is possible once you learn how to recover from burnout.
- This stage continues until you get a random spark of motivation again. And, because you are not mentally prepared for the extreme work that you will try to undertake, the cycle continues.
How to Prevent Burnout:
It’s all good saying that we should just “avoid burnout”. But this is much easier said than done. To avoid burnout, it is important to first recognise what burnout is, and what it will look like to you. I hope that with the information above, I have provided a good amount of information to help you with that. If you want to further explore, however, I recommend an official NHS article that explains it in more detail.
We must focus on preventing it, as this is much easier than getting stuck in the cycle, and then having to learn the more tedious process of how to recover from burnout. This is how you can do so:
- You must learn to put your own well-being first. At the end of the day, work and productivity is one of the least important things in life if you are physically and mentally depleted. You should try to implement a workout into your daily routine.
- Furthermore, I recommend that you include mindfulness into your day with meditation and journaling in your morning and night routines, both of which I have written blogs about to help you form your own mindful routines.
- You must learn to take breaks . Like the point above, if you fear that by taking a break, you will not be as productive, try not to. Even though that sounds stupid and naïve, you should try not to feel guilty when taking a break from working hard. Sometimes you need a long break, sometimes only a short one. However, you should accept that having breaks is a vital part of keeping motivation and energy levels high, which will overall improve productivity overall.
- Manage your time efficiently to avoid overextending yourself. I have written an article to help you with time management. Essentially, you should get better at managing your time so that you can get more done effectively. This will, therefore, enable you to have more time for mindfulness and breaks, as well as giving you structure to your life so that you can avoid overworking.
How to Recover from Burnout:
So, what happens if you are already stuck in the cycle, preventing burnout isn’t an option. The reason you have probably clicked on this article is to learn how to recover from burnout. The best response in regard to how to recover from burnout is often one that people don’t like, as they feel like they are being unproductive. But, as I said above, you must sacrifice this short-run productivity for long-run mental health as well as greater long-run productivity. So, here is how you can get out of the cycle:
- You should try to sleep for much longer. Use this website for reference, and potentially try to sleep for even more. You can improve your sleep with ideal sleep conditions, something I speak about in my night routine article. By sleeping longer, you will slowly regenerate your energy levels.
- Secondly, you should take a long break from all the activities that you are doing extensively. Try to do this for 3 days minimum, and take this time to develop some meditation, journalling, and basic fitness habits. In doing this, it is important to detach yourself from what causes you stress and worry, something that Medito’s meditation does well. Don’t go over the top, and remember that you should progress in little steps, even if it seems difficult sometimes.
- Furthermore, make decisions that will make you feel better. For example, avoid unhealthy snacks and delivery food as this will only elevate your symptoms. Instead, you can enjoy food that is tasty and healthy. It doesn’t have to be a salad or a smoothie, but rather something you enjoy that will make you feel good and is lower in calories.
- Finally, start again slowly. As is the common theme in this article, going slowly is vital for long-term success. Start to introduce new things very slowly, and by slowly, I mean something new after weeks, not days. This way, in a year’s time, you will be where you want to be, rather than in another burnout phase.
Conclusion
Overall, we must first identify the symptoms of burnout so that we can treat it. Understanding where our lack of motivation comes from makes it easier to overcome it.
Remember to be patient with yourself, as this can be a harsh problem to beat. I would advise that if you haven’t reached this stage yet, that you avoid getting burned out at all costs, as it can be detrimental to our success.
If you liked this article, consider checking out some of our other articles on time management:
