Burnout is a problem, you know it, I know it and for high achieving women it keeps happening over, and over, and over again. So what can we do to ease our working day? Here are my top tips if there is a lot on your plate right now...
Get your priorities in order
What do you want both personally and professionally? It's a big life question - a tough one, I know nor an easy one when you are absolutely frazzled. But giving some focus to this can help you find at least a little more clarity towards what you are doing day-to-day and your why. As you start to see your priorities in order you can also see where the thing that is causing the burnout sits on your list. It might be further down that list than you think. Now, life will throw challenges your way, that's a given. So take a look at what priorities you can control. What are you aiming for professionally? Use that as focus and clarity to decide where you cut the cord on unnecessary projects or tasks. Something has to give and it shouldn't be your health. Drop, delegate, outsource or pause on a task or two. Lighten your load because transferring your to do list from one app to another app isn't going to fix the problem.
Slow down
On the tasks and work that you do have. Slow the pace down. Give your mind space to move and transfer between tasks. Rather than bunching all of those meetings together find a break in there just to let your brain charge up again. It doesn't come naturally to many of us but once you see the benefits and impact of it you'll start to do it more. You'll deliver better quality work as well.
Sometimes you need a break
If you're a high-achiever the default response can sometimes be to just push through and get on with it. But sometimes you need to stop yourself in your tracks and you also sometimes need to let other see that too. If you are burned out some rest will do the world of good. If you are an employee be open with your line manager as to what is going on. Sometimes you just need a pause for a few hours, a day or two to get back on your feet. It might also mean you need time to deal with a personal issue before you jump back in. Get to know yourself better, and know when it is time to stop before problems become even bigger.
If you are a leader within your organisation
Every team faces micro problems and these micro problems can create huge stressors on individuals over time. If your team is getting lots of queries that could be answered more comprehensively by another team? Then it's time to focus on that, a great solve and a very simple one. Start re-educating other teams on how they are interacting with your staff and how they can lighten the load. It's all about creating a healthy working environment. It might be changing a process or implementing more training. There is some up-front time investment at the beginning of doing this, but it will reduce the load on your inbox and your team over time.
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