How to Avoid Burnout as a High Performer - Must Have Pro Strategies Have you ever hit a wall as a high performer? Have you ever felt absolutely exhausted? We have all been there! I feel you. Whether you hit a wall physically, mentally, spiritually or emotionally, you don't want burnout to be a normal and recurring challenge for you. Burnout affects your wellbeing, joy, productivity, focus and can even lead to you being physically sick. I don’t want that for you. So, how can you avoid burnout? Here are my Top 3 Pro Tips, plus a Bonus Golden Strategy at the end, which have skyrocketed results for my high performing leader and speaker members from all around the world. Let’s dive in and learn how to avoid burnout. PRO TIP #1 Release Tension. Set Intention. So often, when you reach burnout, it's because you haven't released the tension along the journey. The days build into weeks; the weeks build into months, and all of a sudden --- boom! You hit a wall! Releasing tension and setting an intention is a powerful daily practice. It helps you manage your energy and feelings so that you don't feel like you're getting burnout at the end of the day. How is it done? It's where every 50 minutes (or so), you take a short break from whatever you are doing. For some, every 15, 20 or 30 minutes of productivity before taking a short break is going to work best, however ensure it is a maximum of 50 minute productivity chunks. High Performance research has found that if you take a break every 50 minutes, even if it is a 30-second break, it will lead to you being more productive, focused and thus avoiding burnout in the long-run. So, I invite you to take the time to walk away from your laptop screens, from your work, your office, your space, and walk around! Stretch your body. Close your eyes. Take some deep breaths in, perhaps do some box-breathing. Take time to release tension and then mentally set your intention for the next productivity chunk of your day. Think to yourself, "How do I want the rest of my day to look like?" or, "How do I want this next 50-minute block to look like? Directly after I have this 30-second break or this one-minute break, what do I want the next part of my day to look like? How do I want to show up? How do I want to feel?" When you release the tension from each part of the day, you're more likely to feel energized, more engaged, and you're not going to hit that wall. So, release tension, set intention! PRO TIP #2 Develop Emotional Fitness & Emotional Intimacy Skills. Emotional intimacy skills have many different facets. One part of having emotional fitness is being able to feel into and be okay with any emotion that comes up for you. Emotions are sometimes labeled as either “good” emotions or “bad” emotions. But, the truth is, there are no good or bad emotions. There are only resourceful and unresourceful ways reacting to emotions. Every emotion has its value as a human being. Being able to close your eyes and say, "Okay, I just had a really stressful meeting. What am I feeling? I'm feeling anger. I'm feeling sadness. Where am I feeling it? I'm feeling it in my chest. I'm feeling it in my neck. I feel it in my stomach." Go through and name where you are feeling the sensations, where you are feeling the feelings, and where you are feeling the core emotions. Then, instead of blaming that emotion on someone else, own that it is your emotion. You're feeling it. Own it. Then allow yourself to feel it fully. When you fully feel the emotion, you complete an emotional cycle, and it is released. Instead of, "I feel frustrated. I feel angry. No, I don't like anger. I don't like frustration. I'm gonna push this down. I don’t want to feel this; I'm all good. I'm all good." But then, later down the track --- boom! All of a sudden, you have a massive burnout and you have an emotional overload, and you're just crying and breaking down. It's because you didn't give yourself the time to be emotionally intimate along the journey when things happened, when you started feeling emotions in the moment. So, emotional intimacy and fitness skills will allow you to feel, release and therefore avoid the big explosive burnout. PRO TIP #3 Create Celebrations & Be-Time! Allow yourself space to celebrate your journey. It is important that you allow yourself space to feel the celebration of your growth and wins along the way. Remember that we're not "human-doings"; we are human-beings. So, instead of "doing, doing, doing," give yourself time to stop and celebrate. Celebrate with friends. Celebrate with your partner. Celebrate on your own. Journal. Dance. Move your body to celebrate! I'm always dancing to celebrate my leader and speaker members, and myself. Plus, give yourself time to just be! Time to just sit down and listen to music. Time to just sit down and sit with yourself. Mindfully enjoy that cup of tea without feeling like you need to check your phone at the same time. Mindfully be able to enjoy the sunshine without needing to be with other people necessarily or needing to be doing work. Take the time to just be in the moment. The more you practice simply being present, the more you are going to be able to feel a sense of relief, a sense of peace. Your baseline becomes calm instead of anxiousness, and you are not going to face burnout as often, or maybe even ever. So give yourself time to celebrate along the journey and create be-time. Golden Bonus Strategy Activate the 3, 2 1 Rule Common sense is not always common practice. So, you might know that sleep is important to be prioritized. But, are you really prioritizing it? Are you sure that your REM and deep sleep are enough? Incorporate Brendon Burchard's 'Three, Two, One Rule" and prioritize sleep! 'Three, Two, One' means three hours before bed, no food; two hours before bed, no work, and; one hour before bed, no phone, reactivity or replying to messages. Give yourself that rule and everything will shift. If it's not three hours, just make it 20 minutes each. This means, 1 hour before bed no food, 40 minutes before bed no work and 20 minutes before bed no phone. Then increase it from there. After you do this, you will likely increase your deep sleep and REM sleep, which has an immense amount of benefits for your emotional, mental and physical wellbeing. Cleanse your neurons so that you feel more focused and emotionally available during the day. Prioritize your sleep! Look into other ways also to make your sleep even better. Have something to record your sleep, such as a Fitbit, wear blue light blocking glasses at night or have anti-blue light lightbulbs. When you prioritise your sleep, you are going to be well on your way to avoiding burnout. Woohoo! I trust that these three tips and my golden strategy have supported you. Make sure you know that burnout is a choice. That's hard to accept, but burnout is a choice, and you don't have to choose it anymore! So as a high performer, remember if I can support you with any content, videos, or if you have any challenges that I can give you the solution for, simply email me at namaste@jodydontje.com. I'd be happy to support you. I'm here to serve. Plus if you love this blog article, like it, share it and comment below: What are your strategies to avoid burnout? Every day you have a choice: You can choose to be ordinary, or as Denise Burchard explains “YOU CAN CHOOSE TO BE EXTRAORDINARY”. So, go out there and choose to be EXTRAORDINARY. Be Brave. Be Vulnerable. Be Kind. With kindness,
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Jody DontjeGlobal Public Speaking and Emotional Fitness Coach. Tedx Talk Speaker. Humanitarian. Archives
September 2021
Categories |