Tips to avoid burnout.
Constantly on the go and feeling tired, feeling the pressure of getting all your work done but no motivation to do or experiencing a lot of anxiety but not quite sure what about? Unfortunately, you may have ‘burnout’, but luckily this blog may be able to help!
What is Burnout?
Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. In much plainer words, due to circumstances out of your control, you have not been able to manage your work / life balance and it is starting to affect your physical or mental health (or both!).
What are symptoms of Burnout?
You can experience both physical and mental symptoms – headaches, stomach aches, fatigue, a change in appetite and sleep patterns. Feelings of not being able to cope, getting angry, sad or irritable more often than normal. Burnout will leave you feeling drained and will lower your immune system so that you are more susceptible to getting sick.
How to combat Burnout?
Weirdly enough, taking time away from your work will actually make you more productive! Now I know, being self-employed means that you are trying to work all the hours in the day to ensure that your bills get paid, as I often hear from my husband ‘you’ve quit a 9-5 to work 24/7’.
Having experienced burnout myself, and knowing it will definitely happen again, I’ve found ways of helping myself work through it and have compiled a list of coping mechanisms that work for myself, and are advised by others, to help you get back to your most productive self!
- Moving your body each day
Whether this is in the form of a structured exercise class or gym routine, going for a short walk or run, or simply stretching your body before working each day – this can get your blood flowing and release endorphins. Not only is this good for burnout but it will be good for your body as well.
- Create a schedule and take breaks
Having some form of structure to your day will release some of that pressure that constricts your creative outlet, it will also keep you going when you get into a mental funk. Even setting small deadlines will help keep productivity moving. Also making sure that you are taking time in your day to stop working will increase productivity - get a screen break and let your mind stop working for a while, you don’t have to be constantly on the go!
- Eating well
Now I know we’re fast moving out of the dieting era of ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ (absolute horror story for anyone growing up before the 2020’s!) but now we need to have a balance of what we are putting into our body. By all means treat yourself to that cake, have the takeaway on any day of the week BUT also make sure that you are eating a fair amount of fruit and veg and drinking enough water. What you eat WILL affect how you are feeling, and, in effect, how you are working.
- ‘No’ is a full sentence
If what is being asked of you is too much, not your style or, just simply, you don’t want to do it – then say No! You do not have to please everyone in your life, and you are well within your right to turn down work. It is a hard lesson to learn, especially in the self-employed world, but setting boundaries for your work and for yourself will help your business prosper and stay on track.
- Treat Yo Self!
A favourite motto of mine from Parks and Rec (a must, if only for the dry humour of Ron Swanson). The vast majority of people in the wedding world have a lot of physical labour in their work – get a massage!! Your body is your tool, you would service a camera or wash your make up brushes, why are you not nurturing the one tool that you can’t replace!
Burnout will be rife in the wedding world mid-season, and understandably there isn’t a lot of time to do anything about it – but recognising the symptoms and even taking just half a day to look after yourself will help get you through it.
Taking some time off, delegating (maybe even hire a VA …) and finding some routine will help decrease the chances of burnout throughout the year.
Now look after yourself and get some cake!