Are You At Risk For Burnout? - Part 3

Here are a couple of things that you can do to help relieve your stress and improve your work productivity. Turn off the television. Women who watch more than two hours a day had higher rates of depression according to a study from Eastern Washington University. Try doing mental exercises such as crossword puzzles or learning a new language in order to stimulate the brain and keep sharp. (1)

Significantly reduce your to do list by either getting rid of a task, do something about it or delegate the task to someone else. But most importantly, get better rest and more sleep. The best sleep is gotten between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. which means if your project is completed you should go to bed and get up early rather than stay up late. While taking a nap was once considered a bad idea, we now know that taking a 20 minute cat nap will actually have minimal effects on your ability to sleep at night and help keep you sharp during the day.

Anyone who has suffered through burnout will tell you that you must take time out for yourself whenever you can find it. It might be as simple as watching out the window for 10 minutes at your office or listening to music on your commute home or even ordering out dinner instead of cooking. Whatever your choice, if you are always taking care of others you’ll make yourself sick.

It is important to understand the risks of burnout to your personal and financial future. It is easy to become wrapped up in your daily tasks while totally ignoring the response of your body and mind. However, once burned out, the condition does not go away in one or two days. In fact, you may not be able to recover all by yourself and may require the assistance of a counselor in order to most objectively evaluate the changes that need to be made in your lifestyle.

References:

(1) Eastern Washington University: Life Without TV?

http://cultivationanalysisrtvf173.pbworks.com/f/Cultivat1.pdf

Resources:

Western Journal of Medicine: The Prevention and Cure of Physician Burnout

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071382/

MayoClinic: Job Burnout: Spotting it and taking Action

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/burnout/WL00062

Texas Medical Association: Three Stages of Burnout

http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/burnout_qt/3stages.pdf