Bye Bye Burnout : a researchers guide to thriving in work and life
Recently, I took to the stage at the Quirks London Conference to deliver a talk titled "Bye Bye Burnout: A Researcher's Guide to Thriving in Work and Life." The goal was simple: help others recognise the warning signs of burnout and intervene before reaching a breaking point.
My Own Burnout Story
I began the talk with a personal story about moving to New York, a city I had long dreamed of living in. However, this dream quickly turned into a nightmare due to a combination of high expectations, unhelpful tendencies, and a lack of support. With an extremely demanding client, absent bosses in another country, and an unrelenting workload, I found myself in a perfect storm. The excessive hours and constant stress led to emotional exhaustion and eventually, complete depletion.
My only option seemed to be leaving the job.
For years, I felt ashamed of this experience. I viewed it as a failure and was embarrassed that I couldn't cope. Returning from a city I loved was deeply upsetting, and I felt like I had let myself down. But sharing this story was more helpful than I ever imagined. It highlighted the epidemic of stress and burnout plaguing many organisations today.
The Perfect Storm of Burnout
Burnout often strikes when overwhelming workloads and unrelenting demands intersect with personal tendencies like perfectionism, people-pleasing, and rumination. For me, a healthy dose of imposter syndrome added fuel to the fire, preventing me from speaking openly about my struggles.
These vulnerable shares were the very things I tried to hide from my employers and team.
Practical Strategies for Avoiding Burnout
One of my core beliefs is that sharing stories is vital for learning. But sharing practical strategies is equally important. Here are three critical insights I shared during my talk:
1. Taking Care of Yourself
Managing stress starts with self-care.
This includes not only eating well, sleeping well, and engaging in physical fitness, but also prioritising mental fitness. Engaging in activities that promote mental well-being is crucial for preventing the emotional and physical exhaustion characteristic of burnout.
My six-week mental fitness training program offers tools to help calm your mind, intercept negative thoughts and bring a positive and constructive approach managing stress effectively.
2. Managing Energy, Not Just Time
Time is something we can never get back, but energy we CAN recharge
While its true that working long hours can lead to burnout, it's essential to manage your energy rather than just your time. Even a standard 40-hour workweek can be draining if the tasks you're doing don't align with your strengths and interests. I introduced a twist on the urgent-important matrix to help identify tasks that drain energy versus those that recharge you, and the example I shared from a client of mine demonstrated that when we do this, it not only gives us more energy at work, but outside work too. Magic!
3. Setting Boundaries and Recharging
What are you doing at the weekend?
Setting boundaries is crucial—stopping work at a certain time and not taking work home on weekends. However, it's equally important to recharge effectively. Like a phone that needs to recharge, we need activities that restore our energy.
Research has shown, that despite what we think about spending some time working over the weekend as a good way to either ‘catch up’ or to ‘get ahead’ it actually sets us back, significantly.
Instead putting mental distance between us and work is whats really needed. And some of the most restorative activities are social, physical, and creative. Whether it's seeing a friend, attending a party, engaging in physical exercise, or indulging in creative pursuits like writing, painting, or cooking, these activities help recharge our minds and bodies.
A Call to Action
If you've ever felt burned out or on the brink of burnout, I invite you to embrace the above strategies. They are a great start to giving yourself the permission to put yourself first, especially if you recognise some of these unhelpful tendencies in yourself and feel like you're in an environment that could exacerbate them.
I’ll be releasing details soon for a webinar on this topic, so if you would like to be notified about this, please consider signing up to my newsletter for the notification!