On Burnout

When dealing with those experiencing significant suffering, if you feel "burnout" setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for everyone's sake, to withdraw and restore yourself. The key is to maintain a long-term perspective. - Dalai Lama

If constant stress has you feeling disillusioned, helpless, and completely worn out, you may be suffering from burnout. When you're burned out, problems seem insurmountable, everything looks bleak, and it's difficult to muster up the energy to care—let alone do something about your situation. The unhappiness and detachment burnout causes can threaten your job, your relationships, and your health. But burnout can be healed once it is recognized and attended to, offering a chance to rediscover yourself and shine brightly once again.

If you've become a victim of burnout, here are a few steps you can take to reignite your flame and shine brightly once more:

- Take an inventory: Make a list of all the situations that cause you to feel stressed, anxious, worried, frustrated, and helpless. Next to each item, write down at least one way to modify that situation to reduce its stress, and then begin implementing them into your routine. You may not see immediate changes or feel immediate results. Burnout doesn't happen overnight, so it's unrealistic to expect it to go away overnight. Consistent implementation of positive changes into your routine is the best way to see improvement.

- Just say "no": While you're "recovering," avoid taking on any new commitments or responsibilities. I know you have to live in the real world and there will be some things that you just can't get out of doing. Resist that urge.

- Delegate as much as possible: Even if the person you're delegating to may not do things as quickly or as well as you would.

- Take breaks between big projects: Burnout puts your mind and body in a weakened state, so avoid jumping from one stressful, time-consuming project to the next to give your mind and body a chance to recover.

- Control your devices: Gadgets, such as iPads, computers, and smartphones, can consume large amounts of your time and energy. Turn them off as much as possible.

- Socialize outside your professional group: This can provide fresh perspectives, stimulate new ideas, and help you discover previously undiscovered resources.

- Resist the urge to take work home: Yes, I realize you have a job to do, and at some point, the work has to get done. When you're recovering from burnout, you have to slow down a notch until you can safely get back up to that speed.

- Reinforce effort, not outcome: Not even the best players score every time. Remember to reinforce yourself for trying rather than only for the end result.

- Consider a support group, coaching, or mentoring: Getting together with others reduces isolation, a common consequence of burnout. Sharing feelings often reduces stress, and engaging with others can provide support and new ideas.

Finally, rediscover your passion. If you're like most victims of burnout, that passion has probably lost its meaning, leaving you feeling physically exhausted and emotionally depleted. But rediscovering it (or finding a new one) with a new self-awareness that it doesn't have to be all-consuming can be the spark you need to reignite your flame. This may mean redefining your roles at work, home, or both. It may mean redistributing the load you're carrying. Or it may mean finding a new passion, one that will offer more balance so you can enjoy life the way you once did.