It’s time to face the situation and to find out what you can do in order to break the dangerous cycles.
Here are 5 main ways I used to break the work addiction and stop the burnout that you can use too.
- Redefine what your heart desire — and no, it’s not just about work. You can choose to spend more time with your family and friends, to start a new hobby or take time off (go on vacation in a place where you have never been before and try to stay away from work as long as you can).
- Ask your friends and colleagues to keep you accountable — for example, when a new project/ task comes in one minute before your working program ends, you will need some support to avoid giving in. For example, you can set an alarm (it can be a couple of minutes before the end of the program so you can start preparing yourself), ask a loved one / a friends to call you at a certain time, make commitments for weekends and evenings (cinema, theatre or even an exhibition or a meal).
- Do a digital detox — turn off notifications on your phone, bury your email and social media apps within your phone and set rules about not checking emails or respond to messages from your business partners outside the working hours. If you are like me, you might even have to leave the phone at work, and use a personal phone for time outside work!
- Try mindfulness (involves acceptance, meaning that you pay attention to your thoughts and feelings without judging them) –do daily exercises, join a mindfulness class or listen to guided meditation practices.
- Reward yourself for not giving in to work — you can go to a restaurant or a theater or even book a city break.
Do:
- Do a 7-Day Time Detox starting NEXT WEEK, to Tune Out Distractions, Fight Rush, Gain Clarity And Focus. Start by decided what toxins you want to remove, and go from there. Below are some detox ideas:
Phone Addiction Detox: Turn off notifications on your phone and shut it down between 6pm-8am next day and in weekends. Or leave the business phone at work, and replace it with a basic phone call for personal calls.
Email Addiction Detox: Remove email from your phone to prevent checking it outside work hours. I also challenge you to add the next line in the email signature to show yourself and to let your connections know about how strict you are with your time: [Note: I am drowning in emails. If you are expecting my prompt answer, please type ASAP in the email’s subject line. Or else, expect an answer between 8–24 hours.]
Toxic Persons Detox: make a list with the toxic persons at work and in personal life, and DO NOT INTERACT with them during the Detox.
- Make a plan you will want to achieve for the next 3 years — Use our FREE worksheet to make it fun and easy.
Think about the people you want to meet;
The places you want to see;
The experiences and emotions you want to sign up for.
- Set boundaries — learn how to say “no” to requests on your time. If you find this difficult, remind yourself that saying “no” allows you to say “yes” to the things that you truly want to do.
- Nourish your creative side — creativity is a powerful antidote to burnout. Try something new, start a fun project or resume a favorite hobby. Choose activities that have nothing to do with work.
- Plan it naked, and make it — keep your plans simple, and aligned with what you are. Avoid adopting complicated recipes from other people. If those worked for them, that’s their business. YOU BUILD YOUR OWN SIMPLE PLANS.
- Get plenty of sleep — sleep makes you smarter, better-looking and more creative. Feeling tired can exacerbate burnout by causing you to think irrationally.
Don’t:
- Don’t rush into too many changes at once. Do one small change at a time to prevent overwhelm.
- Don’t get extreme with a change, unless you know you can handle it.
- Don’t beat yourself up — it will be hard, and you will often fall of the wagon. Smile and get back on track. You are not done until you’ve succeeded with your task.
- Don’t expect to see changes from the first day. Take your time. Arm yourself with patience and perseverance. Real changes will be seen after weeks and sometimes, after months of constant work.
- Don’t get too rigid about it. Be creative. Make any challenge fun and friendly.
- Don’t be a loner. Find a friend to run these challenges together. I have also created a space for people to join and find the needed support or accountability partner — Plan it naked [and make it!] FREE Facebook group
Break the vicious chain:
Create a new hobby — SOMETHING THAT YOU REALLY LOVE — and go from there; I know it sounds easy… but, trust me, it’s not! If you are like me, you’ll find that creating a new hobby is a bit challenging to start with.
Take 10 minutes a day, to invest in that new hobby;
Every 1–2 months, get better at doing that hobby — learn more about it, practice it more, test new ideas related to that hobby;
If it feels like a drag, keep doing it. If you fall of the wagon, that is all right. Allow yourself to do that. And next day jump right back and keep enjoying that hobby.
According to Brendon Burchard, the world’s leading high performance coach, when it comes to burnout it’s important to clarify your needs and to keep a list of things you want from life. “If you don’t have that list written down somewhere then it’s not real and your day will be continued to be defined by randomness, not routine. The more it’s driven by randomness, the more it is you’ll blend and bleed over the lines between work, career, serving others, serving your own well-being. So, make sure it’s written down somewhere, “These are the things that are important to me.”
Marie Forleo, an American life coach and motivational speaker says: “burnout is huge these days especially for those of us who are running their businesses from home. If you’ve got an online business, like I do, you can work 27/7. You’re always on the computer. And so, if you’ve been burning the candle at both ends to the point where you want to stay in bed all day… guess what? … Do it! In fact, if I were you, I would take two full days completely just veg out in bed. Do not try to figure out the meaning of life. Do not go on email, completely disconnect. And if you do have the energy to do anything, maybe work out, take a walk in nature. Just do really fun stuff so you can get yourself recharged. Now here is the really important part, once you get back to a baseline you need to put some practices in place that will prevent you from going down that burnout zone ever again. The best strategy I’ve found is to get down with what I call N.N.T. (non-negotiable time). […] The key here is to choose simple activities. That if you do them every day, you’re going to keep yourself in tip-top shape, physically, spiritually and emotionally.”
Now, here’s my story:
“First time I experienced burnout I quit my job. The second time I was forced to quit a project I was addicted to. Both experiences, though different, helped me realize how important my time and my mind is. Using the 5 ways displayed above, I have overcome the fear of failure or overwhelming that usually happens after a big change like breaking up the pattern to burnout and work addiction. It did not happen overnight. After each of the 2 experiences, I needed around 10–12 months to fully recover and be more careful with my time and the way I spend it.”
What mix of emotions (good and bad) will you experience during the breakup process?
- Loneliness (since most of the people around you are trapped in their own fast lane to overwhelm)
- Moments of despair or uncertainty regarding your decisions (questions like “Did I do the right thing?)
- Pain (the body was used to work all the time so it will ask you to go back to work even at 10 pm)
- Fear of failing or fear of losing work since you no longer work excessively
- Fear of missing something important because you cut out the social media
- Peaceful time (while reading a book, for example)
- Hope
- Moments of freedom
How will you feel after?
- Deeply clarified on what you have to do next (both personal and professional).
- More focused on your plans.
- Cleanliness (in your mind and life).
- Grateful for every small thing you have and do (and you appreciate life for different reasons).
- More productive.
Action step:
Before you start getting involved in your new hobby, answer these questions:
What the new hobby is and why is it appealing to you?
Are you ready to spend as low as 10 minute a day to enjoy that new hobby?
Do you have friends that you can share the hobby with?
Once you have the answers, challenge yourself to set up a goal for this hobby, like, for example: “read 250 books by the end of the year” etc. and make that commitment public on our closed Facebook page.
For a full 90-day guidance, download the 90 day plan to fight burnout and work addiction.
Your Next Steps:
- Join the Plan it naked [and make it!] — the FREE Facebook Group to find support and accountability partners for your struggles and wins: facebook.com/groups/myPINclub
- Friendly planner. Get your friendly planner to keep work organized and turn ideas into results thefeathers.ink
- Extra support. I am crafting a planning course to guide you through your SMARTLY goals. Register for my course to get professional coaching and mentoring at go.thefeathers.ink
Hi! I’m Raluca Comanescu, the designer of the Tailor-Made Notebook that guides creatives and entrepreneurs to 10K+ Monthly Profit with every 15 minutes of Daily Planning. This No-Brainer Planning system keeps you on track and guides you towards your goals. Get laser-focused on your Big Picture and make tedious details work for you, not against you. Optimize results with tailor-made templates that fit your lifestyle.
Originally published at thefeathers.ink.
Originally published at medium.com