At many points in a person’s career, they will find themselves coming to the point of exhaustion. This can often be mitigated with a few small tricks, but if an individual doesn’t put effort towards trying to take a step back from work, they may find themselves soon falling into burnout. Not only does burnout have detrimental effects on your health and wellbeing, but it also reaches into other areas of your life, like your finances.
Did you know your burnout is costing you money? Understanding how your finances are affected by burnout could help you break out of your bad habits and form an action plan towards beating burnout.
You Splurge to Refresh Yourself
Upon your research on how to beat burnout, you may have come across many articles telling you to do fun activities and treat yourself. There is no harm in wanting to indulge in amusing activities, but there will be harm to your bank account if you do not do these sparingly. Many forms of entertainment cost you money. Even if you’re just paying $20 every time you go out, it will eventually add up if you’re making a daily habit of it. It’s okay to spend money on yourself from time to time, but it would be better to budget or brainstorm some free activities you can take advantage of.
Has your bike been sitting unused in your garage for over a year? Take it to a local park or ride around surrounding neighborhoods. Do you have face masks from Christmas still lying around in your bathroom closet? Treat yourself to an at-home spa night. Refreshing yourself doesn’t always have to require activities that cost money. Rather than driving yourself into debt, which causes more mental exhaustion, it would be wise to be innovative about how you choose to recharge.
You Pay More For Convenience
Burnout drives individuals into exhaustion. As a direct result, you’ll likely dread having to take the time to visit the grocery store or make food for yourself. In today’s world, many people do not bat an eye at ordering groceries to be delivered to their homes or ordering takeout just for the sake of convenience. However, these prices begin to add up. You’ll likely be charged a delivery fee and tip, which is on top of the price already paid for groceries or your meal. It may be okay to do this once in a while, but making a weekly habit out of this can quickly worsen your finances. You can try to combat this temptation by meal prepping at the beginning of the week so that you will have meals ready to be heated up the second you get home from work.
When discussing burnout, it is important not to exclude your finances from the equation. Many people are so focused on recovering from burnout that they end up spending too much money, which consequently leads to the pressure to work overtime in order to make up for lost finances, which can then lead to the never-ending cycle of burnout. You can recover correctly without sacrificing your finances; you just have to be intentional about doing so.