10 Lifestyle Changes to Avoid Burnout

Your Daily Routine is Deadly, Here’s How To Fix That.

Burnout is when your body gives out. And it shows. You can end up with eye strain, back pain, skin concerns, and health issues. To avoid that, you may need to redo your approach to work. Here are ten things that might help.

1. Follow the 80-20 rule

One thing you can do to avoid burnout is to focus on the 20% of things that give you 80% of results. It may be tempting to hit so many targets at once and clap yourself on the back for that feeling of accomplishment, but in reality, you’re just spreading yourself too thin. Devote more time to the things that produce the most results.

2. Reduce the hours you spend at work

This applies not only to the hours you spend on the job, but also to the hours you spend doing things that require mental, physical, and emotional effort. Even your free time can get bogged down by activities you don’t actually need to do.

Take a look at nature. Bees that work hard in the summer have shorter life spans than those born during winter. Their bodies break down faster from sheer exhaustion. In the same way, you may be tempted to chant carpe diem and run yourself to the ground trying to make the most of everyday, but you’ll just lose yourself in the process.

3. Use a productivity app

Whatever it is you’re trying to do, there’s an app out there that can make life easier for you. Save time by automating things. Grammarly helps with proofreading. Hootsuite manages your social platforms. More suggestions can be found in this list.

4. Sync your weekly workload with your cycle

A period is more than just an inconvenience. When it’s your time of the month, your immune system goes down. Your hormones are out of whack, causing you to be moody, stressed, and more likely to do or say things you’ll regret. Fighting through painful cramps to beat deadlines can result in sloppy or mediocre work. Soften the blow by cycle syncing. Free up your workload when you know your period is coming up.

5. Plot your to-do list on the Eisenhower Matrix

Being president of the United States is a daunting task. So Dwight Eisenhower came up with a priority framework to decide which tasks to accomplish first, which to delegate, and which to postpone.

If a project is both urgent and important, work on it immediately. If a project is urgent but not crucial, assign it to someone capable enough to handle it. If it’s neither urgent nor important, postpone or decide against it. You have more important matters to take care of.

6. Learn to delegate and outsource

While it may be tempting to do all the work yourself to ensure that every single thing meets your standards, don’t. Pay others to do some of the work for you. Even top-tier animation studios outsource many of their projects. It’s not cheating. It’s simply a way to practice better time management.

Stories abound of people who were able to free up lots of time by hiring virtual assistants and delegating routine tasks to them. This allowed them to focus on more important, more productive things. You may have to experiment a bit to see what works for you, but the return on investment will be worth it.

7. Commit to several minutes of exercise daily

If you’re in the corporate world, stuck between an uncomfortable chair and a computer screen, it’s easy to forget to get up and move around. That’s a mistake. Physical activity raises levels of dopamine and serotonin (the feel-good hormones) and boosts oxygen flow to the brain. Forcing your brain to work in sub-optimal conditions is an act of self-sabotage.

8. Schedule mini-vacations

Even if you’re busy nearly 24/7, you can always set aside time to relax and do something you actually enjoy. Like ten minutes to appreciate your houseplants. Fifteen minutes sitting by a tree. Twenty minutes working on a hobby. You don’t have to travel far and wide to de-stress.

9. Look into adaptogens

Adaptogens are herbs that help your body cope with stress. Among the more popular ones are ginseng, holy basil, and turmeric. Whether in powdered, dried, or capsule form, they have a number of beneficial effects, such as reducing inflammation and controlling the overproduction of stress hormones.

10. Make yourself laugh everyday

Laughter is the best medicine— next to love and honey. Laughing reduces stress levels, relaxes your muscles, and stimulates the release of endorphins to make you feel better. A laugh a day keeps burnout away!

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