Like we promised yesterday, here’s a checklist of things you can do to combat burnout that you will also find in this video:
- Be super honest with yourself concerning how burned-out you really are. Some people may find they think they can’t be burned out because they haven’t “earned it” – they haven’t killed themselves with enough late nights for it to be “deserved” or “warranted”. Some others will think only essential front-line workers are “entitled” to feel the effects of this horrendous time we traversed. That’s preposterous. Even if you did half the work you normally would have done under usual circumstances but did it in the state of continuous mental stress that Covid brought about, that could have had you arrive in the same place as working double time.
- Don’t wait for the organisation to do something about it. Keep demanding that they offer two things: 1. ample time off to recharge, and 2. complete (time and place) flexibility when you return but outside of that, it isn’t up to them to mandate or sanctify the finer points of self-care.
- Think about the best kind of time off FOR YOU – if it stresses you out to be completely unplugged you don’t have to be – keep an eye on your inbox. If you need a complete disconnect make it crystal clear you’ll be doing that, etc, just make sure you tailor the time off to what works best for you as an individual.
- Back at work, think about limits you can reinforce irrespective of what the policy or the process dictates. You should be able to demand these but if not, find ways to protect yourself regardless – Book a fake meeting to get some cuddle time with the kids or a nap if you must!
- Commit to a serious self-care routine – choose a few things you will be doing for yourself – whether it’s exercise or mindfulness or fun wise, or ideally all of the above, just select some restoring activities and commit to keeping to them till you bring them to habit level in a few weeks.
- Bring the team along. Start a conversation in the team (if you’re a client use the Combat Burnout Play to help guide the talk) that allows everyone to detail what they have chosen to take care of themselves and heal. This helps both as a sharing exercise and with accountability.
Best of luck getting out of it and finding your energy, mojo and passion again, we need them all.
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The 3 “commandments of Psychological Safety” to build high performing teams are: Understand, Measure and Improve
At PeopleNotTech we make software that measures and improves Psychological Safety in teams. If you care about it- talk to us. We’re currently running a 4 weeks license-free trial campaign, come ask us about a demo at contat@peoplenottech.com