It’s become the American corporate way to work ourselves into a burnout situation and then have to recover. The harm in this repetitive process is it starts to affect our physical, emotional and mental health in the long term.
Part One focused on knowing the difference between being excellent and being perfect. Read part one here.
Three Solutions:
- Know the difference between being excellent and being perfect.
- Maintain your perspective on what matters the most to you in life.
- To thine own self be true!
Maintain perspective.
Often, we feel anxious when our thoughts are filled with the stressful situation we are facing. Our emotions are responding to our mental thoughts even when the focus of our thoughts may not even be that important to us. For example, spending time with family and friends may be of the highest importance to us or staying physically fit. When we find ourselves overwhelmed and burned out in our work, we often start to place the work focus ahead of our real priority, family and friends or working out. This priority misalignment then creeps in as guilt for placing a higher importance on work and thus exacerbates the stress. We start to crumble under the work pressure as we have placed work ahead of our true-life priorities. Remember what you value in life the most, so you can find joy that will combat the stress. Maintaining perspective is critical to avoiding and overcoming burnout and helping you fulfill your true purpose and priorities! #perspectivefuelspurpose
Check out this informative article from Washington University in St. Louis breaking down emotions in the workplace!
Start the Action Challenge if you haven’t already:
- Create a list of the top 3 things that add the most value to your business. Create a list of the top 3 personal areas that are most important to you. Example: Professional-bringing in new clients, strategic planning, and nurturing existing client relationships. Personal- spending time with my significant other and kids, training for cycling and volunteering locally.
- Starting Sunday, start tracking your time in a spreadsheet or on paper by general categories of how you spend your day and do this for two weeks through Saturday including your personal time and professional activities.
- After two weeks, add the total time in each category to see how much of your effort is going towards professional top 3 areas and personal top 3 areas of value.
- Repeat this practice until you are spending the majority of your personal and professional time on the Top 3! For professional coaching in this area, check this out!
