How to prevent work burnout

Valerie
July 22, 2009

We all need a vacation. I have heard this more times than I can count from not just entrepreneurs but everybody that works. The stress of daily life and work can take its toll on your body and your sanity. When we get to be overworked, the results can sometimes be detrimental to our health. Here are some important ways to help to prevent work burnout and get you back on track:

Schedule a regular time off It may be a certain day of the week or it might be a half day on Wednesday, but carve out an amount of time where you don’t do anything work related. This includes checking e-mail, answering phone calls/questions and taking personal meetings.

Take breaks during work I’ve eaten at my desk while working before … talk about overworked. When it’s time to eat, you should get up, go into a different room or outside and take the time to chew your food before going back to the grind. Also, make sure to keep nutritious food around you when you do eat. It also helps to go outside and get some fresh air, or perhaps take a 30-minute powernap to re-energize.

Learn to say no If you have five things on your to-do list that need to be done within the next hour, don’t accept a sixth item just so someone else can make their deadline. Prioritize what is important and be honest with people. Even if you could do something, but by doing it your whole day would be thrown off, weigh your day’s productivity against the importance of that task. It might not really be worth it if you think about it.

Rotate jobs if possible If you’re feeling stressed or have a creative block and you’ve been working on logos all day, take a break and work on a different project, or check e-mail, or do some research or check on prospective clients. Who knows, after you start to do one of those things, you might see something that sparks a creative thought. Exercise You can work off some of that stress and stay healthier by exercising. It will help you to be more energized and alert, and it will lessen feelings of sluggishness and depression. What do you think? How do you prevent work burnout?

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About Valerie Thompson

Anonymous's picture
January 07, 2016 03:21 am #

[...] pay you in the first place?” Burnout. Retallick makes a good point – sometimes people need a break from graphic design in order to recharge their creative batteries. Rather than volunteer design skills, why not follow [...]

Anonymous's picture
January 07, 2016 03:21 am #

[...] and small-business people are prone to burnout, often because they have too much work for one or few people. By realizing that not every task [...]

Anonymous's picture
January 07, 2016 03:21 am #

[...] pay you in the first place?” Burnout. Retallick makes a good point – sometimes people need a break from graphic design in order to recharge their creative batteries. Rather than volunteer design skills, why not follow [...]

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