Overcome Burnout and Achieve More

How productive and positive we are is obviously tied to how well we can handle stress, and hopefully avoid burnout. “Stress” and “burnout” is pretty self-explanatory, but I don’t think it hits home with us sometimes.

I mean, if you’re reading this, I can safely assume you’re a pretty productive person (and pretty). So what am I offering that is unique to help you?

Rethink and Reframe What You Know About Stress & Burnout

How Many of These Apply to You?

• YouGov called millennials “the loneliest generation” based on a survey that polled 1,254 US adults. Of survey respondents, 30% of millennials said they always or often felt lonely, compared with 20% of Generation X and 15% of boomers.
• Research into burnout has been linked to office politics, menial working tasks that interfere with work duties and high job demands that lead to exhaustion. [4]
• Globally, workers say discrimination because of a mental illness is more prevalent than other forms of workplace bias. [1]
• Apple CEO Tim Cook — “My simple rule is if I’m looking at the device more than I’m looking into someone’s eyes, I’m doing the wrong thing.” [8]
• The Economic Policy Institute reports that between 2000 and 2014, economic productivity increased by 21.6%, yet wages have only increased by 1.8%. [9]
• “When people are depressed or under high levels of stress, this part of the brain malfunctions, and people experience a continuous loop of negative thoughts,” says Dr. Jason Strauss. [11]

It’s Okay to Plan Your Life Away

I was reading Laura Vanderkam’s blog and I picked up something she said about herself — that she and her husband sit down to go over their schedule for the next two weeks! I always thought I was ‘weird’ for being such a planner when a lot people like to say they live spontaneously.

What does it look like to lean into the planner that’s in all of us?

I took Vanderkam’s story as validation that it’s ok to be a planner. I mention this because to avoid the stress of having so much going on, which leads to burnout, try making a schedule for the week. It doesn’t have to be detailed either. Just list the 1–2 things you’re going to accomplish at work, and then 1–2 things you’ll do that night. For example, my schedule for evenings could look like:

• Mon — Create podcast episode
• Tues — Dinner and movies with friends
• Wed — Watch Masterclass episodes
• Thurs — Analyze Mailchimp stats for optimization
• Fri — Socialize
• Sat — Schedule social media posts for Venture Out
• Sun — At Starbucks, create Venture Out episodes and seek brand partners

Lastly, I email this list to a friend. I don’t expect anything; just my way of self-accountability.

Work on Your To-Do List… Outside

A recent study found on Frontiers states, “Taking at least 20 minutes out of your day to stroll or sit in a place that makes you feel in contact with nature will significantly lower your stress hormone levels.” [13]

We probably all know that. Yet, my theory on WHY is articulated well by heart.org below. Whether if you work in an urban jungle or outdoors already, feeling connected to nature will help you stay more productive throughout the day.

“We live in a time when we can set the thermostat, order takeout and stream a movie from a cell phone; never having to get off the couch, let alone leave the house. But our ancestors were tightly tied to time in nature — they had to be in order to survive. Was that rustle in the brush predator or prey? Did the position of the sun mean it was time to head home? Could that copse of trees provide safe shelter for the night? The modern way we live has changed radically from life in the savanna, but our brains have mostly stayed the same.” — heart.org

Here are 2 things I do to satisfy this:

• I do work on my laptop while outdoors. I built a tiny desk, place it outside in my patio, and jamm out there instead of inside my house.
• While at work, I can step outside and sit on a bench to summarize my to-do list and prioritize them.

You’ve Got Too Much Crap Going On

Chances are, you’re already productive and write down everything you need to do. I’ll further venture a guess, that like me, your list is way too long and there’s always something to do. Crap, what should we do? What I’m suggesting that is different or less prescribed is below.

Anti-Burnout To-Do’s:

• Identify what gives you energy, and what drains it [8] — Recognize you might be required to do things that drain energy, but make that a conscious decision. Make sure you know why you have to do it, otherwise cross it off the list or just ignore it.
• Maintaining relationships better be on that list. If it’s not, then you’re doing something wrong. — Great, worthwhile relationships require sustenance, so do you part and invest in them.
• Create a reward systems for yourself [9] — Maybe this is controversial, but I say if you have to reward yourself in order to accomplish something, that’s better than doing nothing. So go ahead and reward yourself with a Venti instead of a Grande, or buy that watch you’ve had your eye on… but only if you’re productive.

BONUS: If all else fails, be like The Rock and just yell FOCUS.

References:

1. Lonely, burned out, and depressed: The state of millennials’ mental health in 2019 by Hillary Hoffower and Allana Akhtar
2. PAIN IN THE NATION: Building a National Resilience Strategy by Trust for America’s Health
3. Millennials are the loneliest generation by Jamie Ballard
4. Dropping like flies: the rise of workplace burnout and how to tackle it by Sarah Tottle
5. Reframe What You Think About Depression
6. Five Ways To Stay Productive During Depression by Jeremy Rinkel
7. You Thought You Couldn’t Be Productive When Feeling Depressed, Just Wait Till You Read This by Allison Renner
8. Burnout is real — here’s how to avoid it by Tracy Middleton
9. How to Fight Burnout and Get Unstuck in 3 Empowering Steps
10. How to Be More Productive Without Burning Out by Matt Plummer
11. Sour mood getting you down? Get back to nature
12. Spend Time in Nature to Reduce Stress and Anxiety
13. Just 20 minutes of contact with nature will lower stress hormone levels, reveals new study