Give these five steps a try to avoid a case of burnout

Why is it that some people can work 80+ hour weeks and never burn out? Yet others have been thrown on the burnout scrapheap, working less than 40 hours a week. In our work with organisations during the pandemic we’ve had a front-row seat observing what makes people tip over the edge when a busy life pushes them to breaking point. There is a delicate dance between forcing the body’s physical and psychological resources to stretch and not snap, writes human performance strategist and CEO of StriveStronger, Andrew May.

We have examined thousands of people to identify the components that underpin optimal human performance and wellbeing. We have worked with top 20 ASX CEO’s, executive teams, entrepreneurs running multi-million-dollar organisations, Olympic athletes, the pointy end of the military and thousands of corporate workers who corroborate our position. What has become clear is that burnout is not about hours worked,

Build these five factors into your life to avoid burnout

Purpose Alignment – aligning purpose, values and associating meaning with work

Understanding ‘why’ goes deeper to what motivates and inspires us, especially when times are tough. So, aligning your purpose and values with work will not only light the fire in your belly but also enables resilience when the going gets tough, buffering against burnout.

Active recovery – establishing a wind-down routine to ensure recovery each day

Doing gentle activities to switch off from work, instead of doing nothing, is key to sustaining energy levels, reducing fatigue, nurturing creativity, and enhancing emotional intelligence.

Restorative sleep – making time for quality, restorative sleep

Our experience shows people tend to sacrifice sleep to get more work done. Yet, sleep is so crucial that even slight sleep deprivation impacts memory, judgment and mood state. Consistent quality sleep creates a buffer against ongoing daily life stressors and the risk of burnout.

Physiological capacity – increasing the ability to function, so you have the reserves to adapt

Science has proven people with poor physiological capacity have lower stress resilience and reach stress thresholds way quicker. After assessing thousands of corporate workers in our lab, we know higher cardiorespiratory fitness (measured as VO2 max) is associated with lower symptoms of stress-related exhaustion, creating a buffer against burnout. Elevating your heart rate and pushing yourself intermittently with ample recovery to adapt builds that extra physical and mental capacity to deal with stressors.

Social connectedness – maintaining contact with those who matter

Social connections provide a buffer from work stresses, re-energise you and gives you the support and stability to navigate tricky patches. Social connectedness is often overlooked, but it is critical to positive mental health and preventing burnout.

In the workplace, burnout reduces productivity and indicates cultural deterioration, so it is critical to focus on proactive strategies to eradicate it.

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