Scheduling downtime and rethinking your career: six steps to beating burnout

Selina Barker - Nicole Engelmann
Selina Barker - Nicole Engelmann

Burnout has become such a growing issue around the world that, in May 2019, the WHO classified it as a medical condition. Now a new global report by O.C. Tanner has shown that burnout cases have increased by as much as 81 per cent since the pandemic began.

When burnout is ignored and left untreated, it can turn into far more serious mental health issues including panic attacks, depression and anxiety disorders, not to mention heart disease and a whole range of stress-related illnesses.

Rather than normalising exhaustion and burnout as an accepted part of modern working life, we need to recognise it as a clear signal that something is wrong. Something needs to change.

For over a decade I’ve been working as a career change coach, helping people to recover from burnout and seeking to understand why so many smart, ambitious, caring people are burning out just trying to do their job and live their lives.

While there are many different factors that cause people to burn out, what they all point to is this: the working world we live in today simply isn’t designed for most of us to thrive. But does that mean we can’t thrive? No.

What it means is that we have to take things into our own hands. It is time to take a radical new approach, not only to the way we live and work but to the way we take care of ourselves, so that we can thrive in a fast-paced digital world.

Here are the six steps from my new book Burnt Out that will help you to break free from burnout:

1. Make rest and recovery your top priority

If you’re feeling burnt out right now then before you do anything else, you need to make rest and recovery your top priority.

Depending on the severity of your burnout, you might need a weekend, a couple of weeks or even a few months off from work, if that’s a possibility.

Spend your recovery time doing things that help you to feel nourished and rested: sleep, spend time in nature, do gentle enjoyable activities, move your body, sleep some more.

If you’re ever worried about your mental health or unable to cope, then don’t hesitate to contact your GP.

2. Take a look at what is going on inside that is causing you to burnout

As much as there will likely be outside factors that will have contributed to your burnout there will also be powerful inner forces at play that will have been causing you to burn out too.

We all have a negative and critical inner voice that fills us with doubts, fears and limiting beliefs and it is this voice that will be piling on the pressure, telling you to work faster, harder, better and filling you with fears about what will happen if you don’t.

The good news is you can learn how to turn the volume right down, first by listening to all its fears and limiting beliefs and then by proving each one wrong.

3. Learn how to support and look after yourself

Imagine what it would be like if you had a supportive, wise and empowering voice whispering in your ear as you went about your day, telling you to take regular breaks, keeping you calm when pressure is rising and spurring you on when you need encouragement.

That voice would never allow you to remain in a job that was breaking you or tell you constantly that you’re not good enough and are going to fail.

You need to turn the volume up on the wise, caring and supportive voice within you, that you probably often use with other people, but rarely yourself.

Start by writing a letter to yourself that is full of support, perhaps imagining that you are receiving it from your wise, future older self. At first it might feel a bit cringey, but give it a go and you’ll discover what a difference it can make.

4. Manage your energy

Burnout, in a nutshell, is one big human energy crisis. When you are burnt out, you are often overdrawn on every energy level: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

To recover from burnout, we need to learn how to manage our energy and the ingredients we need to stay energised, calm and grounded throughout the day. These include:

Physical: plenty of sleep, regular exercise, good food, water, breathing, stretching and relaxation

Mental: switching off, understanding stress, quitting your smartphone addiction, doing things that help you cultivate a calm mind, such as meditation, exercise, regular breaks, sleep

Emotional: doing things that lift your spirits, loving and supportive relationships (including with yourself), healthy boundaries, processing past or present trauma

5. Design your day so that you can thrive

Our post-industrialist way of working has us all operating as if we were machines, failing to understand that as humans we need to take regular breaks and switch off fully from work every day to recharge our batteries, release stress and keep our energy topped up.

We need to give our working day a redesign, placing clear boundaries between work and home, so that we keep our mornings and evenings free from work and use them to as essential time to give ourselves what we need to energise and ground ourselves at the start of the day and release stress and fill up our cup at the end of the day.

Use your calendar to start booking in work-free time, dedicated to recharging your batteries.

6. Know when it is time to make bigger change – to your life or career

In many cases burnout is caused by outside factors: negative work cultures, bullying bosses, poor management, digital technology that has us switched on 24/7, to name just a few.

If your work environment, boss or whole career is the main factor causing you to burn out, then you need to rethink and change it. No job or career is worth burning out for.

And yes, changing your job or career can feel scary, but after thirteen years of helping people make changes and create careers they love one thing I know for sure is that nobody ever regrets it. They only regret not having done it sooner.

Breaking free from burnout and learning how to thrive, isn’t an overnight job and it isn’t always easy. But stick to this process and step by step you will not only leave those burnt-out days behind you, you will find you are more productive, more energised and happier than ever before.

Burnt Out: The Exhausted Person’s Six-Step Guide to Thriving in a Fast-Paced World by Selina Barker (Octopus Publishing). Buy now for £14.99 at books.telegraph.co.uk or call 0844 871 1514