Overcoming Burnout as a Busy Professional

As the year comes to a close, many CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business executives begin to feel exhausted and overwhelmed. Burnout is simply a state of mental, physical, and emotional tiredness caused by prolonged stress. It can creep up on even the most organised and motivated professionals. Long hours, high expectations, and constant pressure can take a toll on mental and physical health, leading to fatigue, headache, poor memory retention, lack of concentration, lack of creativity, etc.

In this article, we highlighted practical ways to overcome work burnout. These include:

• Self-Evaluation: Burnout is not a sign of weakness; it only means your body and mind need recuperation. If you are experiencing burnout, admit it. Take a step back to evaluate your work life. Are you as excited and pumped up as you were at the beginning of the year? Do you think you’ve lost your mojo? Do you feel constantly drained? Are you dodging responsibilities more than usual? Have you been procrastinating a lot? Analyse yourself and sincerely answer these questions.

• Assess Work-Life Balance: When you constantly push yourself to meet unrealistic expectations, you get exhausted along the way, even without meeting up. To overcome burnout, you must always find a balance between work and personal time. Create time to rest and recalibrate. Rest makes you function like a well-oiled machine. Know when to draw the line when work encroaches on your time for other non-work-related activities. When you feel guilty resting after working for long hours then you need to evaluate yourself. 

• Redefine Your Goals: When you feel like you are going on and on without any clear sense of direction, then you need to take a step back to redefine your goals. Set your priorities right, even if it means saying no to some responsibilities. Take time to prioritise your goals; taking them one step at a time. This helps you realign your goals and gives you a clear sense of direction. 

• Change Your Environment: Work burnout can sometimes be a result of a toxic environment. A toxic work environment always leaves you drained and exhausted. It could be your department or a team member paired with you on a project. When you constantly feel less valued after giving so much, you should change your environment. Prioritise your mental health by changing that environment to a more suitable one with positive energy.

• Take Breaks: When you have lost motivation to work, take a break. Taking breaks gives room for self-reflection.  Reflect on the ‘why’ of your job or career. Why did you even start in the first place? What drew you in? Taking a break helps to reignite passion and combat burnout. 

In conclusion, burnout builds up over time; however, you must make gradual and deliberate efforts to overcome it.  Are you struggling with burnout as a business owner or work professional? At Sisi Manager, our team of experts will enhance your productivity, leaving you to focus on what matters − growing your business. Learn more about our services here.