Top Tips To Avoid Burnout

The last 20 months have been intense, for everyone.

The demand on our leaders has been significant and whilst leading through a crisis and getting involved in the day to day can be exhilerating and fulfilling, the prolonged, relentless pace of change, coupled with the feeling that we always need to be online or available is taking it’s toll.

The good news is it does not have to be this way, there are some simple steps that everyone can take to gain more clarity, focus and importantly practice some much-needed self-care.

Here are five top tips to help you get back some balance and not just for you but your teams too:

Sleep – Sleep is one of our most essential activities. We spend a third of our lives asleep and it is as important as the air we breathe, the food we eat and water we drink.

Poor sleep can exasperate our feelings of anxiety and depression. It is vital for maintaining good mental and physical health and good sleeps allows us to recover from both mental and physical exertion, as written by the Medical Health Foundation.

A morning routine – What’s the first thing you do when you wake up, do you check your phone, the news, Facebook? There have been numerous studies of the most successful executives and the things they have in common, these highlighted a number of patterns, one of which is an early start, with
many having a set morning routine which sets them up for the day ahead. Exercise, affirmations, self-learning, time with the kids, breakfast, meditation, planning the day ahead. Committing to a morning routine that works for you and gives you the best start to your day will help you feel more in
control and intention for the day ahead, as opposed to the day controlling you.

Meditation – When was the last time you sat down for 5 minutes and stopped, stopped everything and reflected, took time to quiet your mind? For most of us this is an alien concept we seem to thrive on ‘busy’, rushing from one activity to the next. There are ongoing studies which highlight the benefits of meditation, which include an amazing variety of neurological benefits – studies report that meditation helps relieve our subjective levels of anxiety and depression, it improves attention,
concentration, and our overall psychological well-being.

Diet – When we are busy one of the first things we often compromise is our food and drink, endless drinks of coffee, alcohol, energy drinks, the vending machine for a quick snack, processed or fast food. Drinking plenty of water, eating fresh fruit and vegetables and getting the right nutrients. A good diet reduces your blood pressure and improves your sense of well-being, will make you feel more energised and ready for whatever the day throws at you.

Exercise – For many who have been forced to work from home, this has meant less time outside, some individuals did not leave the house for days if not longer, we have lost our commute time, our lunch breaks and maybe even our trips to the gym. In Time magazine, a Doctor Mark Tarnopolsky, a
genetic metabolic neurologist stated, “If there were a drug that could do for human health everything that exercise can, it would likely be the most valuable pharmaceutical ever developed,”

What do you think, do you have any other top tips for reducing burnout and coping with stress, please do let me know?

Michelle Ansell is Managing Partner at Douglas Jackson, a high-end retained executive search firm exclusively focused on customer, consumer centric, digital and data led business, delivering high performance, diverse, impactful leadership.