How do I avoid burnout working from home?

Question: I am finding that I am feeling stressed at work, at times anxious and forgetful.  I'm working long hours from home and struggling to switch off.  I’m worried I might burn out.  What can I do?

Debbie says,

This state of being always switched on, unable to 'unplug' has increased tenfold during the pandemic causing a huge imbalance between ‘work’ time and ‘down’ time.  Boundaries are blurred visually and physically as your bedroom or kitchen table is invaded by work paraphernalia whilst the whole world can see into your private dwellings over zoom.  This has an overall negative impact on our physical and mental wellbeing, which, if left unchecked, can lead to more serious mental and physical issues. 

The downside of homeworking is that, unlike being in an office, there are no triggers to stop working or leave your work space to go and do other things.  This pattern of sitting for long hours in front of a laptop is habit forming and people easily become addicted to always being online. The new term for this is called ‘technostress’.  The latter combined with the actual challenges of the job makes it much harder to switch off. It’s like being on a diet of pure ‘brain based’ activity and denying yourself other nutrient rich experiences such as exercise, family time and laughter. 

The knock on effects of this kind of work style include poor sleep, fatigue, forgetfulness, weight gain, lower productivity, negative thoughts about work, low mood, inability to access creative insights whilst problem solving capability is reduced. 

Having experienced the effects of near burnout myself several years ago, I can relate to some of the above. If you are feeling anxious and being forgetful, that is a clear sign that the jug is overflowing - your brain simply cannot cope with the overload.  It can feel like you’re playing out a nightmare movie inside your head with occasional trips out.  That is, until you ‘wake up’ and decide that you can’t be in this movie anymore because you value your health and happiness more.

Now, here’s the thing - most of the time your body is giving out plenty signals in advance to alert you that you're on the edge, pushing too hard and that you need to STOP.  From experience, what most likely gets in the way of stopping is a) you're stuck in the movie and can't see the wood from the trees, b) you fear what might happen if you stop - you'd miss deadlines, get a rollicking from your boss, everything will fall apart without you.  Sometimes it's a pride thing - I know one person who was on the brink of burnout and having panic attacks on their way to work; instead of speaking to their manager to get help or making lifestyle changes, they went to the doctors and got prescribed pills instead and carried on working at the same pace.   

 How to avoid burnout

You have to wake yourself up out of the movie in your head. The fact that you're reading this article means you have started that process.  Until you wake up and get out of your head and literally ‘come to your senses’ (aka into your body), your life will play out exactly the same.  Instead, take control - become the person on the filmset watching the movie over being in the movie – that way you get perspective. When you become an 'observer', you move into the 'here and now' where you get back control and have new choices available to you from a different perspective.  From that vantage point, you can carry on as before or decide to make some changes.

Once you decide, you will be able to access your creative right brain. This is the area of the brain that helps you to find new solutions and possibilities that work for you rather than against you.  Though, let me be absolutely clear, until you make the decision that you want something different, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll step back into the old movie and life will carry on as before. 

What’s your decision?

This depends on how much you want it and how much you can see the benefits. 

I know you may be thinking that it’s not that simple and I would argue that it is.  We just have a habit as human beings of making things complicated. You may also say that you have a mountain of work to do and there is no one else to do it.  And I would say that there is always going to be too much work to do and it will never stop being that way. In the end, only you can control how you respond to those demands. 

Small steps are best

Small steps and consistency lead to change.  Here are some questions to ponder over making a shift to healthier work habits;

1.  What’s the worst that can happen if you worked your contracted hours at least a few days a week?
2. If you are putting in lots of overtime, what now is your average hourly rate?
3. What are the consequences for your health and your life if you do nothing?
4. What are some of the things that are really important to you i.e. family, friends, etc which your current work pattern is cutting from your life right now?
5. Do you need to delegate more and/or ask for help at work/seek professional help? 

Create boundaries

• What boundaries could you easily put in? For example, one of mine is that I never look at work emails over the weekend because I know my brain needs time to disconnect and rest so I’m fresh for the following week.  I do this because I value time with my family and I want to be in my best state for work.  
• Have a start and finish time for being at work and give yourself say 15 minutes slack to go over and then stop.  Set a timer to stop if that helps.
• Take a walk each lunch time to get some fresh air and movement even if it's just 15 minutes around the block. 
• Create space for sufficient downtime in the evenings where you can completely switch off from work, otherwise your sleep will be affected.
•  Come off your phone at least an hour before you go to bed every night 
• Reduce being on your phone altogether in the evenings so your brain can rest and recharge

Severe stress gets bad press but it’s a powerful signal to course correct – it gives us information to check out what’s happening and make changes.  Imagine a car where the exhaust is fuming – it’s a signal that something’s not right with the car.  You wouldn’t just leave it and carry on driving until it blew up.  And yet we get the same signals from our bodies and ignore them at our peril. 

Finally, noticing that your work life is out of balance is great news because now you can take action.  The simple act of introducing a few new habits into your work style can make a huge difference and you'll soon start to see positive knock on effects elsewhere in your life.

The above is for information purposes only and does not replace seeking professional help or other necessary interventions.