89. Simple Habits To Prevent Burnout And Wind Down For 2024

[00:00:00] Patricia Ortega: Hi friend, welcome back. Today, let's talk simple habits to prevent burnout and also how to wind down from 2024. It is so easy to go from I'm stressed at work to I'm starting to get burnt out. And once that process starts, the cycle just gets worse and worse and worse. So let's stay far, far away from that and talk about some of those habits today.

[00:00:27] All right. So what exactly is burnout? Burnout is basically physical, emotional, mental exhaustion. That's really caused by stress over a long period of time. You might feel overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted. You might feel detached and start to become maybe even a little cynical, easily irritable, isolated.

[00:00:51] Um, it also creates reduced productivity. This is really important because in burnout state, we are trying to do more. We feel the [00:01:00] need to do more. We are getting tired, exhausted from doing more yet. The symptom is reduced productivity and a reduced sense of accomplishment. So we don't feel as confident in the things that we are doing on a day to day basis.

[00:01:15] And because we don't feel as confident that adds to the emotional and mental exhaustion. So all of this is sort of an all encompassing definition of burnout. And there's even more to this, but some common causes are high workloads and constant demands without having necessarily the reward. Now, eventually.

[00:01:37] Even if you have a reward, having too much work can still lead to burnout. But what makes one of the biggest differences in you going into burnout is feeling like you don't have enough support. You don't have enough control. You don't have enough autonomy and just a misalignment, a imbalance between what you feel you're putting in and what you're getting out.

[00:01:58] And part of that is because there's an [00:02:00] emotional toll that comes into play when you feel like you're truly investing your best work, you're doing all that you can and it's not enough. So now it kind of hits hard, right? It hits you in a way that you're like, am I? Am I not good enough at my job? Am I not doing a good job?

[00:02:18] Is my prior confidence, was it all fake? Am I not really as good as I thought I was? That emotion places so much more weight on the already heavy stress that's going on in your work. And so again, burnout can be from excessive demands, or it can be from a lack of control or autonomy and the stress and emotion associated with that.

[00:02:43] It can be from inadequate support. So expecting you to go beyond your capacity in order to make something happen. It also can be from things like a failing project or, you know, bad boss that's giving you negative feedback over and over and over again to where you feel this [00:03:00] big imbalance between the positive and the not so positive.

[00:03:04] It also comes into play when you have a misalignment between your personal values and the organization's values. You're at this constant friction between what you believe in, how you live your life and how the organization wants to move their business forward. Right? And so with that, again, comes that emotional stress, that friction that eventually wears you down.

[00:03:24] And there we are in a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. Okay. Here's the thing though. We don't have to go into burnout land. And even if we're not there, there's some things we can do that are one in the same to help you wind down from 2024. Um, I really like using the holiday season as an opportunity to intentionally slow my brain down because I can go a mile a minute sometimes.

[00:03:51] So here's what we're going to talk about. First, daily reflections. Then we'll go into some boundaries, some mindful breaks, some [00:04:00] gratitude, and a little bit of a detox. So let me go into these one at a time because it's so easy to take them for granted, but I promise you one of these will be a great way for you to start to wind your mind down as you finish up the year.

[00:04:14] So daily reflections, take five to 10 minutes. Once a day at minimum, spend a little bit of time on the weekends to reflect on your emotional state and your level of energy. So there's a difference between daily reflection and treating it like an open diary, putting in whatever you want on there.

[00:04:33] And without having a lot of direction, you're not really sure what's going to come out or what the goal is even of daily reflection. So. To wind down for the year and especially if you're feeling on the brink of burnout, make the daily reflection purposeful and write just a couple sentences about your emotional state and your levels of energy.

[00:04:55] So your emotional state, you can ask yourself questions [00:05:00] like, how did I feel today? Was it overall a positive emotional day or did I have a lot of negativity in my day? And if you had a lot of negativity, then the next question to ask is was this negativity from external factors? Or was this negativity from something that I was feeling that I brought into a situation?

[00:05:21] And where exactly is it coming from? There's always a source, whether it's external or internal, there's a source. And so if there's, let's say, for example, you feel kind of negative, you don't feel like you were in a good mood all day. And then you realize, oh, you know what?

[00:05:38] It's because my values aren't in alignment with the organization and every day I just don't feel like I'm at the right place. That is taxing. So make note of that. And what you're doing is not just saying this is happening, but now you're saying okay, this is happening. Let me Take these notes every day or every week to [00:06:00] figure out how much is it impacting my ability to continue being productive and just being happy in life, being satisfied and being content with where I am.

[00:06:10] And you might find that over time, you might realize, oh, this is really impacting my life in a negative way on a daily basis. Then we move on to what are we going to do about it? But we're not there just yet. So reflect on your emotional state, but also reflect on your energy levels. Ask yourself questions like, what was my most energetic part of the day?

[00:06:33] When did I have an energy slump or was I tired all day today? Or was I tired all day this week? Because if you were tired all day or every day that week, that is something to pay attention to, to then say, okay, If I'm tired all day, what am I missing? Am I missing, you know, sleep? Am I not sleeping well? Am I missing wind down time?

[00:06:57] Am I answering emails until 10 o'clock at night and so then [00:07:00] emails are swimming in my brain as I dream about them all night? Or is it maybe that I've skipped eating breakfast because things have gotten busy and I need to get back to regular mealtimes? So that daily reflection now has purpose in reflecting on your emotional state and your energy levels.

[00:07:17] All right. Habit number two. I love this one. Setting boundaries is so important to me and it feels sometimes like you have to say no, but I don't think setting boundaries is as much about saying no as it is about communicating expectations so that you don't actually ever have to say no because the expectation has been set.

[00:07:37] A few boundaries that I personally would recommend, especially around the holidays, is setting a boundary between work and personal life. And sometimes this boundary is a boundary for people. Things like, I don't answer email or text after 9pm. Or maybe I don't answer email after my 6 o'clock email round or 5 o'clock email round.

[00:07:58] I do not even look at email at that time. [00:08:00] This could be a boundary that you don't actually communicate to people because it's more your own boundary. If you find yourself working on weekends, quote unquote, just to catch up, which I hear very often. That is a decision that you have made. So essentially you have decided I'm going to give more of my time to this organization in order to have this level of contribution.

[00:08:24] And that's fine. However, what you're doing is you're removing a boundary that was once there, and that is the boundary of working until Friday. And if there is work to do on a weekend, you could, you have the choice. Not that you have to, but you have the choice to say, you know, XYZ will not get done this week.

[00:08:44] And this is happening on a regular basis. So now I need to talk to my team or talk to my leaders and come up with a plan on how we can work more efficiently. Have more impact with less time or reduce the workload. [00:09:00] Now, all of that takes more work, of course, to figure out what the real issue is, how time is being spent, what's the most productive use of time, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:09:08] But taking time now to analyze and maybe set or reset some of those boundaries is going to help you to really tune out when you're with family. Which is what really, really matters. When we are in our last moments of our life, we'd never think about the email that wasn't answered or the to do list that wasn't finished.

[00:09:28] What we think about is how much time we spent with our loved ones and what an impact we made in their lives. All right, moving on. Mindful breaks. So I used to work straight from the beginning of the day, all the way to the end of the day. Sometimes I wouldn't even take lunch. I don't know what I was thinking.

[00:09:47] You know, you're, you're young and you just think you're completely invincible. And that was me, but I really encourage you to take these breaks, be really mindful about the fact that your body is not a machine [00:10:00] and your body needs a break.

[00:10:02] So there's a concept in, I think it's in dieting, I think it's called, yeah, it's called intuitive eating. Now intuitive eating means that you listen to your body's hunger cues and fullness cues, and you make food choices based on what feels nourishing and satisfying instead of following restrictive rules and diets. And to me, I think of mindful breaks in that same way I've learned to, and it's taken time.

[00:10:30] But we ought to start somewhere. But I've learned to listen to my body. So as I'm working, as I'm super hyper focused on the work that's at hand, I feel my body saying, you know, you just need a break. It might be you're hungry. It might be you're thirsty, but sometimes I'm like, okay, I am knee deep in this report and I have been knee deep in this report for 45 to 90 minutes.

[00:10:52] So I can take a little bit of a break to come back and be even more productive because our productivity actually goes [00:11:00] down over time. So if we start at nine o'clock in the morning and we work through till 1030 by about 1030. That time frame, let's say between 10:30 and 11, 10:30 and 12, 10:30 and 1 is not going to be as productive.

[00:11:17] I promise you very few people can hold that level of productivity for that long. So I have learned, and I encourage you to also learn from my mistakes, um, that if I just go outside, get some fresh air, take a quick five, 10 minute walk around the block. I actually come back feeling just as refreshed as I did at 9am that day.

[00:11:40] Isn't that crazy? So I feel just as refreshed after a 10 minute walk in the beautiful sunshine as I do after an eight full eight hours of sleep. So it sounds. I mean, even trite might be the word it sounds so easy to bypass, but these things can make a really big difference. All right. So habit number [00:12:00] four, gratitude, being grateful.

[00:12:03] I would really encourage you that if you decide to do that daily reflection, tack on one last question, what am I grateful for today, which is different than what went well today. I find it really interesting that sometimes I confuse gratitude with happiness.

[00:12:20] Sometimes I'll be writing things down in my notebook and it's like, okay, what are you grateful about? And I start to write things that I'm happy about things that went well in that day. But once I get deeper into the process, what I realized is that I don't need things to go well, to be grateful for life.

[00:12:38] I don't need to have a good day to be grateful for having a home. I don't need to have a good day in order to recognize the blessings that I have. And oftentimes we take for granted the things that have been there for a long time and have become a permanent staple of our life. And to be able to recognize that it is something to be grateful [00:13:00] for that not everyone has.

[00:13:02] And again, that could be something material like a home, a car, it could be health, right? If you have something to be grateful, I promise you, there are people who have no hands, no legs, can't see, and they find a way to be happy. So it's like, Hey. Thank you God for the fact that I have my hands and my fingers and I can type and I can, you know, eat a burger with two hands, that I have shelter over my head when I sleep.

[00:13:31] Thank you. You know, thank you for all these things. So I recommend if you're going to do that daily reflection, even if you're not just having one or two moments before you go to bed, even if you don't write them down to just say, you know, I'm grateful for. you know, this person, my husband or my wife, who's next to me and who I'm going to wake up with.

[00:13:53] Or I'm grateful for me. This is one of the things I'm really grateful for. Of course I'm grateful for my husband. Of course I am. [00:14:00] But also I have these two wonderful doggies that are just so loving and they're just so sweet and so funny. They can be so hilarious sometimes. And so I just take time to thank God and just be grateful for these beautiful creatures.

[00:14:15] Um, all right, let's move on. Number five, a detox. And I don't mean a detox like green juice. I'm going to detox like a digital detox. Now it might sound like, Oh my gosh, you're going to take something that I love away. You're going to take Instagram or Facebook or, you know, any other social media platform, X LinkedIn, whatever it might be.

[00:14:37] But even though we initially feel, I don't know what it is. Satisfaction, joy, um, have fun, entertainment from our screen time. It actually reduces our ability to rest, especially because every platform is created for short term consumption. So what it does is it takes [00:15:00] your energy away one little bit at a time and it makes you accustomed to continuously scrolling. We're now like hamsters on a hamster wheel looking for the next thing, but we don't actually know what it is we're looking for. Now, even though it's entertaining, it still takes a lot of our energy. And when we need this energy to socialize with other people, to be fully present with our families, or to put in that little bit of extra work needed to finish by the deadline at work.

[00:15:32] Digital detoxes can make a really big difference. All right. So we've gone through five habits that I'm hoping, you know, maybe we don't take for granted this year. They're simple habits. They're easy things to implement and maybe one of these things can help you to start to wind down. Now, as you prepare for 2025, I really encourage you to check out the episodes with Dale and I.

[00:15:55] We've got three episodes. I believe one comes out at the, Oh, I [00:16:00] think it's the beginning of November. Um, let me tell you the exact date here. We have, here it is review the year with Dale and I on November 5th, you can also plan. So do a wheel of life exercise and set some goals with Dale and I on December 3rd.

[00:16:19] And then at the very end of this year, we are going to talk to you about how to reach those goals in 2025, how to make your goals stick, which is really exciting. All right. So make sure and stick around for those because that process of reflecting and setting new goals is kind of a, ah, it feels like such a cleansing process for me.

[00:16:42] Like you get to wrap up loose ends, take all of those open loops out of your mind and decide to put them to bed or to move them into next year so that you can really. Enjoy the holiday season and reset, start your year fresh without feeling like you have a lot of things that [00:17:00] you still have left to do.

[00:17:02] All right. So basically we have five awesome habits. We are, hopefully going to reflect daily on a very quick sentence about our emotional state and, or our energy levels. We're going to start to set some boundaries, either internal boundaries or boundaries that we communicate to others. We also might consider some mindful breaks.

[00:17:20] So taking breaks after 45 to 90 minutes, just five minutes, we'll make sure that the remainder of your time is as productive as it can be. We'll also remember to be grateful. It is November, the month of Thanksgiving, right? So let's remember to be grateful for everything, even if our day didn't go as well, or even if we don't can't think of something awesome or fun that happened, we can still be grateful.

[00:17:43] And then of course, detox from the digital spaces. It is. All right, so I really hope that you can integrate these habits into your daily routines as you prepare for the new year. Know that no matter what, we love you, we're praying for you. We'll see you on the next one. [00:18:00]