Think you’re not at risk of burnout because you love your job and you’re good at what you do, think again. According to Dr Michael Leiter from Deakin University, burnout affects between five and seven per cent of the Australian workforce with an annual cost of around $34 billion a year.
Burnout isn’t pretty and it takes a terrible toll on our physical and mental wellbeing. For every full-time person lost to burnout, the cost to replace them is about six to nine months of their salary, recruitment and training costs.
It’s time to discard what hasn’t been working and redesign how we work.
Stop working too hard
The optimum workweek is 38 hrs. Beyond 50 hours, productivity drops sharply, taking a nosedive after 55 hrs. Why? Because we fatigue and once we’ve reached that limit, cognitive processes are slowed and we’re at increased risk of poor decisions and making more mistakes. Just as every professional athlete knows, you get the best results from training hard and then taking time out for sufficient rest and recuperation.
Give yourself a break
We’re not designed for long term focus. Higher-order thinking; planning, organising, decision- making and paying attention are all big consumers of mental energy which is a finite resource. Blocking your day into chunks of focused time interspersed with a couple of mental breaks restores attention and your thinking skills. Taking a proper lunch break away from the desk provides your brain a welcome intermission to refuel and reset ready for the afternoon and any curveballs heading your way.
Use stress wisely
Kept in a safe zone, stress is a useful tool to boost performance. But just as Goldilocks found out when visiting the three bears, stress, like porridge is best served “just right”. Being highly adaptive we tap into our natural resilience during stressful times to step up to the challenge. But when there is no respite from ongoing high levels of stress, maladaptive behaviours can develop, resulting in increased consumption of alcohol, smoking or recreational drugs.
Engage in regular self-care
Self-care is essential to maintaining stamina, perspective and a positive outlook. The health messages remain the same; eat healthy, be physically active, get enough sleep, and take timeout to laugh and play. When tired, you’re inattentive, grouchy and at risk of making mistakes. Excess sugar in our diet has been shown to add to a lowering of mood while being too sedentary puts you at higher risk of a low mood, poorer thinking and haemorrhoids!
Adopt a thriver’s mindset
Your choice of mindset determines how you show up and impacts your energy, discretionary effort and outcomes. While a fixed mindset is associated with resistance to change and a polarised worldview, a growth-oriented mindset is open to possibility and less risk-averse. Recovery from adversity is easier when we stay growth-oriented, but to move from surviving to thriving requires shifting your mindset towards how you can use your skills for the wellbeing of the community. Asking what you can do to help others keeps you outwards focused and creates a win-win.
Connect deeply
Behind every successful person, there is a team of helpers. We all benefit from having our own pit crew. Do you know who is in yours? Nurturing our important relationships by establishing our trustworthiness, being fair, providing autonomy, showing respect and using clear communication strengthens our social networks boosting confidence, courage and capability.
Resilience is not just about toughening up. It’s about recognising our natural limitations and optimising sustainable performance based on enhancing physical and mental well-being and a culture founded on care.
Dr Jenny Brockis, author of “Thriving Mind: How to cultivate a good life”
