Working from home makes it hard to tell the difference between you time and work time. It’s easy for the two to overlap. Multi-tasking all your responsibilities can make it feel like you are stuck in a never-ending grind. What can you do to stop or prevent burnout?
Burnout often results from doing taxing work and feeling like you don’t have any control over it. Working long hours from an unusual location and in varying time periods will defiantly increase your chances of burnout.
Since we are all at a higher risk now, what can you do about it? Know the signs. Exhaustion, Detachment, and Inefficiency are the main ones. Meaning, you are too tired to complete even basic tasks quickly. You don’t feel connected to your job anymore. And, it is increasingly harder to be productive.
Another contributing factor is that working from home can also make you feel isolated and unsure of yourself. We all need positive reinforcement now and then and working alone makes that difficult.
So, what can you do? Restructure and reprioritize your schedule. Take control. Figure out what work you enjoy and build your schedule around it. Find out what stressors you can’t actually control and adjust them. If that doesn’t work, delegate or talk to your boss about it.
Take a break. Your body and your mind need a little time off. Take breaks throughout the day to do things that you enjoy, like cooking, meditating, or exercising. Completing a non-work-related chore can also make you feel like you are accomplishing things.
Prioritizing on things that you enjoy will help you feel like you have control over your time and will give you a much-needed break to refresh yourself.
