Last month we covered five of the top 10 things you can do to prevent burnout:
1. Exercise your body to relax your mind.
2. Stay fully hydrated.
3. Get up and move.
4. Pamper yourself.
5. Let others care for you.
How many of these are you doing now and do you notice any changes in your mood? Building on what I detailed last month, let’s explore the next five things you can do to prevent burnout:
6. Maintain self care: If you are responsible for the well being of others, it may draw down your emotional, physical and spiritual resources.The energy diverted to customers, spouses, employees, clients, children, stakeholders, bosses and patients may leave us more susceptible to illness and injuries. In order to help others, it is critical to help ourselves stay in peak condition by: Develop and use an effective schedule with a calendar or journaling system. Enjoy relationships with those who love you the most.
Nurture the relationships you have with friends.
Engage in fun with your pets.
Maintain your own doctor and dentist appointments.
Don’t sacrifice your hair, nails and other self-maintenance appointments.
Maintain your car in good repair.
Stay connected to your school, church, temple and club relationships and affiliations.
There is a reason that air stewards remind you to don your oxygen mask first.Taking good care of yourself is key to being able to help others.
7. Practice mindful and healthy eating: To paraphrase Hippocrates,“…Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.”The healing power of antioxidants contained in most fruits and vegetables offers protections from the metabolic byproducts of stress, so make every effort to eat at least a combined five serving a day. Fruits and veggies are also high in lowcalorie healthy fiber.Avoid foods that are highly processed, many of which contain multi-syllable ingredients your grandmother wouldn’t recognize.
When you sit down to eat, sit down and appreciate the effort it took to produce, cook, transport and prepare your food. Eat mindfully and slowly, allowing your brain to catch up with your stomach.
8. Play hard and have some fun: Everything that brings you pleasure in life you will enjoy more with the upgraded body you are working on through exercise and improved nutrition. Play more golf, join an over-50 basketball league, walk your dog twice a day, take tennis lessons, landscape like you are at the Garden of Versailles.
To use play as a learning experience for your emotions, you can push the limits of you comfort zone by engaging in something daring and adventurous … yet relatively safe. Did you ever want to try flying lessons, learning Cantonese, rock climbing, gourmet cooking, whitewater rafting or writing a book? If you learn to embrace the scary by recognizing that fear is a normal reaction, then stepping out on the ledge in other areas of your life will be less daunting, and the adrenaline will wash over you like waves breaking on the beach.
9. Enhance your mind/body connection: Practice yoga, Pilates, meditation, guided breathing or visual motor rehearsal. It’s been shown that one cannot have a stressed mind when the body is relaxed and visa versa.We are all like a Mobius strip, where there is no inside, no outside, just one continuous self without defined boundaries. By practicing on a regular basis, you will be able to call upon the relaxation response when you need it the most.
Whether you’re a busy professional, a harried mom, a senior executive, a nurse or a small business owner, these tips should help reduce your risk of burnout.The trick is to do them … take that first step. Nothing is sadder than a candle that burns out before sharing its full measure of light with this world.
Oh yes … there are only nine tips listed. What one strategy is missing? What do you practice to help achieve work/life balance that I have not included? Send me your ideals … I’d love to know what works for you.
Joe Stein, B.S., M.B.A., is a motivational speaker, certified personal trainer, health and lifestyle coach, and owner of Renaissance Fitness and Wellness. He is also the author of Leave the Cannoli Take the Weights: Practical Guidance on Eating, Exercise and Empowerment. Call 732-345-5151 or email at Joe@TrainerJoe- Speaks.com for more information.