By Elsbeth McSorley
No matter how much a person loves his or her job, it’s possible to become burnt out. This not only affects whether or not the individual enjoys coming to work; it impacts performance as well. The person hinders his or her raise and promotion potential, which easily becomes a downward spiral consisting of the person hating his or her job, not performing up to par, not receiving a raise and disliking the job even more. Check out these 8 ways to avoid burning out at work:
1. Change up your routine
Doing the same tasks in the same order each day gets routine and dull. To avoid the redundancy, workers should switch up their routine every now and then. It’ll make the person less likely to become burnt out. It’s important for the person to not get to a point where the presence of a routine makes the worker feel robot-like.
2. Learn to say no
A worker may have been taught being a “yes man” makes the worker stand out amongst his or her peers, but this causes the person to become overwhelmed. Whether he or she says yes all the time to overtime or helping co-workers, it can still become too much. It’s okay to say no every now and then, especially if it prevents the person from becoming burnt out.
3. Take a vacation
It becomes quite addictive to try to work as much as possible. However, by not taking a vacation, a worker reduces his or her ability to perform well. It may cause a person to need to take off work, and potentially even longer than a vacation due to illness or exhaustion. Even if the person doesn’t take an actual vacation to a different place, he or she should take a few days off just to relax or tackle large projects at home. A person’s attitude toward work will change tremendously just from taking some time away from the office.
4. Socialize
Get to know people at the office and take time each day to socialize with co-workers. When someone has people to converse with at work, a person will enjoy going more. He or she will have people to assist him or her if needed. By coming into work and being positive, an employee won’t get caught up in as much of the “office drama.” The person might even want to ask fellow co-workers to go out after work to form an even stronger connection with those he or she works with.
5. Take time for yourself outside of work
Every day set aside 15 minutes at least to zone out, unwind and do something enjoyable. This helps to reduce stress and forget about everything at the office, at least for a short period of time.
6. Don’t forget about those who matter
Don’t forget to maintain relationships with family and friends. Remember, all work and no play makes life dull and doesn’t promote efficiency on the job or a positive work environment.
7. Ignore drama
It’s important to ignore the office drama. Getting caught up in it does nothing but create a stressful work environment and a place that’s not enjoyable to be part of so do yourself a favor – skip the drama!
8. Set goals
Set goals regularly to be challenged continuously and have something to strive for to make your job more productive and challenging. By setting goals and mixing up your schedule, you’ll see an improved work performance and feel happier.
Learn how to better engage and motivate your employees in our tip sheet Five Tips for Increasing Employee Engagement and Retention.
You might also want to check out our blog post 5 ways you’re killing your employees’ motivation.
