How do you avoid burnout?

Dima Zubchenko
14 replies
I found myself losing focus after several month of intense work. Concentration level dropped down, motivation and even desire to go back to business every morning. I love what I'm doing and that was a surprise for me. So after several iterations I created some balanced work principles that keep my concentration and motivation. 1. Planned rest cycles - I literally started to plan my rest time in my calendar 2. Focused work time - days for meetings, days for 100% concentrated work 3. Quality rest time on weekends - less screens, more fresh air and activity 4. No coffee first 2 hours after waking up - just works for me :) 5. Power naps or taking a breather when feeling overwhelmed - really helps to release a tension or get some extra energy back. Eager to hear your tricks :)

Replies

Aleks Dahlberg
Take a break, a big one.
Ana Shmal
Very interesting actually. I'd add trying to do new things every day (walking a new route on your daily walk, doing a new yoga move, eating a new kind of breakfast, etc) - to recharge and make your brain get out of the rut :)
Dima Zubchenko
@anashmal thanks for sharing!
Tim Parsa
Timeboxing helps prioritize. No screens before bed and no coffee after noon helps with sleep. Schedule/sign-up for yoga class twice a week so I need to go because I've paid-- loss aversion. Join and host Cadoo walking, push-up, and other challenges with friends-- more loss aversion + social incentives. (I built Cadoo with @colm_hayden to help with exactly this problem-- extra motivation to counter smartphone temptation-- check out Zario too for this). For those who have kids-- I have many-- I also take advantage of taking them to soccer or baseball games/practices to add a work-out in to my day. Other parents sit and scroll on their phones or else they listen to podcasts-- I bring a yoga mat, a kettlebell, some bands, and just knock out reps while I watch the boys play. I've never been in better shape and my startups have never done better. Hope this helps.
Evgeniy Yakubovskiy
Although professional burnout is connected with fatigue, it also manifests itself as a personal crisis. To cope with this condition, you should first of all find the reasons that led to it. Once you understand the cause, it will be easier to cope with the consequence.
Dima Zubchenko
@evgeniyyakubovckiy I found myself really not doing good with my health. Healthy diet and some good sleeping schedule helped me lot.
The best way to avoid burnout is to step away from the computer when your brain is churning and take a walk.
Dima Zubchenko
@qudsia_ali 10 min on fresh air does the job 👍
Muhammad Ajmal Khan
Include daily enjoyable “timeouts”, such as yoga, a hobby, or meditation
Dima Zubchenko
@oleg_bolotnov I know you have it too, share some tips :)
Oleg Bolotnov
@professordz Fresh air. 20 minutes per day to re-focus and think of your daily routine from different angle. Most of life-changing ideas came to me walking down the street.