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Overcoming Overwhelm & Burnout

March 7, 2020 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

When you’re overwhelmed at work, it’s easy to feel as though things are out of control. It’s a normal response that we’ve all experienced at some point. We take a look at managing overwhelm & burnout at work.

Manage Your Energy

Managing your energy is crucial. It’s the first step to feeling more able to take control back. Prioritise the one thing that you can do, right now, today that will make a difference. We’re not always great at recognising when we’re burning out so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that over 90% of us experience burnout at work. The situation is so severe that WHO have recognised Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”in the International Classification of Diseases. Forget time management, prioritising your energy will transform your productivity and help you to focus on what you cancontrol, building momentum for further changes. Consider your energy in terms of three domains.

Resilience & energy domains
Resilience & energy domains

Domains are all about working to achieve a positive balance – even under pressure. When we achieve balance across all three domains, our wellbeing, performance, productivity and happiness are optimised. It’s the ability to maintain an energy equilibriumthat develops resilience, helping us to bounce back when there are bumps in the road. Ask yourself:

  • Do I invest time in myself?
  • Is there space for rest & renewal?
  • Do my nutritional habits help or hinder my energy?
  • What is my sleep hygiene like?   
  • Where is my downtime?
  • How could I create micro actions to create renewal in domain 1?  e.g. take a lunch break, eat breakfast, walk part of my journey to work.

Cultivate CuriosityAround Overwhelm & Burnout

Stay Curious. Research by Francesca Gino, Behavioural Scientist at Harvard Business School discovered that when our curiosityis triggered we’re more creative when we face difficult situations. We’re also much less likely to be tripped up by confirmation bias – seeking out information to support what we believe rather than looking for evidence to suggest we are wrong. When we’re overwhelmed it’s easy to believe that there’s no way out, but there are always incremental changes that you can make to your day that will increase your control without feeling like yet another drain on your resources. 

Ask Good Overwhelm & Burnout Questions

Bob Langer at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research encourages the practice of asking ‘good questions’ as the way forward when faced with challenging situations. Ask yourself where you can make changes in your day, research any innovative working practices in your profession, who is doing things differently? How?Examine ways of working differently and see if it’s possible to incorporate them into your day, your team or your department.

Don’t Buy Into The Multi Tasking Myth

Systemic processes and professional cultures often push us into multi-tasking. What we believe is a paradigm of efficiency in reality is reducing our efficacy and resulting in overwhelm and burnout. Switch-tasking, jumping from one task to another, is bad for your focus and bad for your brain. Researchers have  found that multi tasking adds to your cognitive load resulting in multiple errors along with increased stress, overwhelm & burnout.

Rather than making us more efficient, switch-tasking makes us less accurate and slows us down. When we pile on the pressure with multiple tasks, we’re feeding into the feeling that there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it in. We can change that by looking at how we work.

1.Compartmentalise tasks. Place tasks together into low focus, medium focus and high focus categories. Put aside periods of time in the day for high focus tasks of at least 60 minutes. For high focus tasks, create a space where there is less chance that you will be interrupted.

2.Go digital detox. Dial down the tech to minimise distractions. Have periods in your day when you turn off your alerts and unplug. To monotask and achieve flow you’ll need to minimise distractions and fully focus.

3. Resilience Architecture. Plan your day before you start. Prioritise and organise your time so that you’re working with your energy levels, building in time for renewal so that your day isn’t all about sacrifice and burnout.

4. Ditch Switchtasking. Where you can re-train your brain. When it’s possible to focus and get into flow minus interruptions do it – even if it means saying no (see below).

Want to know more about monotasking? Take a look at our free Mindfulness at Work Toolkit or any of our free tools in the resources section.

Learn to say ‘No’to Overwhelm & Burnout

Practice saying ‘No’. When you’re saying yes to something it usually means that you’re saying ‘No’ to something else – and that’s typically you or something that’s important to you. We all need downtime or activities that renew us. These are usually the first things we let go of when we’re stressed and burning out but that’s a mistake leading to a phenomenon known as sacrifice syndrome. It’s an easily recognisable corrosive pattern of workplace behaviours; working late, skipping lunch, catching up on weekends or working well after you should have finished. Here are some saying no strategies to get you started.

Strategies for Saying Noto Overwhelm & Burnout

  • Focus on your feelings. If you’re used to dampening down your emotions it will take time to identify what you’re really feeling. Focus. Notice what’s going on for you when you feel the temptation to automatically say ‘yes’. Take a breath. Create some space to breath deeply and identify your true feelings. What’s here? Anger? Resentment? Passive acceptance? Fear? Notice what emerges without judging it as good or bad it’s all information. Once you’ve identified how you’re feeling, you can begin to articulate it calmly and confidently.
  • Monitor your inner critic. It’s possible that you’ll begin to hear your old self trying to pull you back into the habit of saying ‘yes’ to everything. Let’s call that voice the ‘Yes Monster’. You’ll probably feel resistance the first few times you say no. There’ll be guilt and a nagging voice warning you about how your new found assertiveness will be perceived. Recognise that those thoughts aren’t facts. They’re just thoughts and you can master them by changing your self talk to a more positive script “It’s ok to say no” “Not everyone has to like me” “It’s important I say what I think.”. 
  • Re-train yourself to say ‘No.’ Build your assertiveness muscles with small things that aren’t emotionally loaded. Yes, it might feel uncomfortable the first few times, but you’ll get over the discomfort the more you practice. You may notice the fear of rejection and confrontation creeping in again. It’s important that you speak your truth and you can do that in a compassionate, kind way whilst still respecting others.
  • Still, wondering if you’re the one being unreasonable? Flip the situation. If your roles were reversed, would you expect your own needs to be met at their expense? Probably not. Flipping the scene can unveil some truly ugly truths. 

Get in touch

Koru Development are experts in managing overwhelm and burnout at work. We provide online resilience courses to develop resilience, master stress management and sustain high performance. We also provide internal support to organisations, consultancy and leadership coaching. Our clients include the NHS, Fortune 100 companies, elite sporting bodies and international start ups. Contact us to find out how we can work with you.

Get in touch

Positive Change Guru are experts in managing overwhelm and burnout at work. We provide online resilience training courses to develop resilience, master stress management and sustain high performance. We also provide internal support to organisations, consultancy and leadership coaching. Our clients include the NHS, Fortune 100 companies, elite sporting bodies and international start ups. Contact us to find out how we can work with you.

Filed Under: Burnout Tagged With: assertiveness at work, burnout at work, managing your energy, mindfulness at work, online resilience training course, overwhelm at work, resilience, resilience at work, resilience at work training, saying no, stress management, stress management training, sustainable performance, workplace wellbeing

Why Mindset Drives Leader Performance

October 13, 2019 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

Leaders need charisma. Leaders are born, not made. Effective leaders need grit. The world of leadership is riddled with myths and misconceptions. The truth is that mindset is a key differentiator when it comes to outstanding leadership. Here’s why mindset drives leader performance.

Mindset Leaders are Unique

There’s no point in pretending that there’s a cookie cutter formula for the perfect leader. There isn’t. Authenticity is key to successful leadership. Growth mindset leaders are constantly learning, developing themselves, acquiring new skills. Attempting to define them in binary terms is pointless. They’re constantly changing because they recognise that learning is the key to transformation and business growth. What’s more, they encourage development in their teams. They’re not threatened by the success of others.

Mindset Leaders Banish Perfectionism

It might sound tautological but growth mindset leaders embrace failure. They recognise that perfectionism combined with a blame culture when things go wrong will destroy innovation. Continuous improvement can only take place when you’re able to look at what isn’t working openly and honestly.

This means embracing risk and becoming comfortable with uncertainty. Consider companies that have deliberately failed in order to innovate, making it culturally ok to fail. Think James Dyson, Momofuku Ando – the creator of instant noodles, Akio Morita and Sony’s first rice cooker that ended up burning rice instead of cooking it, yes, we said burned it and one of our favourites, as Thrive Global Authors, Arianna Huffington whose second book was rejected by 36 publishers.

Failure is the only way to learn and truly grow. The research into growth mindset and neuroplasticity is impressive. As Dweck says, keep those neutrons firing.

Growth Mindset Leaders Possess Laser Like Situational Awareness

Mindset leaders possess self awareness. They’re able to recognise their own emotions and master them. They self regulate and are able to drill down and focus on the detail whilst maintaining an open awareness of the bigger picture. This enables them to build effective relationships with colleagues. To listen with emotional intelligence and encourage dialogue. They’re honest about their own mistakes and make it clear that when things don’t go to plan it’s an opportunity for growth.

Great leaders leverage peak performance with a growth mindset culture. If you’d like to find out more about mindset, take a look at our free resources along with our Growth Mindset Toolkit

We work with thousands of individuals and Fortune 100 companies to develop growth mindset workplaces, high performing teams and individuals. We deliver growth mindset coaching and leadership training using evidence based strategies from positive psychology, neuroscience and performance psychology Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Filed Under: growth mindset business Tagged With: buisness, Growth Mindset Leadership I Positive Change Guru, growth mindset training, leadership, mindset, peak performance, performance, positive psychology, resilience

Digital Wellbeing & Why It’s Important

December 8, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

A recent Ofcom report suggested that we now spend more time online than we do sleeping. That’s a pretty big chunk of your day connected to the digital world. Tech companies are even designing new features to help us manage our time online and device usage more effectively. Maybe you’re already using some of the digital wellbeing features on your teach? So is that constant connection adding to or detracting from our lives? What is digital wellbeing and why is it important?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Digital Wellbeing Tagged With: digital detox, digital diet, digital divorce, growth mindset, positive psychology, positive psychology courses, resilience, resilience and stress management, resilience training, stress management, stress management training, wellbeing

What you can Learn About Mindfulness from the Marines

November 3, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

It seems like an unlikely match. Marines and meditation aren’t two words that you’d ordinarily find together in the same sentence. The US marines have embraced mindfulness with impressive results. Whilst it might seem incongruous, here’s what you can learn about mindfulness from the marines.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Mindfulness Tagged With: benefits of mindfulness, Camp Pendleton mindfulness, interoception, M-FIT, marines, meditation, mindfulness at work, mindfulness at work training courses, Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training, performance, PTSD, resilience, resilience training courses, stress management training courses

What Halloween Can Teach Us About Growth Mindset

October 20, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

Fear of failure, known as atychiphobia, can stop us in our tracks. Spooky, we know. Imagine being possessed by some external source that commands your every move. Failure sucks, but for some people that fear can stand between them and the life they secretly yearn for, blocking their dreams. Halloween is a great opportunity to unpack your fear of failure and exorcise it for good.  A growing body of evidence suggests that a fixed mindset can literally prevent us from learning and developing skills. But how do you flip that switch to growth mindset? Grab your garlic and wooden stake, here’s what you can learn about growth mindset from Halloween.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: growth mindset Tagged With: anxiety, carol dweck growth mindset, change, failure, fear, Goal setting, growth mindset courses, growth mindset expert, growth mindset expert Viv Thackray, growth mindset tips, growth mindset trainers, growth mindset training courses, halloween, learning from failure, positive psychology, resilience, self confidence, stress

7 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Happier

October 9, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

Happiness and science? Surely not. With World Mental Heath Day 2018 upon us, we take a look at 7 scientifically proven ways to be happier.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Happiness, Uncategorized Tagged With: Grant and Gluck research, gratitude, happier, how to be happy, increasing happiness, Martin Seligrmann, mental health, resilience, wellbeing, wellness, World Mental Health Day

How Trauma Can Help You Thrive

September 29, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

Can trauma help you to grow? We think of trauma as a game over, as life changing and not for the better. But evidence from the world of positive psychology suggests trauma can have an up side. We take a look at how trauma can help you thrive.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: post traumatic growth Tagged With: growth mindset, growth mindset experts, growth mindset trainers, growth mindset training courses, international growth mindset training courses, learning from trauma, positive psychology, positive psychology experts, positive psychology trainers, positive psychology training courses, post traumatic growth, post traumatic growth research, resilience, surviving trauma, trauma

Be More Fika

June 6, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

Fika. What is it and why should we make time for it? We take a look at the Swedish tradition of Fika and how creating a daily ritual of Fika can help you to develop resilience, reduce stress and increase your wellbeing.

[Read more…]

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What Marshmallows Reveal About Your Willpower

April 15, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

What can marshmallows reveal about your willpower when it comes to goals? Yes, we know, seemingly nothing much. When you set yourself a new goal, you can bet that willpower, grit and determination will be key components. Enthusiasm can get you started but what happens when the going gets tough? Willpower makes or breaks your dream or goal. But is willpower something that we are born with or can it be developed to help us work towards positive change? We take a look at an iconic marshmallow experiment all about cognitive control (you’ve got to love science that uses marshmallows), three steps to help you develop your willpower along with evidence from the world of neuroscience to help you reach your goal.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: goal setting Tagged With: coaching, goals, grit, growth mindset, how to achieve a goal successfully, how to set goals and achieve them, Philip Zimbardo The Time Paradox, positive psychology, resilience, self coaching, Stanford marshmallow test, steps to achieve goals, the marshmallow test, visualisation, visualisation techniques, Walter Meschel, willpower, Willpower meaning

Need a January Pick me Up?

January 10, 2018 by Gill Thackray Leave a Comment

Need a January Pick Me Up? A winter boost? It’s that time of year again. The days are short and the nights are long and you wonder if you’ll ever see the sun again. Fear not. We have a whole host of free stuff to build your resilience, improve your wellbeing and make you feel warm inside as you toast yourself by the fire. Go on. Treat yourself. It’s time to grab a mug of hot stuff, take time out and give yourself lashings of self care. We’ve got your back this winter gorgeous!

Need a January Pick Me Up 1:

Check out our fab podcast. We’ll take you through a whole host of topics ranging from positive psychology, resilience, mindfulness, self care and tons more.

Need a January Pick Me Up 2:

Dive into our extensive library of blogs. We’ve got hundreds of blogs, just for you. They’re right there at your fingertips – go on treat yourself.

Need a January Pick Me Up 3:

Sprinkle on our huge range of free resources. You can try everything from psychometrics to emotional intelligence tests. Whether it’s for your own personal development, to use with loved ones (and yes, we include your furry friends in that) or to use at work with your team, there’s something for everybody. Feel free to share ’em.

https://positivechangeguru.com/wp-content/uploads/Coffee-AD.mp4

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