How I Transformed Burnout into Success
Less is more, and that goes for work too... so give yourself a break! 10 game-changing tips.
Wouldn't it be great to work less and achieve more? That’s the dream, right? In this post I’m going to tell you how I learnt to work more effectively and more productively, whilst enjoying more free time. But more importantly, I’m going to show you how you can do the same. Later, there’re TEN practical tips you can start implementing from today.
But first, let me share my own experience.
I remember when I was working on my second book, which eventually came to be known as Second Life. For a very long time, things weren’t going well. I was stuck in a rut. I was showing up to my desk at (roughly) the same time every day. I was sitting there for hours. Working. Typing words. Writing. At least hitting my one-thousand word-a-day target, and often doing a lot more.
And when I say every day, I mean it. I worked seven days a week, though admittedly little less on Saturday and Sunday. I sort of had to. I had a deadline, looming so large it was pretty much all I could see. And besides, I saw no problem with this. Weekends are for those who don’t like their jobs, right? Those who need respite, who want to take a break. But me? I was doing something I loved, why would I take time off? Why would I rest?
The point is, I was working, hard. Harder than I ever have, before or since. My word count was going up and up. I was achieving, right?
And then one day, suddenly, I wasn’t. I was exhausted. The book was falling apart in my hands. Nothing seemed to be working, and I hated what I was writing. I felt like I couldn’t go on. But? I did.
I had to, right? I had a job to do. The problem wasn’t the thing I was doing, or the way I was going about it. I was convinced of that. If things weren’t working then there were only two possible explanations, as far as I could see. Either I wasn’t good enough, or I wasn’t working hard enough.
The solution seemed obvious. Work harder. More hours, more words. Stop this ridiculous idea of working a bit less, two days a week, and instead start treating Saturday and Sunday as work days, just like very other. Up at the same time, work the same hours. As for holidays? No time! Work, work, work.
It seems ridiculous, now. I was suffering from burnout, exhausted. I was driving myself harder and harder but in ever decreasing circles. The worse things got, the harder I tried to work. I needed an intervention.
You may have been there. (Maybe you find yourself in that situation now, but since you’ve read this far, there’s hope. Stick with me.) People tell you they’re worried, they ask what’s wrong, they tell you there’s a better way. They might even tell you something similar happened to them, and explain how they got themselves out of it.
But you reject it. It’s not that their advice doesn’t sound good, but just that it’s not for you. ‘Ah,’ you say to yourself, while nodding politely. ‘You might be right, for you, or for other people. But my situation is different. They don’t love their job like I do. They don’t have deadlines like I do. The consequences of failure aren’t as severe for them as they are for me, so I have to work harder. It’s the only way.’ And you carry on, same as before.
That’s the strange thing about interventions. We’re so busy convincing ourselves we don’t need one, that we don’t have the time, energy and/or inclination to change, that we actively avoid them.
But then, one day, I nearly broke. I was lucky, in that I realised I’d nearly broke before I actually did. I realised that what I was doing wasn’t working before it was too late, when I still (just about) had the clarity of mind to seek help. I wouldn’t say I hit rock bottom, but maybe I finally realised I was hurtling towards it, and didn’t have a parachute.
There were a million little things that made me realise I needed to change. I’d bought flights to Iceland for my good friend’s birthday celebration, and then cancelled the trip because of work. The work I did during that week? I ended up scrapping it. Pointless, right? I should’ve gone on the trip. A week’s worth of memories and friendship I don’t have, a country I love but could’ve discovered years before I did, all because of work I ended up scrapping anyway.
More upsettingly, I had tickets to go to a wine tasting with another very good friend. I cancelled. Work, again. I told her we’d rebook, it was a monthly thing. No harm done, right? Wrong. She died. Unexpectedly and far, far too young. The last chance I’d have to see her, and I’d cancelled because of work. I found it hard to forgive myself.
I got in touch with a coach I’d previously worked with, and told her what was going on. With her help, I realised I needed to take a step back, and rather work harder, work better. I needed to look at how I worked, how I structured my life, and make changes so that I could work more effectively and be more productive. I read books, some of which she’d recommend, others I’d found myself. I watched videos and TED talks and I listened to podcasts. I interrogated my beliefs about productivity and achievement and creativity, and identified the things I’d got wrong.
I made changes. Baby steps at first, but then I got braver. I stopped putting in hour after unproductive hour and instead focussed my time. I started enjoying weekends again, and looking forward to trips away. I started taking my work with me, but ‘just in case inspiration strikes’ rather than ‘because I have to.’ I found my way back to genuinely enjoying what I did for a living, rather than that being something I told myself because the alternative was unthinkable.
How did I do it? Here, then, are ten things you can start doing from today.