6 Essential Ways to Prevent Workplace Burnout: Spoiler Alert – It’s All About Self-Care

Sep 6, 2024

In this modern age, we are continually focused on the ‘grind’. It’s all about waking up, changing into your pilates gear and hitting the gym, or deciding to make chewing gum from scratch when you gave birth to a new-born the day prior. It’s always about, ‘let’s get this bread’, ‘secure the dough’, and working overtime. Whilst this may be positive to an extent, it is continually painted as ‘aspirational’ and ‘inspirational’.

Objectively, it might, but to the individual, the line between ‘that’s enough’, and ‘enough is enough’ becomes blurry. The idea of toxic productivity may be foreign, but is not something new. Let's dive into the concept of toxic productivity, and how recognising it can inspire us to prioritise self-care. By doing so, we not only nurture our well-being but also elevate the quality of our work in the process.

What is Toxic Productivity?

Toxic productivity refers to the inherent, almost embedded desire in one’s self to keep going. It can be difficult to unplug, unwind, and relax from a stressful day, and so your body and mind revert to patterns and routines that keep them busy, distracted and continually occupied. According to dietitian and health coach, Jess Cording, this can eventually, ‘become harmful to your mental and physical health’. She continues that placing your mind, body and soul on autopilot every day can actually be accounted for through guilt, feelings of imposter syndrome, and wanting to please others before yourself.

We see it every day where people are waking up, getting dressed, and joining others in morning traffic as they race to work, wanting to clock-in earlier, and get going with the commitments for the day. We see the same occur at the end of the working day, where individuals get home as late as 09:00 P.M, missing out on quality time with their loved ones, or even themselves.

How To Self-Care?

Here are six habits you can implement into your daily routines in order to foster and sustain self-care in the professional spheres of your life that will benefit you in the long-term.

1. Know Your Limits

It can be very easy to overcompensate and overcommit to different tasks and workloads. We want our superiors and inferiors alike to see us ‘eager’ and ‘willing to help’. Whilst this may be true, it can make a difference to the quality of your work, and perception in the workplace, we are all human at the end of the day.

Our limits are the parameters by which we should be operating amidst our daily routines. It can be something as simple as, ‘I don’t switch my work phone on before 08:00 A.M’, or ‘I will not answer this call outside of working hours’. It’s very easy to establish, but in practice, is very difficult to implement. In fact, it is something perceived as negative, or counter-productive in today’s contemporary period. Kar reflects on how, ‘acknowledging [his] limitations was a mark of weaknesses, and how when those were exceeded, he felt ‘lazy’ or ‘too afraid to step out of his comfort zone’.

Our active changes and setting up of these boundaries can help negate these normalised perceptions of laziness or comfortability. Through being aware of our limits, and actively setting up down time when those have been reached can be tantamount to our rest and productivity. Down time can actually improve our productivity and desire to work more.

2. Learn to Say ‘No’

Our hyper-cognisance of our personal boundaries can actually empower us to start saying ‘no’. Let’s actually unpack the implications of the word ‘no’. Globally, it possesses negative connotations. It’s the opposite of ‘Yes’. ‘Yes’ being affirmative; ‘Yes’ being favourable; ‘Yes’ being collaborative. We often place these two ideas at such extreme opposites, that the meaning of ‘No’ starts to become everything that ‘Yes’ is not.

Let’s say for example your manager asks you to stay in later after hours to complete a report. You have boundaries set up already, where you prioritise your evening time, and therefore leave work at the stipulated end-time. It is after hours, and therefore a breach in a boundary you have set out. Your immediate reaction is ‘no’, but you respond with ‘yes’. ‘Yes’ because you start to feel guilty, and think that taking on this additional task will make you appear more professional and reliable to your superiors. You realise that in actuality, saying ‘no’ might have been the more difficult thing to do, but beneficial in the long term.

According to Psychology Today, saying no can become ‘empowering and liberating’ when used correctly and respectfully. Let’s get back to our example. Instead of responding, ‘No, I can’t do it, sorry’, a better conditioned response is something along the lines of, ‘Thank you for asking, but I unfortunately have other commitments booked for later on. I will be more than happy to take a look tomorrow morning’. In this way you are respectfully setting your boundary, and agreeing to seeing to it in a time and space that suits your limitations.

Saying ‘no’ not only helps us solidify our boundaries, but breaks the cycle of continual work and routinisation in the workplace. It is a form of self-care that we can carry in both our professional and personal lives. It also takes us a step away from being ‘agreeable’.

3. Embrace Your ‘Dis’-Agreeable Self

Being agreeable is another trait that is connoted globally as something ‘positive’ and admirable in any workplace employee. In fact, Darby characterises agreeable personalities as those who, ‘show empathy to others, assist others when in need of help and enjoy contributing to the happiness of others’.

Whilst this may be a good thing in any individual, it is only effective when carried out meaningfully and intentionally instead of being a dilute and overly-extensive personality trait. However, it does mean making others happy at the expense of your own happiness. And when your own happiness is put into question, your productivity and enthusiasm for contributing to the workplace declines, too.

Becoming more disagreeable is actually a manner in which one can preserve their own happiness and well-being. It permits a completion of tasks and responsibilities within your own window of happiness and well-being, before you decide to over-extend yourself within your limits. Embracing your disagreeable nature allows you to focus on things that matter to you, within your own circle of influence first, before troubleshooting others’ circle of influence.

4. Implement Time Management Tools

A nice way to manage your time and tasks effectively is by focusing on what is important, and not particularly urgent. We are oftentimes fuelled by stressors and anxieties to meet our deadlines at the last minute. Why?

It is crucial for us to regard big, important tasks with the respect and dedication that they deserve, regardless of whatever field or industry we may be working in. Here are some effective time management tools you can implement to separate work and private time, prioritise tasks, and avoid procrastination:

Break up big tasks into smaller, manageable chunks.
Use the Eisenhower Matrix.
Use big rocks for priorities.

Follow habit trackers or project management tools to schedule tasks and hold yourself accountable for meeting deadlines.

5. Separate your Professional and Personal Identities

Ask yourself the following question: who is ‘work’ me, and who is ‘me’ me? If the answers to these are the same, then some reflection needs to ensue. Remind yourself that you are human, and you exist first as an individual in this world, before you are ascribed your professional identity.

Take time for yourself outside of your working hours to re-explore and re-invent yourself. Find a new hobby such as cooking or knitting, read a book outside of your usual preferred genre, educate yourself on a new topic… The options are endless. Reconnect your mind, body and spirit to tasks and routines existing outside of your work environment. Prioritise values and beliefs that you hold dear, and carry out acts of service or giving back to your community in your stride.

Through a re-discovery of the self, one’s professional identity clarifies, and actually becomes more defined. You’ll become more aware of when and how to draw the line, especially when you’re comfortable and at ease with your personal self once again.

6. Do Nothing!

Whilst this sounds far-fetched and out of reach, schedule yourself time to do absolutely nothing. By ‘nothing’, I don’t mean scroll through your phone, or lie in bed. Take some active rest by meditating, stretching, completing some form of exercise or enjoying some time with friends and family.

Unplug from your devices, too. There is always the temptation to sneak in an email or phone call in between. Separate yourself entirely, as this promotes an active reset and recovery in your body and brain, preparing you to return to your responsibilities energised and motivated.

It is completely up to you to take active measures towards disconnecting and structuring your time to avoid overexertion in the workplace. It is not only a physical shift, but a mental one, too, and while it is not the easiest, it can be most rewarding when enjoying its benefits and repercussions in the long-term.