How to get over burnout from work requires recognizing you are feeling burnout. We’re too down in the weeds of working that we forget to look around and recognize when we are not feeling good. It is not normal to not feel your best every single day.
When I was burned out, I used to get frequent heartburns throughout the day. Even more so than that, I didn’t even know my job was the cause of my stress at the time. My bosses were telling me that it’s not about the job, it’s about my eating habits and anything.
They wanted to do anything to suppress the information that they were overworking me. If you are feeling the burnout from work, then you are feeling the burnout from work. Your mental and physical health is much more important, especially if the work is endless.
It’s important to know how to get over burnout from work because once it happens, it can potentially be permanent. It took me months of agonizing before the burning sensation finally let off. It had the possibility of it being permanent if I didn’t do something about it.
You don’t want to go down that path. Your health is more important than you know. There’s a reason why your company offers sick days. It’s time to take them because it would be wasting money, otherwise. You give your time to your employer, it’s not wise to give away health, as well.
You don’t want to leave money and health on the table.
How to Get Over Burnout from Work
Below are the 9 concrete ways on how to get over burnout from work.
1) Recognize if You Get Burnout From Work
This is the most important step in knowing how to get over burnout from work. Knowing how to spot signs of burnout is crucial because they are subtle signs that can easily be ignored. It took me months before figuring out that that’s what I was going through.
It’s better to look weak but get the help you deserve than to look strong and quietly break down on the inside. These days, companies want to extract as much value out of employees as they can. Even at the employee’s expense of mental and physical health.
If you can’t enjoy a nice 2-day vacation with your family without feeling bad or stress, that’s a clear sign of burnout. You should disconnect from work completely and live your life the way you want to. That’s the normal way to live.
We aren’t meant to produce every waking moment of our lives.
2) How to Get Over Burnout from Work Means Communicating to Your Boss
This may actually backfire but it’s worth a shot. Companies don’t have your best interests in mind, they have their own interests in mind. When you go to your boss about a legitimate claim of feeling burnout, they may either dismiss it or give you the support that you deserve.
It is always a risk but there is a chance it could work well for you, if you have a good boss. If the company tries to dismiss your claims, keep a journal of what happened and write everything down. One company I worked for told me to work from home when I was taking a sick day.
To this day, I have no idea if I could have sued them for their abusive employment practices or not. In either case, managing and negotiating your workload with your boss is crucial. This isn’t something that you should ever back down on, either.
You owe your company good work, you don’t owe your company your health. How to get over burnout means having to negotiate.
3) Get a New Job
Even if you only had the job for six months, if it’s not a good fit. it’s time to get a new job. If the employee leaves within 6 months, that’s not on the employee for “job hopping”. That’s usually on the employer for providing a bad work environment.
None of my friends who left their company within 6 months to a year worked for a good company. The team culture was bad, or the job wasn’t what they were looking for, or anything of the kind. There’s nothing wrong with getting a new job, even if it’s within just 6 months of joining the company.
Companies would fire you on the spot if they thought you no longer fit their interests and there’s nothing wrong with taking care of your own interests as well. How to get over burnout from work means putting yourself in a situation in which you’re more likely to succeed.
Plenty of people move around companies before they find the one that works for them.
4) Take an Out of Town Trip
This means completely disconnecting from work. It means shutting off your phone and completely mentally disconnecting from the town that you’re leaving. There should be good towns to visit a 1 – 2 hour drive away from where you live.
How to get over burnout from work means taking an out of town trip once in a while. We need a change of scenery and be out in nature every so often. Otherwise, it becomes mundane and monotonous for us to continue living our day to day lives.
Whenever I need a change of pace, I make my way down to either Houston, TX or Dallas, TX to refresh myself. The city that you live in is great but that doesn’t mean you are stuck there. You can always go outside and explore new cities.
It’ll take you out to new experiences.
5) Take Care of Your Mental and Physical Health
Your mental and physical health comes above everything else. There’s no point in having all the money in the world if you have none of the health in the world. You should feel great about yourself every single day and be proud of what you’re doing.
If you’re not, then it’s time to take care of what’s the most important: your mental and physical health. How to get over burnout from work means exercising regularly, eating right, and getting great sleep. When I don’t get good sleep, I feel unconfident.
I feel like all I want to do is go back home and get a good night’s sleep. Without health, nothing else matters. You can’t take care of anything else if your health isn’t taken care of. Your employers’ profitability suffers if you are suffering.
You should feel great every day of the week. If not, something is wrong. Feeling great is normal. Anything otherwise means something went wrong.
6) Set a Hard Stop at Work
Many people bash on the one who leaves work at 5pm. They think that’s working a part-time job. That’s not true. Plenty of people clock out at 5pm because they are that efficient at work. They finish their work at 2pm and leave because there’s nothing else to do at work.
How to get over burnout from work means setting a hard stop. You don’t have to always go above and beyond and work until 7pm every single day. It’s better to pace yourself instead of trying to go 100 miles per hour. We wouldn’t have a personal life otherwise.
Companies do not give out good rewards for the hard worker. Companies perpetuate the hard work myth to employees so that they work harder than they should be to pad up their pocketbooks and profit from employees.
One company wanted me to go above and beyond for their company and accept a pay cut in the process. I politely declined that offer. Companies know getting another job is costly for the employee and therefore are not willing to change their situation.
It’s time to call their bluff.
7) Get a Good Night’s Sleep
This one comes above all. Too many discount the benefits of sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep is a superpower. How to get over burnout from work requires good sleep because we can’t function normally without it. There are people who are biologically able to function without good sleep.
However, that’s in the vast minority of people. The majority of people require at least 6 – 9 hours of sleep per day to function normally. If you aren’t getting these hours of sleep, you will suffer throughout the day. I am speaking from experience.
When I don’t get good sleep, it makes me groggy and angry that nothing’s going my way. It just doesn’t make me feel good about myself. Then my performance and productivity suffers as a result. A good night’s sleep does wonders for you.
Sleep is not for the weak. People need sleep to function normally.
8) Pursue Hobbies Outside of Work
You aren’t a machine whose sole purpose is to provide value to your employer 24/7, you are a human being with real hobbies outside of work. You have interests outside of work that you should be pursuing. How to get over burnout from work means focusing on them.
For me, personally, I love working on my blog and my Twitter. That should be work but I see that as a hobby. It’s fun to create content for my followers and readers, no matter how tiny the audience is. If I can just impact one person with their finances, I’m happy.
Your weekends are not meant to produce value for your employer. There are many investment banking analysts who work Saturdays and Sundays and think their $150k compensation package is worth it. After going through that period of my life, let me assure you.
It’s not worth it. It’s one thing to work 60 hours a week for $400k. But it’s another to work 80 hours a week for $150k.
9) How to Get Over Burnout From Work? Be Out in Nature
The world became much more industrialized and modernized than ever before. We live in air conditioned places in a house, insulated from the outside world and nature. That’s not how we’re supposed to live. We are humans who grew up in the wild. Our ancestors lived out and about their entire lives.
It’s time to soak the sun, be out and about. How to get over burnout from work means seeing sunlight and being outside. Every single day, not just for special occasions. My mood completely changes when I’ve breathed fresh air instead of being stuck in an office all day long.
How to get over burnout from work means being outside in nature. The great part of nature is that it’s completely free. It’s refreshing. And more importantly than that, it’s natural and not man-made. Your life changes when you realize just how great breathing fresh air is for your sanity and health.
It calms your nerves and relaxes you in more ways than one.
Knowing How to Get Over Burnout from Work is Crucial
We’ve all been there. There’s not a single high executive at work who haven’t experienced burnout from work. It’s not just you and unfortunately, it’s one of the facts of life that you will have to experience and endure. Knowing how to get over burnout from work is necessary.
Because everyone goes through it at some point in their life. We are not biologically wired to work a 9 – 5 job on a set schedule. There are times when we function better and there are times when we function worse. The best is to be your own boss and work when you want to instead of when someone else wants you to.
However, for the vast majority of us, that’s not even an option. Therefore, you will have to go through the complicated process of getting over burnout. The one who manages complicated situations well will forge ahead in their lives and careers.
Knowing how to get over burnout from work is one in which there are numerous stakeholders to manage. Your boss, clients, coworkers, and the like. When you manage it successfully, you can go into work and your job with a proud look on your face.
How to get over burnout from work is possible. You don’t have to be miserable at work because it’s more than possible to get a high paying job with a good work life balance. No matter what others say, you can have it all. You should have the good life because you deserve to have it.
How to Get over Burnout from Work: Shortlist
- Recognize if you get burnout from work
- How to get over burnout from work means communicating to your boss
- Get a new job
- Take an out of town trip
- Take care of your mental and physical health
- Set a hard stop at work
- Get a good night’s sleep
- Pursue hobbies outside of work
- How to get over burnout from work? Be out in nature
