💆‍♀️ How to Prevent Burnout

Hey there! Welcome back to The Flow by Flocus. If you’re new around here, welcome! 👋  You can catch up on our previous editions right here.

This week: It’s all about burnout — what it is, what causes it, and how you can prevent it to protect your inner peace and keep your productivity on track. Let’s get into it!

❤️‍🔥 What is Burnout?

Burnout is an ongoing state of overwhelm and exhaustion.

It comes on gradually after prolonged periods of stress.

Burnout looks different for everyone. It’s also possible that you can feel burned out in one area of life, like your relationships, while still thriving in other areas.

Being burned out doesn’t mean you’re not working hard enough or that you’re a failure. Quite the opposite, actually!

If you’re burned out, you might be:

• Battling constant dread, apathy, or resentment

• Feeling under-appreciated, unseen, or invalidated

• Juggling too many different types of tasks at once

• Experiencing physical symptoms, like poor sleep and appetite

• Focusing more on one area of life (like school) and neglecting others (like health)

Sound like you? Scroll on to learn more about what causes burnout and how you can address it.

🩺 Causes of Burnout

We could dedicate an entire newsletter to what causes burnout, but we’ll cover 5 of the most common causes in work, school, and home:

• Too much work on your plate

• Lack of relevance or importance

• Inadequate support from colleagues, classmates, and loved ones

• Misaligned management practices or expectations

• Unequal division of chores or responsibilities

Now that you know what causes burnout, let’s explore some tips for getting ahead of it!

🤺 How to Prevent Burnout

Don’t wait until your battery is completely dead to recharge — notice when your battery is getting low so you can care for yourself until your energy is replenished.

Here are 3 things you can do to keep burnout at bay.

🗣️ 1. Advocate for yourself

Clearly communicating your needs and speaking up when you need support are key for beating burnout.

Advocating for yourself doesn’t mean waiting until you’re totally overloaded to say something. You can communicate your bandwidth and set boundaries at any time.

But this process can be tricky to navigate, especially for students and employees.

Need some expert tips? Check out our Flocus Picks section below to see one of our favorite communication tools.

🪣 2. “Bucket” your time

Here’s a tip from our own productivity arsenal:

Each day, choose one bucket to focus most of your time and energy on — then, alternate buckets throughout the week.

Example: If you tackled a big house project on Monday, spend most of Tuesday on your coursework.

Whichever bucket you choose, know you’ll have less time and energy to pour into your other buckets. (That’s not only okay — it’s by design!)

You can also apply this approach to different parts of your day — for example, pouring into 1 bucket in the morning, another in the afternoon, and another in the evening.

This gives you more variety and spreads your time and energy more evenly across all areas of life.

🧖 3. Make time for replenishing activities

“Making time” is the key phrase here.

Instead of trying to “find” time for rest, nourishment, and self-care, prioritize them. Not only will you feel less stressed, but you’ll also perform better when you do sit down to work.

Scheduling fun stuff alongside your responsibilities is also super important for your overall sense of balance.

Sprinkle some of these into your week to ensure you’re decompressing regularly:

• Social outings with family, friends, and loved ones

• Downtime to spend however you like

• Hobbies and creativity

• Time in nature

• Exercise or movement

Expand this list to include other activities that help refill your cup!

🪅 Flocus Picks

A curated list of things worth sharing.

• Calming Green Noise (Playlist) — Nature sounds and “green” noise to soothe and calm you on those busy days

• How to Deal with Burnout (Video) — This cute Psych2Go video includes more signs of burnout and what to do about them

• DEAR MAN Skill for Communicating Effectively (Post) — The DEAR MAN skill is your new secret weapon for navigating difficult conversations when protecting your boundaries

🖥️ Flocus: Your Personal Productivity Dashboard

Use Flocus to find the balance between getting things done and taking care of yourself.

Take advantage of the customizable Pomodoro timer to make sure you’re taking regular breaks, and let our soothing ambient sounds and worlds create a space that helps you recharge while staying productive.

Burnout can be scary and debilitating — but there are a few things you can do to get ahead of it.

No matter how you’re feeling, try some of these tips this week to restore your sense of balance. Let us know how it goes with a quick reply!

Until next Sunday,

Flocus Team