Have the hours in my night been reduced?
When my alarm went off this morning I was still really tired. I recently heard someone say they couldn’t remember the last time that they weren’t just little bit tired. We all have tremendously busy schedules. It’s the new economy right, do more with less people? We have our professional responsibilities, our family responsibilities, our personal responsibilities, our leisure and then some time for sleep. To me it feels like we are being asked to give up more and more of our remaining leisure time and sleep. The hours between “good night” and “hello sunshine” go by in a blink.
The weekends are no better. We just shift the hours we sleep, staying up a little later and sleeping in a bit in the morning (if we don’t have kids). With the seemingly never ending routine we continue to live, it is no wonder that so many of us experience burnout.
For many years growing up my grandfather suffered from debilitating multiple sclerosis. He fought a great fight and lived many years, mentally strong as his body deteriorated. In his later years he needed help getting out of bed and into his wheel chair. At the end of the day he needed help getting back into his bed. While he had professional nurses help in the morning, for over 10 years my father helped with the evening routine. I am certain that my grandparents had the ability to bring in help in the evenings, but my dad was glad to do it. The two of them grew very close over the years.
Between the nightly assistance and the demands of his own personal and work life it was not uncommon for my dad to operate on 5-ish hours of sleep. In fact it was rare indeed when sleep exceeded 6 hours… for 10 years. During all those years he never complained of burnout.
Since we all go through periods of fatigue and burnout here are 5 steps to reducing burnout’s impact:
1- Proper diet. I am not suggesting “going on a diet” or weight loss, only you and your physician can make that determination. I am suggesting a conscious decision to reduce junk food and soda, limit the amount of refined and processed foods. My wife has been a real help to me in learning the proper foods I should be consuming. As I have focused more on fruits and vegetables I have found an extra little skip in my step and an ability power through fatigue. She has a lot of great tips and suggestions on health and exercise over at fittingitinfitness.com
2- Take a little break. Burnout can be reduced if I consistently take little breaks and do things I enjoy. Take a little walk around the office, watch a few minutes of tv, call, email, or text a friend or play a quick game on my phone. Anything to give your mind a break. You can’t just save all of your break time for the weekends or the effects won’t last. Try for a few minutes every day to find your bliss.
3- Set work limits. Are you tethered to work by your smart phone? I am. If you look at my business card or my email signature you will see that it has my cell phone number. Of course my email goes right to my phone and my office phone even forwards directly to my pocket. I have been trained as Maslow’s dogs to reach in and peek at every slight vibration or “bing”. In avoiding burnout it is important to set work limits and take real breaks. You may set 1hr to work on this project and then at the end of that hour take a 10 minute break. I try to be home by 6pm each night to have dinner with the family even though I have to do more work later in the evening.
4- Get 7-8 hours of sleep. It is nearly universally believed in the medical community that an “appropriate” amount of sleep is important for health and our ability to operate at peak levels. While optimum amounts of sleep are not always possible, strive for the amount that you personally need (typically at least 7 hours). Hard? Yes. Impossible? No. I have a goal to get to bed by 11pm at least 4 nights a week and to sleep in at least once a week. That still allows me to get up at 5:30 and write.
5- Set accomplishable “mini” goals. My final step for avoiding burnout is to celebrate your small victories. When you have a big project or a task with multiple steps and stages, celebrate the minor accomplishments. If you have the goal of email inbox zero, celebrate after every 50 or 100 you closeout. If you have to make 25 phone calls, take a break after 10 or 15. Reach back and pat yourself on the back or pump your fist in the air. Will you feel foolish? Maybe. Will it energize you for round two? Most definitely.
Burn out happens (put that on a bumper sticker). If we take the few steps listed above we can reduce how often it happens and the length of time it affects us. As that great poet Jimmy Buffett says, “I can’t run at this pace for very long, maybe 10 more years”.