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How To Avoid Burning Out By Managing Your Time

Jan 30, 2020
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Time is all we have, and the way we use it defines the best and the very worst of us.

And now, we will be looking at the ways that we can manage our time in order to avoid burning out.

Almost every adult has experienced it. That sinking feeling of tiredness. That feeling that makes you want to curl up in a corner with a cup of coffee and just watch the world go by. Burnouts are often symptoms of overworking, and when they come they can be really terrible.

They make us miss deadlines, make us disinterested in work, and generally make us unproductive people. But that's only one dimension. Burnouts can even affect ones personal life. Your friends may come to think you're disinterested in some interesting life explorations or a bore to be with. Family members may actively come to loathe you.

Burn Outs; What Are They And How Do They Manage To Happen?

Burn Outs are very personal and the reasons for them happening varies from person to person. A lot of different reasons could cause them to happen. A common reason is working in a toxic environment. Another reason is being bullied by colleagues or bosses. It could even be as a result of pure exhaustion, whether it be physical, mental or emotional.

There are a lot of reasons for burn outs, but most of them have one underlying factor and that's poor time management. That may seem like a reach but think about it. Your level of exhaustion can be significantly decreased if you manage your time properly. Even working in a chaotic work environment can be overcome with the right time management skills. And yes, time management is a skill. That's why not everyone has managed to get a hang of it.

Now, will managing your time properly make all your problems disappear? Obviously not. But it will make your job considerably easier, and that can definitely reduce your risk of being burned out.

So what do you do? How do you manage your time? Well, the first step, as Plato said, is "know thyself".

Know Your Limitations

Today's work culture praises workaholics. People want to be supermen and superwomen at the cost of their mental and physical health. However, that is often quite impossible. Working 60, 70, 80 hours a week is a superpower that very few human beings have. Importantly, you need to understand that it is no crime for you to have limitations.

You are human, and limitation is a human thing. Human beings get tired, human beings aren't omnipotent, and that's a normal thing.

That's why it is important to know what you can get done in a day. What is your limit? At what point does your brain want to shut down? At what point do your muscles start screaming like banshees stuck in a blender? Do you have strategies to help you avoid breaking down? All these are questions you must ask on your journey to managing your time better.

You must also know and choose what to do with the time that isn't spent working. Enjoying your downtime well can help you avoid burning out quickly.

Priorities

You must have read or heard about prioritizing your time so much that your eyes and ears are raw from it.

But it is true. Priorities are important, and you need to know what tasks are most important to you and your work before starting your day. This ensures that you have them done and out of the way before you can be bogged down by less important tasks. One easy way to prioritize your time is by choosing only a few very important tasks to focus on each day.

Making it a point not to focus on anything else until those tasks are done will ensure that you get important jobs out of the way before focusing on less important ones.

Again, Know Yourself, And Align Your Energy To Your Job

You must know what a biological cycle is, even if they mean exceedingly little to you. Now, the thing is that they shouldn't mean so little to you. You need to find out what your ultradian rhythms are.

Ultradian rhythms? What are those?

Easy. They are like biological cycles that occur throughout a 24-hour day. These help you know which part of the day you are the most focused and most energized. By aligning your most important tasks with that part of your day, you are able to complete these tasks faster and easier. You are able to make the right use of your period of optimum energy.

Interruptions

It is important for you to track your interruptions. By tracking what interrupts you, you have a dossier of things that impede you from completing tasks at the right time.

By knowing whats stops you, you can come up with reasonable ways to combat them.

Learn To Relax

You must also learn to take your time and relax after a hectic day. It isn't the easiest thing, but resting, even when you have more than enough jobs to complete, is important to your health. You must not let yourself be overwhelmed.

Of courses, time management is more than this. But by following these short tips, you should be able to keep a healthy level of energy at all times and avoid the frustration of burning out.

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