It's simple: take care of yourself. What you're experiencing is burnout.
And before you think: "burnout? But I'm not working that hard, blah blah..."
Burnout is actually physical and mental, characterized by cynicism, loss of purpose, and lack of drive.
There are 6 burnout triggers, they are:
- Lack of control: you feel like you don't have control over your life, you're floating aimlessly
- Values conflict: you feel like what you are doing clashes with your values. This can be in your own endeavors or in your job.
- Insufficient reward: you're working your a$$ off, and not feeling like you're getting what you need to get from it to justify the effort.
- Work overload: simple enough, your biology is drained, your neurochemicals are shot, you need more recovery in your life
- Unfairness: Someone or something else is getting more rewards than you for the same or less work, life is unfair, wanting to change the way the world works because things aren't fair.
- Breakdown of Community: feeling like the people you're working with, your friends, family, etc no longer support you, or there is resentment or antagonism on your part or others'
And before someone says half of these are mindsets, yes you are right. Unfairness and insufficient reward can be changed by a mindset shift. That does NOT mean that they didn't trigger the burnout.
Isolate the trigger, then resolve it through assertiveness, pulling back, changing the way you look at something... Basically just focus on the biggest problem of these you see until it's gone, and you'll likely feel 1M times better when you're done.
Here are some things that help:
1. Choose the right kind of hard
Counters insufficient reward. Output flatlines. Studying the wrong domain. Misalignment with strengths. The pursuit is extrinsically motivated.
Playing to your strengths and interests. An ROI on difficulty, getting lots of reward. Fueled by intrinsic motivation. Hard work feels effortless, gains momentums. Most of the challenge is going from good to great, not shitty to OK. Pick a hard that hooks you.
2. Don't stay too close to the line
Redlining, squeezing the last drop of productivity out of every moment. Hit the wall. Lose all your momentum. The allostatic load limit = burnout. Simplest tasks are exhausting.
Dialing back the game, running at 80% intensity. Don't cross the invisible line = don't let your motivation evaporate. Consistency trumps intensity every time. Train @ 80%.
Track your daily capacity at a scale of 1 to 10, at the limit. When you're near your limit, dial it back and focus on consistency. HRV can help guage capacity.
3. When you see a hill, sprint
Sometimes, leaning in is the solution. You can sometimes work yourself out of burnout. If you're feeling overwhelmed by a hefty workload but you're getting mediocre, average results...
Don't fall for the wrong kind of hard - create traction to get past insufficient reward. Get the results. See the traction. Success blunts the burnout. Dopamine = focused attention, more wins.
Give yourself a limited timeline. When you see a hill, sprint.
4. Disarm burnout triggers
Rank the triggers by the highest risk, solve the issues systematically.
Lack of control =focus your control on the smallest part of your work you can completely own
Work Overload = take time off, active recovery, physiologically buffer yourself
Insufficient Rewards = gain more, ask for more recognition, appreciation, sacrifice less
Unfairness = asymmetric comparisons, consider the full context, address unfairness directly
Values Conflict = pin down values, consider a new role, negotiate a transfer
Breakdown Community = Sync frequently, share victories, get together more often
5. Build Burnout Body Armor
Burnout proofing your body and mind through active recovery. Not just time off, but active recovery.
Use hermetic stressors - jack up your heart rate in the moment, then result in a dropping over time, with HRV elevating afterwards. Hermetic stressors lessen impact of burnout.
When your nervous system is too overtaxed to respond to meditation or a walk in nature, Jack up your system to above max, parasympathetic rebound takes you back down to 2nd gear, a receptive state. Sauna, ice bath, no cognitive room to worry about burnout.
Cold induced thermogenesis, heat therapy, exercise, massage & myofacial release
