For ambitious women, burnout is a real risk. Recent research found that working women are more likely to experience career burnout than men and many of these women are using temporary fixes to a career-long issue. So while engaging in housework or doing Pilates might ease the pressures of career stress for a while, it is not ideal for long-term work-life balance that eliminates burnout.
The powerful entrepreneurs of today can benefit from adopting four simple habits that hack the burnout and promote success while maintaining balance.
Regular Exercise
Seems cliche’, yes, but that’s because it works. Research has shown that – aside from obvious physical benefits – exercise resulted in “greater positive well-being and personal accomplishment, and concomitantly less psychological distress, perceived stress, and emotional exhaustion.”
Instead of isolating in your incubator, create a habit of practicing some form of physical activity regularly such as:
- Walking
- Running
- Hiking
- Dancing
- Stretching
Incorporate Stress Management
Research shows that mindfulness-based stress reduction was effective in reducing burnout. Stress management includes such things as:
Meditate for at least 12 minutes per day to accomplish four specific goals:
- Create space for your purpose to find you.
- Set intentions…before brainstorming sessions.
- Insert mind-freeing moments into your day.
- Allow yourself to remember the big-picture views.
Meditation is a powerful way to stay connected to your truth.
Avoid Common Start-Up Mistakes
Sometimes we sabotage ourselves before we ever get off the ground. Begin incorporating these habits:
- Eat breakfast.
- Create a list of tasks for today.
- Eliminate energy bandits such as unhealthy foods, constant to-do lists, and avoiding effective conflict resolution.
- Spend Monday getting out of your comfort zone.
- Optimize recurring tasks and processes in your daily life.
- Focus on wildly important goals
- Create flow by making shared goals and challenges in your private life.
- Reward yourself for your accomplishments and achievements.
Practice Emotional Management
When you’re ambitious and goal-oriented, emotions can either hinder or help us. Practice emotional management by:
- Talking less and listening more.
- Identifying your personal values and what is most important to you.
- Relaxing and letting others contribute. This builds trust with yourself and those around you.
- Leave your ego at the door to allow for vulnerability, transparency, authenticity, and self-love to come through.
It may seem counter-intuitive but indeed, emotional management is a critical component to avoiding the dreaded burnout.
At the end of the day, we are only human – not machines – and we need to master ourselves, before we can master our crafts and achieve our goals. Hack The Burnout is a program intended to help you do just that with strategic programs that will walk you through the process of mastering the greatest habits of success and fulfillment in your career and in your life.