about this site

Friday, March 12, 2010

Essential Points For Avoiding Burnout By Managing Your Time Effectively

We normally associate burnout with people who have highly stressful occupations or senior level executives. However, all of us are vulnerable to suffering from this condition if we're not careful, regardless of what occupation or position we have. While some people may be way more susceptible to burnout than others, if you approach your daily activities in a “happy-go-lucky” way, not really focused at all, then you could wind up in this position yourself.

So many different situations could contrive to lead you towards a burnout phase. Over time, you may have accumulated too much in your daily life to cope with. For example, you might decide that you need to educate yourself more and take on an appropriate course, your job could be asking a lot of you, you could be looking after a sickening relative or a combination of any other factors. In all these situations, time management is so critical. Without it, it is unlikely that you are going to be able to plan what you have to do, prioritising accordingly and delegating at crucial times. Simply accepting high-pressure situations as they come along and going through life by “putting out fires” constantly, will force you to build up such a heavy stress level that burnout is almost inevitable.

Everything you do in life must be part of a clear and defined journey towards a quantifiable goal. Without having such a goal ahead of you and applying time management techniques accordingly, you will just be missing the point in life. If you don't have that goal ahead of you, you won't be able to see any progress as you work so hard toward it and if you don't know where your destination is, how do you know whether you're making any progress? Such a level of organisation is essential to overcome the pressure packed points ahead of you.

If you truly, deep down inside, do not believe that you can achieve what you are trying to do, this is a big recipe for burnout. Undoubtedly, you will be able to put in extra long hours and force yourself to work, being fairly good at time management in any situation, but your subconscious within you will preach at you, telling you that what you are doing is impractical and thus force you to build up an almost invisible resistance. Once again, burnout is not far away.

If you sense that you might be “burning out,” assess all the potential triggers and start to come up with a plan to ward off what may not be inevitable. Counsel the input and advice of a trusted friend or even seek professional help if you are unclear.

Understanding how important time management is will help you to avoid the dreaded burnout. These days, online time management tools are available to help you decipher its meaning and through time tracking software you will be able to put in place a concerted action plan to be more productive and efficient. Thanks to the latest technological advancements, time management software can be your ally in the battle against burnout.

No comments:

Post a Comment