Fix Burnout Without Blowing Up Your Life

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes. Go go to Ratings and Reviews and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question in a future episode. So please ask me anything now. Enjoy the episode and for more, you can always Visit me@nearandfar.com.

How to Prevent Burnout using Timeboxing by Nir Eyl Narrated by Johnny Heller we're facing a burnout epidemic that goes beyond work. Understanding its causes can help us fix it. A 2021 Indeed survey shows 52% of 1500American respondents say they feel burned out, compared with 43% the year prior. 67% believe that burnout worsened during the COVID 19 pandemic. That's not surprising. People who worked from home during the COVID 19 pandemic ended up working more the same. Indeed, survey found 53% of virtual employees work more hours now than they did in the office. That nationwide job burnout inspired two the great resignation a record number 47.4 million Americans voluntarily quit their job in 2021 or they're doing the bare minimum at work. Job burnout isn't the only kind of burnout. Burnout can also rear its head in our relationships domain, especially in parenting, caretaking, or romantic relationships, all of which were challenged during the COVID 19 pandemic. Romantic relationships were put to the test as many found themselves spending unlimited time together without a break. Parents tried to care for their kids, helped them navigate virtual schooling and work at the same time in the same space. The lines between every domain of life were blurred, so controlling how we spend our time became more complicated. We could no longer rely on physical boundaries to establish the boundaries we needed. No wonder burnout increased so dramatically. There is a time management technique that helps to combat burnout by re establishing those lost boundaries. But what causes burnout and how can we avoid it? There's a simple equation for figuring out how to avoid burnout. Identify the cause. According to Psychology Today, burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Further delineating that definition, I recently tweeted burnout equals high expectations plus low control thoughts. The pandemic was the perfect breeding ground for this because we were suddenly expected to take on so much we without having a precedent for how to handle that influx. On Twitter, people responded with their own burnout formulas, all of which shared common themes. One person said that burnout was a combination of trauma and workaholism. Another said it was the accumulation of emotional debt beyond one's capacity to self regulate. Several people alluded to hustling or working long hours without purpose, clarity or direction or enjoyment. Wage slaves. They suggested that the lack of a fundamental plan leads to slapdash action, which leads to burnout. Others suggested that we don't need to necessarily work less, but do need to make room in our lives for self care and passion or the things that recharge us and enable us to reconnect with ourselves. Similarly, another person argued that burnout happens when we spend more time doing things we don't like versus things we value. Studies validate many of those replies. For example, our personal interest in an activity does indeed improve our performance and delay burnout and finding equilibrium is important too. Robert Glaser, who extensively researched burnout for his book Elevate, told me, alleviating burnout doesn't mean scaling back our workload. It's more about reallocating our energy. Lack of control, work life imbalance and unclear or extreme work expectations are named among the causes of burnout by the Mayo Clinic and Jennifer Moss, author of the Burnout Epidemic. All of those burnout formulas can be balanced by effectively and realistically managing our time. And when it comes to time management, there is no better method than time boxing. Find Balance with Timeboxing Timeboxing is a time management technique that helps you make sure you don't spend more time than you want to on any one thing. The key to timeboxing and fighting off burnout is to get really clear on how you want to spend your time. What do you need to make time for in order to become the person you want to be? To answer that question, start by identifying your values. Your values are attributes of the person you want to be. They are things that can't be taken away from you. Employment, security, material possessions, and community are not values. Self reliance, tolerance, and determination are. When we define values as attributes of the people we want to be, we can more clearly see our next steps, the actions we can take to move forward. It helps to categorize your values into three life, yourself, your relationships, and your work, which can also include community service and side projects. Use this free schedule maker template to plot it out of course, it's a fact of life that we have to give time to things that we don't necessarily want to do. We can't all love our jobs all the time, but a large portion of our time is still dedicated to paid labor. When virtual schooling was the norm during the pandemic, many parents had to make time for their children's education. That only emphasizes the importance of using timeboxing to take control of your remaining time. Timeboxing gives us insight into what we can realistically fit into one day and enables us to find a better balance for all our values. Without timeboxing, the chance of you finding some semblance of a balance drops. By pinpointing our values and making sure that those get time in our schedule, we can at least find a balance between doing the things we have to do even if we don't want to, and doing the things we want to do. What's more, reframing the actions we make time for in our calendar can give us a new perspective. You may not love your job, but it helps you fulfill your value of being self reliant or a good partner or parent. Getting clear on our values and how we spend our time reminds us why we do those things. Using timeboxing, you can make the most of your time and your life. And when we find that control, we block burnout.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the near and Far Podcast. You can always find more at my blog, nearandfar.com and don't forget, if you have a question you'd like me to explore in a future episode, leave me your question, the form of review or the podcast on itunes.