Bright side of BurnOut: How to Fix it! (Part 2)

Last month, I covered 2 of 4 lessons regarding how to stop burnout: #1: Stop and identify the specific source of the fire (remember: everything’s not burning) and #2: Drop into your Self, listening and paying attention to what matters to you (your voice, vision and values).  (Want a refresher? Read Part 1)

Before we move to lessons: #3: Roll and #4: Go, I want to emphasize something from lesson #2: The capital “S” is not a typo. The Self is you as a whole human being who embodies all the potential you were born with, all the capacities actualized and not yet actualized. The “self”, little ‘s’, is the one that judges, doubts, criticizes us. It’s the know-it-all, puny, little self.   Tim Gallwey (The Inner Game of Work) when referring to these 2 selves says: Our best performance happens with the “self” is quiet and the “Self” is allowed to act.

#3: Roll.  Move in a different direction.  Break the unconscious, automatic patterns of action.

Take a different route to work, have a picnic lunch outside with a book of poems or a sketch book, not your blackberry.  Listen to unfamiliar music, spend time with someone you wouldn’t normally.  Changing your physical routine has the possibility of changing your mental outlook because you can’t rely on muscle memory or cruise control.  Re-arrange your cubicle physically. Get a stand-up workstation.  Move to a conference room to do even a short task. You’ll be amazed at how a physical change increases your productivity.

#4: Go. Go beyond your comfort zone.

Go 1 more inch. Where you normally stop, withdraw, go silent or give up or give in, go 1 inch more. Not 10 inches, 1 inch. BTW: This inch usually is often an inward measurement, going into yourSelf for the courage to speak up, to reconnect when you’re dis-engaged.

Ask for support. You feel good when you support others. Share the opportunity: let others support you. We all know you can do everything all the time.  What’s the point of that, really?

Draw boundaries. If there’s a situation that always pulls you in, a vortex that sucks your energy and aliveness, get out in front of it. Talk to those who are involved BEFORE the situation turns into the same old emergency that you don’t say No to.

Reduce your insatiable need to achieve. What??? Achieve less? Are you kidding, Camille? No, I am not. If you are comfortable always pressing, working hard and long, continually raising your goals, do what isn’t comfortable: reduce your need to achieve. Do it for 1 week. See what, and more importantly who, shows up when you aren’t fixated on the goal. You aren’t a slacker. You can achieve goals and not run over yourSelf or others in the process. This may be the most uncomfortable thing to do, and it may help the most to reduce burnout.

I’m not saying this is easy, I’m saying this is a way to be alive, engaged, and being your best, rather than burning out.  New mantra: I have more important things to do than burnout!

Because burnout can be invisible until the meltdown, there’s something fundamental to having this tool work for you.  You need a personal, heart-felt reason or commitment that inspires you and makes being burned out unacceptable.

Here’s mine: I am committed to supporting people being fully self-expressed, making their contribution, having a blast and being satisfied in the process, including me.

Invent your own commitment. Something that speaks to you, that brings you joy, that reminds you of who you are and what matters to you at your core.

When we’re centered in our Self, in who we are as human beings, not a cog, a job, a role, we see ourselves differently.  When we embrace our humanity, we see ourselves less as a commodity, more as a possibility.  We see others in that same light. When we see ourselves as a possibility, we make choices about how best to use our energy, talents, time.  We see ourselves as a source and a resource to ourselves and others.

We – your family, friends, co-workers – need you to be engaged, appreciated for your talents and making your contribution. More importantly, you need to be meaningfully engaged for your own sake and aliveness.

Don’t “Stop – Drop – Roll – Go” because I said so, do it because you said so.

The bright side of burnout is that it illuminates what matters so you can come back to your center, to your authentic Self. Pay attention to your Self. Ask, answer and act on your inner intelligence and commitment to be the amazing natural resource you are.

All together now:  “I have more important things to do than burnout.”