Recently I faced a challenge on getting a small project done. It kinda kept me sleepless at night and had I kept that pace up, I might have burned out. In today’s very fast-paced world people are running on full steam trying to keep going. The more they do, the less they get done. The reason is that they are probably losing their effectiveness as well as their efficiency.
Glassdoor recently conducted a survey and discovered that the average American only take about half their vacation time. There are many factors and probably the top two primary one’s according the the same survey are that the employee believes that no one else can do the job (33%) and a fear of being left behind (28%). This is crazy! At this rate American’s are going to burnout quick and many probably already are.
For years, I’ve been preaching the benefits of self-care. Not only will this benefit the employee or anyone else and it will also benefit the organization they work for. Sure, there are many reasons why Americans do want to take their vacations and yet, it’s vital for self-healing and recovery. With the increase in mental health issues, we’ve got to start taking care of ourselves.
Before I go any further and offer suggestions to you regarding on what you should be doing, let me address more on vacations. My belief is that organizations should offer at a minimum 2 weeks per year and more like 4 weeks. Not only will you have better employees, you’ll also have a better company. If you keep treating employees like freaking robots, then you’re going to end up with a bunch of burned-out non-thinkers. Eventually your business is going to fail. That is a guarantee!
For those that are reading this, including those at the top of a given organization, it’s time to get into self-care. Do this for your mental health, physical health and productivity (which translates into your organization’s health). If you’re the boss, then make sure that your employees take their full vacation each year. And when they do, make sure that there’s no contact with the office. If they have a company cell phone, have them leave it at work.
For the rest, here are additional suggestions….
- Take more time in nature. Get outdoors and away from the office. Be in the moment of what nature has to offer.
- Take your vacations and as suggested above, do not have contact with your work. Don’t even think about it. It will be there when you get back. And you’ll get back fully refreshed and ready to go.
- Pamper yourself. Many women love to go to a spa. Do it. For me, I love to engage in physical activities, such as Parkour and natural movement outdoors. Martial arts is included in that too. It keeps me in the moment and focused on only those areas.
- Practice mindfulness meditation. Being mindful is a key to staying in the moment and through meditation, you’ll learn to do just that.
- Get plenty of sleep.
- Eat healthy foods.
- Get plenty of quality exercise.
- Stop comparing yourself to others regarding success and find your own meaning in that arena.
- Get off of Facebook and other online social media and get into meeting friends and family in person. Have fun too. Heck, get everyone together and go on a picnic or head to the beach. Find some sort of outdoor fun event to do.
- Find something that will bring your joy as well as a mental reboot.
Just doing some or all of the above mentioned suggestions will go a long way to preventing burnout which could lead to a breakdown and instead, help to lead you on the path to complete wellness. Get into self-care on a regular basis.
