Burnout.

Xin Ping
Oct 22, 2020
3 min read

There is this optimum point that everyone can take when we reach the peak point of productivity when everything starts to go downhill. Although I have mentioned many times to take a break, it is really easier said than done. I think it is bound to the unpredictability of life and how you can never expect when every aspects of your life start throwing stones at you.

At this stage, a quick fix will not work, we have to be mindful and be constantly in check with our body and just rest when we really have to. To still manage work during a burnout, here is a few things I have tried to do!

1. Think slower

I intentionally think slower and told myself to do things one step at a time, despite the increased workload from procrastination compelled by burnout. I firmly believed that, to over-strain yourself and force yourself to complete more when you can’t at the moment is being ridiculous and counter-productive. And the more you wish to rush to the end, the slower the progress will look. Time is relative and largely tie to your perception of your situation. If you take it slow, naturally there will be sufficient time to complete the task at hand.

2. Prioritise

When there is an overbearing amount of work after a period of burnout and procrastination, I think it is very easy to sink down further into inaction. But this will simply lead to a vicious and negative cycle. So what we can do is to “just start”. Start working on what is important right now, what requires urgent attention to. Once you start, there is a high possibility to continue working on it. I love this magic motivation.

So, just how do I start? What I do is train the mind. When I finish binging one episode, I am always so tempted to click “next episode” because the author always love to leave a hook at the end of every episode (and this is naturally a sign of great script writer) but anyhow, I’ll always force my mind to stop and change to another tab to flash out the work that I need to work on.

3. Do things outside of work

“I am already having very little time to do anything, and you still want me to put it aside and do some other things?”

I know it doesn’t really make sense, but doing so will really help your brain to wind down and free up your mental space filled up by stress and anxiety cause by the focus on ‘lack of time’. I am going to share with you this very interesting mindset hack – if you stop thinking that you do not have enough time, and start believing that there is sufficient time to complete everything, you start to relax, and your body naturally start to breathe again. And you realise, you will stop having the strong urge to procrastinate.

Instead of telling yourself, I “have to” complete this by today, give yourself some breathing space and say I “can” finish by today. So you feel more confident that everything is under control.

4. Simplify things

I have been appreciating time blocking a lot because it makes me feel very productive. That is when I am functioning at optimal level. During this overwhelming period, I find time blocking stresses me out more because I can see that I am having so much downtime and so little work done, it got me even more anxious because of all the incomplete task lining up in the calendar.

When you are facing a burnout, the last thing you want to know is that there is an ever increasing to-do list. So, keep it simple. Just focus on at most two things for the day, or if have to, just ONE. Write down the things to complete for the day and that’s all, do not overwhelm yourself by checking over and over your weekly schedule, because that will simply throw you off further.

Life is all about ups and downs, and I believe this hectic semester will draw its curtain in due time, and life will become more manageable again with more time to think and write as well as venture into creative ideas and making things happen. Currently, I am really facing a huge challenge to pass all my modules because of my lack of focus on all of them. When your attention spread too wide, it becomes so easy to lose focus. As you start giving a little bit to everywhere, you have nothing left to reflect and give space to what’s truly important to you. And there it starts the extended period of low tide with much to juggle, little to feel.

Hang on tight everyone to the glimmering hope that the end of tunnel is close!