If you’re anything like me, you hate wasting time and pointless tasks. You’re all about getting things done. The more you get done, the better you feel. You go above and beyond of what is expected, because it brings you a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Unfortunately, performing on such a high level often leads to burnout. You keep pushing yourself further and further, until your body and mind break down. You’ve reached a place where all your resources have been depleted and there is no more to give. Game over.
It’s like driving a car for hundreds of miles and never filling up the fuel. Sooner or later, you will run out and the car stops running. The source of energy has been depleted and until you refuel, the car will not move.
“High performers can be up to 400% more productive than the average employee”
“Seventy-six percent of high performers said that they are enthusiastic about their job. However, 53% of those high performers also said that they were burnt out”
Pushing Yourself Over The Limit
The worst part about burnout is, you don’t just run out of energy. You also loose sight of yourself in the process.
Burnout starts with an increased level of stress. This includes some physical symptoms, such as muscle tension, headaches, higher blood pressure and getting sick more easily. We often dismiss these and expect them to pass with time.
But as time passes and our stress does not, the effects grow stronger. So we fight back stronger. We skip meals, work harder and cut back on sleep. Anything to keep going and getting things done. Slowing down is not an option.
Then, it will start to affect the mood and mentality. Frustration, overwhelm, anxiousness and anger are common emotions at this point. It gets tougher to stay emotionally stable, which leads to lashing out on coworkers and loved ones. Hurting them, even when we don’t mean to.
It gets impossible to rationalize as our heightened emotional state is taking control. Turning to substances to get us through the day or to help us sleep, become a good idea. Irrational, even radical decisions seem like the only way to go. Putting us in situations, we should not be in and deepening the ravine between us and the people around us.
Eventually, you loose interest in your work, family and things you were fond of. Everything feels draining and joy is long gone. There’s that sense of emptiness all around you and hopelessness has become the status quo. Nothing matters anymore.
If you suspect burnout or are feeling any of the symptoms, please seek out professional help from your health care provider.
Slowing Down Keeps You Going
Healing from burnout takes weeks, even months in severe cases. As high performers, we might not have the patience to wait that long. But, the reality is, that’s exactly what we need to do.
Don’t take my word for it, do the math. Slowing down and preventing burnout is more productive in the long run, than giving 110%, burning out and recovering from it.
So, dear high performer — slow down.
Remember, high performers can be up to four times more productive than the average person. You have plenty of room to slow down. Even if you slow your roll by 40%, you probably still get twice as much done as an average person.
Besides the statistics, slowing down has many advantages. It gives your body and mind the time it needs to recover, so you can keep operating on a high level.
Sleep quality increases through relaxation and reduced stress. This helps the body to heal and your mind to process the information of the day. Your focus and energy levels increase throughout the day. These make problem-solving, planning and executing tasks effortless. [Yes! 💯]
Additionally, slowing down allows you to function from your rational part of the brain, rather than letting the emotional brain run havoc. Bye bye, to lashing out on your loved ones. And hello, to better communication and stronger relationships.
Emotional stability also leads to healthier decisions, whether it’s substance abuse, what you’ll have for lunch today or important business strategies. Your body, family and career will thank you for this!
As you get out of the survival mode, you’ll start to feel valuable and worthy. Indulging in your favorite activities, bring joy and energize you. You brighten up. Things, people around you and your career matter. Life starts to feel pretty good again.
How To Slow Down?
Living life instead or racing through it sounds pretty good, right? But, how do you slow down when you are wired to keep pushing full steam ahead? Here are three steps you can take today to find a more balanced and enjoyable life (without being less efficient).
1. Utilize Your Super Power
One thing I like to do is to utilize the high-performance mode for tasks that require it. This means; prioritize, bulk, schedule and execute.
Prioritize your tasks, based on importance and impact. Then bulk similar tasks together, for improved efficiency. After this, schedule undisturbed focus time in your calendar. This can be anything between 20–90 minutes. Right after it, schedule a break or some lighter tasks that don’t require a lot of effort. Final step, do it!
For example, I have scheduled 90 minutes of focus time for each morning. I chose this time, because during the early mornings I am laser focused and get into a flow state effortlessly.
After 90 minutes, I take a break. I like to get up, move my body or stretch a little. This allows me to distract myself from work and it triggers the recovery process.
Then, I continue with some lighter tasks, such as answering emails and some mundane, yet necessary tasks. Usually, I schedule another 45 min focus time in the afternoon for tasks that I need to complete that day.
With this method, you utilize your high-performer mode during the focus times and get things done. It also allows you to take time for breaks and incorporate some relaxation methods throughout the day.
Ps. This method is not limited to your work life. You can easily apply it in your private life, too. If you struggle with balancing life and prioritizing meaningful tasks, check out this story: You don’t have to do it all
2. Find Your Zen
The Cambridge Dictionary defines zen as “relaxed and not worrying about things that you cannot change”.
Finding your zen refers to slowing down and finding inner peace. It’s being centered, calm and having clarity. Centering yourself helps you to be present in the moment, aware of your body and thoughts.
You are more calm when you declutter your mind and focus on the thing at hand and in your control. Clarity comes from knowing your values, clear intentions and acting in accordance to these.
Now, when I use the word zen, the first things that pop into my mind are monks and meditation. So, let’s start there.
Meditation is a great way to slow down and there are plenty of studies that showcase the benefits of it. You can start by as little as 5 minutes per day. That’s 5 minutes less of scrolling on social media or as you wait for your morning coffee to brew.
If you have a very active mind or tend to fall asleep with traditional meditation, try guided meditations that include visualizations, such as the 6 phase meditation.
Maybe sitting in one spot for an extended period of time, is not your thing and you need more action. In this case, try yoga or Qi gong. These both combine movement, awareness, breathing and relaxation in one go.
Perhaps, it’s the middle of the day and you’re swamped with meetings? You start to feel the pressure, your breathing gets shallow and the muscles tense. For a quick fix, try a breathing exercises. These generally take 1–5 minutes and you can do them anywhere.
For when you have more time; journal. Journaling is great for slowing down the mind. We are slow writers, so our brain is forced to adjust it’s speed to the speed of our writing. If you tend to overthink, worry or your mind keeps racing, writing it all out on a piece of paper helps you to empty your mind.
Taking a walk in the forest or in a nearby park and noticing all the colors, smells and senses, roots you in the present moment and increases your awareness. Furthermore, studies have shown, that walking in the woods reduces stress and improves mood. [Got plans for the weekend? 😉]
Now, you don’t have to do all of these, but I wanted to show you some options, because we are all different. There is no one size fits all. Take your time to test and see what works best for you! The most important goal here, is to find a way that allows you to slow down, be present and calmer.
3. Cover The Basics — Eat, Sleep & Exercise
For us to function at our best, we must ensure that we cover our basics; nutrition, movement and sleep. Our body is one complex operating system, that requires all parts to run smoothly. If there’s a bug in one part, it will affect all other parts and result in undesired behaviors, wrong output or crashes.
Eat, sleep and exercise are the first areas of life, that we take shortcuts in when the going gets tough. We skip meals or grab some fast food to save time. We cut down our sleep, because we need to finish something tonight. And hey, I’ll just do that workout during the weekend [yeah, sure! Not going to happen].
And this is how it starts. You start cutting corners, because it doesn’t seem like a big deal. But in the long run, it will come back to bite you in your butt. Your overall health starts to decline, keeping at a healthy weight becomes difficult and your recovery is disrupted. It becomes more convenient to put these off and come up with excuses not to take the time to cover your basic needs.
What many forget is, healthy eating habits, enough good quality sleep and exercise are fundamental for better focus, resilience, higher energy levels and increased stress management capabilities. Just to mention a few. Ensuring a healthy lifestyle is ensuring that we can keep performing on a high level, without burning out in the process.
Even when the temptation is high and the short term effects don’t seem that dramatic, don’t cut corners here! Cover your basics at all times.
So, dear fellow high performer, I have a request for you: Please slow down, to keep going.
High performers operate under a lot of pressure and get up to 4x more done than an average person. Unfortunately, this often leads to burnout, which may have long lasting effects on their health and well-being.
Slowing down allows high performers to maintain their efficiency and take care of their health. Small actions, such as a 5 minute meditation, breathing exercises or taking a walk in a park during lunch can already help trigger recovery responses in the body and reduce stress.
Slowing down does not mean to do less, it’s about doing things more efficiently. Organize your work, find your zen and cover your basics to stay in the game for the long run.