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GTD Alert: Dealing with Burnout, Part I
October 16th, 2007 by StephenPosted in GTD, Mind Like Water, The Examined Life |
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Being productive and Getting Things Done is hard work. In fact, your work load can become so great that you risk the dreaded condition of “Burnout”. (This Burnout, not the other one)
It’s not just work, your homelife can have many demands on your time and energy as well. You may have obligations to your church, a social club, political party, school or university, or athletic team. If you have children they will need to get to music lessons or sports practice. Groceries. Laundry. Housekeeping. Your car needs an oil change. Your spouse wants to go out to dinner, and your dog deinitely needs obedience training. Whew!
Are you getting close?
Dr. Steve Stephens has put together a list of warning signs that may mean you are approaching a critical condition. Not an exhaustive list, nor does having one or two of these conditions mean that you are “burning out”.
- Lack of energy
- Loss of enjoyment
- Apathy
- Avoiding people
- Hard to get motivated
- Lowered productivity
- Change in appetite
- Trouble with sleep
- Poor concentration
- Difficulty in making decisions
If you are suffering from more than a couple of these conditions, it may be time for a little check-up. Tomorrow I will have some suggestions for how to recover from Burnout, and start cranking out those widgets again.
If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5wak34. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen
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October 16th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Looking forward to tomorrow!
To me, this kind of burnout occurs when I forget what I use GTD for, ultimately. As David Allen said: “Stability on one level opens up creativity on another”. Becoming very efficient is one thing, but using the time that you saved for really creative things requires that you don’t re-invest it into even more efficient processing of “stuff”.
That’s why I liked Tim Ferriss “4-Hour Workweek” book: it stated clearly that having more time, more money, more of anything isn’t a solution when you just don’t know what matters to you. He suggests that you don’t ask yourself “What are my goals in life?” or “What makes me happy?”, since these questions are too generic and just make you think “Ummm…”. Instead, ask yourself: “What do you feel excited about?” and plan 3-4 exciting things for the next 6 months, not for after your retirement. Focussing on exciting things helps me to overcome burnout.
October 17th, 2007 at 1:51 am
[…] I posted an article about the warning signs that you may be experiencing burnout. Do you feel like the young lady pictured at the left? Or are you feeling a little more […]
November 15th, 2007 at 1:02 am
[…] Dealing with Burnout, Part I […]
November 15th, 2007 at 1:06 am
[…] Dealing with Burnout, Part I […]
May 3rd, 2009 at 12:35 am
[…] I posted an article about the warning signs that you may be experiencing burnout. Do you feel like the young lady pictured at the left? Or are you feeling a little more […]