The Burnout Antidote: Why Less Is More

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about why to do lists don't work. Last week, we pulled an apparent about face, and gave some ideas about how to use a to do list effectively.

As we keep alluding to, it's quite easy to spend an entire day getting things done and when you get to the end of the day, you still don't feel like much happened. As much as you may have gotten done, you still have a giant stack of stuff that needs your attention. That can lead to burnout or a sense of overwhelm.

Less Is More

The challenge isn't so much about getting things done, as getting the right things done. What if the key to getting more done is to actually do less? This has proven to be one of great lessons, one that has helped many move from tired and burned out to feeling fully utilized and engaged.

What I mean by this version of double speak is that you may not feel very productive if you spend all day doing tasks that don't lead to much value. Think about your Symbols vs. Experience list or your Wheel of Life.

If these are the areas that have greatest meaning to you, and you spend day after day doing relatively meaningless things, it's no wonder you don't feel very productive or even burned out.

Most jobs seem filled with small, even inconsequential tasks. (Not all small tasks are inconsequential and we will explore that difference in some detail next week.) For now, we will carry on with the-end-of-the-day-lots-of-things-done-and-no-sense-of-accomplishment phenomenon. What's that all about?

It could be that the work you are doing just doesn't seem to relate to anything that matters. Now just because you don't see the relevance doesn't mean there isn't any. It just means you don't know.

Just as you have your personal goals and objectives, so too does your job or business have meaningful goals. If you aren't clear about your personal goals, you are likely to feel somewhere between drained and lethargic. The same thing applies to work related goals.

That's going to leave you feeling pretty empty. And, sooner or later, it will begin to sap your energy. And the more your energy is sapped, the less enthusiasm you will have for what's next, whether or not it's important.

And here comes burnout!

The Burnout Antidote

By getting a real handle on what's important to you both personally and professionally, you will undoubtedly discover that much of what you have been doing each day doesn't make that much difference.

From there, if you can limit or even eliminate your focus and effort on the meaningless, you just might find more time and energy to focus on what really matters. And the more you focus on what matters most, you will then discover the great paradox of less is more.

The less time you spend on the meaningless, the more time you have for what matters. The more you focus on what matters, the less you will do in terms of "check the box" kinds of activities and the more you will accomplish on the meaningful side of the ledger. The relatively fewer number of "things" you get done each day will have more meaning, more impact, and more value.

Imagine a day where you finished working, looked back on what you had accomplished, and noticed that you made significant progress on what is important to you. That might be pretty rewarding and my bet is that you will discover that those kinds of days wind up producing energy.

At the end of one of these kinds of days you may feel like you do at the end of a vigorous exercise regime. You might be a bit tired for the moment, but with just a few minutes of recovery, you find that you are energized and ready for what's next.

Just as in exercise, when you burn energy in a fruitful direction, the body winds up producing more energy to keep you going, in good spirits, and ready for more. When you don't get much done that matters, just like sitting on your duff all day, the body doesn't find any particular need to produce much more energy and so you wind up feeling drained, even though not much of consequence happened.

The More You Accomplish, The Better You Will Feel

And now we are back to less is more. The less of the inconsequential you focus on, the less exhausted you will feel; the more you focus on what matters, the better you will feel, the more energy you will have, and the more you will feel like accomplishing even more.

However, if you work for someone else, and you don't know the relevance of what you are doing, then both you and your employer are in for some big time challenges. You are likely to wind up burned out over time - very few of us can stand producing meaningless work for very long before we just start to check out.

If that seems familiar, you know that the amount of energy you bring to your job gets less and less each day, the enthusiasm to show up stays at home, and pretty soon you just hate going to work. Maybe you wind up getting sick so you don't have to go. Or worse yet, you just unplug your brain and only part of you shows up.

Next week, we will look more closely at how to produce that sense of accomplishment from both the employer and employee perspective.

Please leave a comment or drop me an email if you have questions, observations or lessons of your own to share.

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You can find out more about Russell Bishop at http://www.lessonsinthekeyoflife.com. Contact Russell at: [e-mail]

The author of Lessons in the Key of Life, Russell is an Educational Psychologist, professional life coach and management consultant, based in Santa Barbara California.

Comments

[Mike Vardy]

Neil Young said that it's "better to burn out than fade away" - and he should know about burnout - having been a musician, songwriter, producer, screenwriter and film director. I've seen "Human Highway" (shudder); he should really just stick to being a grunge icon at this point.

Great article. I'd say more beyond that ,but I'm left with nothing to say as I'm burnt out as far as further commenting goes for today.

[frantaylor]

I thought I was burning out, I was getting distracted all the time.

Then I realized that I was getting distracted while waiting for my slow computer.

I bought a nice new zippy machine and now I am not distracted any more, except by this web site.

[Russell Bishop - Huffpost Blogger]

LOL!

[AngieMom57]

This article coupled with the book I've just finished reading ("Start Where You Are" by Pema Chodron) may just prove to be a nice way to face the "burnout" and/or insurmount­able/multi­faceted tasks we earthlings are waking up to each new day ;-)

[dadw5boys]

Stop right now and decide if your working for yourself or the company.

I tried working for the company andd burnt myself out took over 5 years to recover my health and espically my mental health.

Don't become thew company work horse. They trade old worn out horses for new ones fast.

[Russell Bishop - Huffpost Blogger]

Nice insight, except for one aspect that may be worth adding: I often ask people to consider if they have a life to support their job, or a job to support their life.

Of course, the latter is a preferred choice. Yet, what do you do with your person when you show up for your profession?

So, I recommend doing what you can to create value and meaning in each day, including all the things you do for your job. At the end of the day/week/m­onth/year/­life, it might prove worthwhile to have chosen meaning and value each day - doing so adds up to a lot of value and meaning. Even if no one else notices, you will!

Good luck out there!

[hu.man]

The challenge is pay attention to what works and what doesn't work in our lives. We seem to focus on what doesn't work when we are run by our insecurities.

The key question to ask yourself is: "What are you afraid of?" Then you will find out what is running you ragged.

[Homosapient]

Great article. In the corporate world today, we spend so little time adding value and so much time conducting busy-ness. As an executive and personal coach, one thing I always recommend for people feeling the burnout of non-value adding work is to banish the word "should" for a week. Instead of thinking "I should do x," think "I want to do y." We tend to prefer activities that mean something for us over those that don't.

[brooklyncitizen]

THis can take a lifetime to practice and understand and implement especially in our culture. But another important question is what is "more" about? why do we do so much? take on so much/ what is the hurry?

It reminds me of the Martha and Mary parable- Mary puts aside all the work that there is to be done to listen to Jesus and Martha is running around taking care of the practical and missing out on his deep teachings. Regardless of whether one is religious or not we all have our Martha Mary moments- we can run around focused on things that are not pressing but seem to be or we can stop and be still and focus on what really matters in the moment.

[remma3000]

Thank you for your wonderful article. We are readying our house for market, and the more I do, the less satisfied I feel. I'm not doing the improvements for me or my family; I'm doing them for someone else. I don't even know if we will be able to sell it in this market. It seems futile at times, but I try to keep my eye to the future: A place that is not-this-house will be more comfortable indeed.

I have found, too, that the dissatisfaction and irritation spills over into other areas of my life. I am finding my classwork and teaching burdensome and I have not written for pleasure since we decided to sell the house. Even my cats are irritating. As I work toward purchasing a new home, I will keep in mind your philosophy that less-is-more and be better about delegating the burnout-inducing busywork. I figure, spread it around a little, and we can all support each other in our common burden of mind-numbing chores.

[AlexandraMorgan]

Thank you for this article. Excellent as usual and incredibly relevant. I have definitely experienced the dissatisfaction of getting a number of things checked off my to-do list, but feeling completely drained and unaccomplished at the end of the day. Less is more! --more meaningful, more fruitful, more fulfilling! I can attest that adopting this approach has catalyzed progress and increased energy levels in my life! Again, thank you for the article!