The Refreshing Strategy That Helped Me Overcome Burnout

Burnout feels like you’re trudging through quicksand — and to make it worse, there’s usually a voice in your head that won't shut up about how little you’re doing and how slow you’re going.

When I’m not getting as much done as I wish I could, my projects are taking longer than expected, and every to-do feels like a boulder I’m pushing uphill, my inner monologue is historically… kind of mean. It demands perfection, and loves to call me unmotivated, undisciplined, lazy and soft when I start wavering.

After years of wrestling with burnout, I can confidently recommend that when you’re in this place, it’s time to stop trying so hard.

No, this strategy doesn’t make you soft. It makes you smart.

Try lowering the bar for everything that feels hard — Where can you simplify? Where can you give less effort to achieve pretty much the same result? Where can you free yourself from your probably-already-unrealistically-high expectations?

This could look like my very literal practice of Bare Minimum Monday, where I’m physically removing things from my to-do list in order to cut myself some slack, but this also may be more of a subtle, internal change.

When you apply the idea of lowering the bar to your life, a lot of times, this looks like simply loosening your iron grasp on how it’s supposed to go. It’s relinquishing some of the mental gymnastics you do in an effort to control outcomes.

When you’re running on fumes, holding yourself to the same standard as you do when you have full tank is simply not a good strategy. There is no use in being so hard on yourself if you’re currently trying to just survive something.

The thing is — when you come out of burnout, a lot of these “problem behaviors” will naturally course correct when you get some life back.

Persevering when you’re in the throws of burnout is admirable. I’d give you a gold star through this screen if I could. But have you ever thought that if pushing this hard were going to work… it would’ve worked by now? Have you ever considered that your lack of will to do anything is not a moral failing on your end, but a sign it’s time to take your foot off the gas?

Embracing the notion of lowering the bar not only facilitated my recovery from burnout but also acts as a preventative measure against its recurrence. What might initially seem counterintuitive has proven to be my most reliable strategy for getting things done without sacrificing my well-being.