For me it was an injury, one day I was on top of my game, the next I was at the bottom of a flight of stairs having fallen after being exhausted from two cross-country business trips. I almost broke my neck. I had plenty of time recuperating to mull over my life. Even though I was successful, I wasn't really happy. I realized the seductive adrenaline of the rat race was going to have to take a back seat because what I really wanted was to feel like I had a LIFE. My goal became to figure out how to reclaim my life AND maintain my successful career.
If you can relate to feeling burned out, this article Overcoming Burnout, has some great tips. I've worked with many clients to shift them from burn out to balance by looking at their unique situation and coming up with a step-by-step strategy for reclaiming their life without giving up a successful career.
For me, the first step in reclaiming my life was the decision to do it differently. How about you? Have you ever felt burned out? What do you do think is important for dealing with it? I'd love your comments.
Questions? Feel free to contact me.
Oh, yes! I think burn out also comes from doing something that compromises a value for too long. I was all happy to start coaching many years ago, and now am feeling some burnout I believe due to compromising my value of belonging. Too many hours working on my business alone. I don't think the casual business relationships quite do it in the long run.
ReplyDeleteNancy - thanks for bringing up that burn out results from compromising values - a key point! Also appreciate you pointing out that you can suffer burn out as a result of being in an organization and as a result of working solo.
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