Part 1: Avoid Urgency Trap
Part 2: Feel/Behave Better
Part 3: Focus
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OVERCOME BURNOUT: FOUNDATIONS FOR SUCCESS COACHING
Part 1: Avoid Urgency Trap to Overcome Burnout
This is how to prioritize!
At the end of each week, ask yourself, “do I feel fulfilled or frustrated?”
Then plan the week ahead to ensure by the end of next week you feel fulfilled. To do so we first need to compartmentalize all of our to-do items using the Eisenhower Grid. Basically, the grid offers four boxes.
There is:
Urgent/Important,
Not urgent/Important, Urgent/Not important,
Not urgent/Not important.
The first thing you need to do is get clear on where all your tasks lie. Draw the Eisenhower grid then journal.
Once you’ve done that, the next step is to see if you can first move any tasks out of the urgent/not important box, because that’s just delusional work and it’s not getting you anywhere. Delegate it, outsource it, just stop it!
Next, see if there’s anything in the urgent/important box that could be moved into the not urgent/important box?
The problem in today’s culture is that too many people have too many items in the urgent/ important box.
It’s like driving a car at 150km/hr. The outside is a blur (you’re unpresent), there’s very little reaction time to any incident up ahead, you are burning fuel (energy), and there’s great wear and tear on the vehicle (body). Burnout really is just exhaustion.
It’s time to slow things down. Not be so attached to future outcomes. Get back to Now. Start cruising at 30km/hr (now you’re present). Take it all in. Burn less fuel. More reaction time to any incident up ahead (life’s challenges), less wear and tear on the vehicle.
Effectively you could work 365 days a year and not tire.
So what can you take out of the urgent box?
The only things that really should be in the urgent/important box are emergencies or crises. That’s why the illustration above says “Do”. You have to prioritize urgent/important work or responsibilities.
Sort the urgent/important stuff out and then begin to operate only in the not urgent/important box, with maybe just a little bit of time in the not urgent / not important box. We can all allow ourselves a little time for distraction but if you allow for the average of 4 hours per day which the low-performing people generally do, then that would add up to 13 years of the average person’s life. Yes read that again. 13 years of distraction is what the average person has in their lifetime.
Do you think when you are 90, you’ll look back and think, geez I wish I had watched more Netflix when I was younger? Lol! It’s unlikely!
When you start living your life mostly in the not urgent/important box, that’s called being in the zone, or living in flow.
If you leave some of those more painful tasks too long, that frickin difficult, perhaps even boring tasks that you know you have to do but too often don’t do; Then it’s those things that may just end up in the urgent/important box if you’re not careful.
And that’s what leads you back down the path of burnout.
So go ahead now, please. Sort out your priorities.
Part 2: Feel/Behave Better to Overcome Burnout
Too much worrying leads to stress. Too much stress leads to burnout.
So how then to worry less and stress less.
You have to learn to shift your focus from negative to positive thoughts and restore your calm using this one simple formula.
Too often today, people blame the outside for how they feel. They pursue happiness in things and they point the finger saying things like “you make me feel”, or “he makes me feel” etc!
Some people even yell or argue with other people in an unconscious attempt to get the other person to change what they said or did, so as to feel better within themselves. Truth is, the only way you are going to feel better is if you have better beliefs about yourself and what other people think needs do not affect what you believe in yourself.
This section is not about your beliefs however, they too really need to be examined because when we are operating from a limiting belief, ie when your daily efforts at work and with family, etc become an effort to prove your limiting belief false (even though they always was false), that leads to exhaustion and burnout too. (Click here for some mindset training)
If you’re feeling crappy it’s because you’re having crappy thoughts. Here is a simple formula for those times when you feel crappy.
Here’s the formula:
The questions you ask yourself lead to what you focus on. What you focus on leads to how you feel. How you feel leads to how you behave and how you behave leads to your results.
Questions > Focus > Feelings > Behavior > Results
Why does this always happen to me?, is not an uplifting question. Nor is why does she/he always do that? or how am I going to get through this?
Some examples of uplifting questions are:.
- What’s the one positive that I’ve overlooked in this situation?
- What do I appreciate about him/her?
- How can I enjoy this challenge?
- I also like spiritual questions like:
- Who am I?
- Who is the doer?
Start to pick up on the questions you’re asking yourself.
Change them instantly if you catch any that send you down the rabbit hole, or slippery slide.
Have 3 or more great uplifting questions in your self-empowerment tool belt.
That way you will stop feeling crappy which has no doubt also contributed to burnout.
Part 3: Focus
In this video, learn the simple yet effective formula that will help you towards achieving your dreams and goals in life and to enjoy the process along the way.
Remember this acronym: ORCA
O = Outcomes
R = Reasons
C = Challenges
A = Actions.
Step 1
Start by base-lining yourself in all seven arenas I,e. Rate your current performance out of 10 in each.
Health. /10
Love /10
Relationships /10
Hobby /10
Mission /10
Finances /10
Spirit/Presence. /10
Step 2
Determine what are the Outcomes you would like to achieve in all seven life arenas:
You may ask yourself, “If you did……”, or achieved ….”, “I would elevate my score in that area”
Step 3
For each Outcome, determine the Reason you want that Outcome. And don’t just say to increase your score. Rather really pull out the real Reason Why is that outcome so important. Go at least 5 layers deep. Embellish your Reason, because it’s what’s going to get you out of bed with purpose. Its the reason that motivates you to do what you need to do to achieve the outcome you desire. If it doesn’t then you must raise necessity.
Step 4
For each outcome also identify what challenges potentially lay on your path? If you anticipate the challenges, those challenges, if they arise, won’t be so challenging after all.
Step 5
Determine what actions need to be taken to achieve your outcomes so as all of your actions become purpose driven. You will soon feel the difference. It’s a much better way of operating.
Step 6
Finally you must now determine which of the seven life arenas you wish to address first.
Create a strategy. Determine when and how you will achieve your desired outcomes.
I recommend you block time out for each life arena based on priority, which only you can determine.
Please remember not to allow any not urgent / important tasks to become urgent / important.
Sometimes that occurs when you focus solely on one or two life arenas whilst disregarding the rest.
You MUST keep a watchful eye over all seven life arenas.
Step 7
Game on. Implement with purpose driven actions.
If you implement what Keenan Crisp has shared, we’ve no doubt that you will find your way out of burnout and back into a life of full engagement, joy and confidence that comes when living from your best self.
If you struggle to implement or are looking for more personalized support book a free strategy session HERE.