How To Stay Productive Without Burning Out

We’ve all been there – you’re charging full speed ahead on work, home responsibilities, or personal goals, only to hit a wall that leaves you feeling drained, overwhelmed, and ready to give up entirely. You might be feeling that exact feeling right now, and if not, it’s highly likely you’ve felt it in the past (or that it could happen in the future). It’s not pleasant, to say the least, and it might even get dangerous (for both your mental and physical health), but many people still go through it, and that’s a shame.

The truth is that productivity might feel great at first, but if you don’t manage your energy and priorities carefully, burnout can sneak up on you very quickly, leaving you in a difficult and horrible situation that’s hard to get back out of. The good news, however, is that it’s definitely possible to stay productive without running yourself into the ground. The key is striking a balance between getting things done and giving yourself room to breathe, and as some might say, it’s about working smarter, not harder, and remembering that your mental and physical wellbeing are absolutely crucial to take care of if you want to be successful. So with that in mind, here are some useful tips on how to stay productive without burning out – read on to find out more.

Set Realistic Goals

When you really take time to think about it (and you should if you want to know how to prevent it), one of the fastest routes to burnout is setting yourself an impossible to-do list and feeling crushed when you can’t check everything off. Have you done that? The feeling at the end of the day or week when there’s still loads to do and no time left to do it isn’t just unhappy – it’s devastating and stressful.

That’s why, instead of all that, you need to focus on realistic, achievable goals that allow you to make steady progress. In that way, you’ll get everything done, feel like you’re achieving what you need to achieve, and feel truly motivated to do more. To begin with, start each day by listing three priority tasks – these should be manageable and meaningful. Once you’ve ticked them off, celebrate! This is actually a really important part of the whole process, and whether it’s treating yourself to a cup of your favourite coffee or taking a well-earned break, recognising your wins (even the small ones) can keep you motivated and prevent the overwhelm from creeping in, which is where burnout begins.

Schedule Breaks Like Meetings

You know breaks are important, right? But do you know how important? Or do you think they can wait? After all, it’s easy to think you’ll just keep working for another hour before you take a couple of minutes to recharge, but if you do that, do you then wonder why your brain feels like mush by the afternoon? Because the fact is, it will. If you don’t take regular breaks and really make the most of them, your productivity is going to disappear, so you’ll end up working for longer and not getting as much done as if you worked less, took more breaks, and were energised and productive as a result.

Because it’s so easy to skip breaks, even if you do know how important they are, you should actually schedule your breaks into your day like non-negotiable appointments. You wouldn’t skip a meeting, would you? Especially if it was in your diary and you’d planned for it. So the logic is that you wouldn’t miss a break either (and again, especially if you’d planned for it by knowing you’re going to play a relaxing game of spider solitaire, for example). If you’re not sure it’s going to work, why not try it? You won’t know until you do, and there’s a very high chance that it will be exactly what you need.

Create A Dedicated Workspace

If you want to be productive and reduce (or even eliminate) the chances of burnout, then where you work is just as important as what you’re doing, so it’s going to be important to bear this in mind and do what you can to give yourself the right space – it could be the best thing for your health (and your career, come to that).

The fact is that when your workspace is also your dining table, your sofa, or (in some cases) your bed, it’s always going to be difficult to get into a productive frame of mind – you’ll always be distracted, especially if the seat (or bed) is really comfy and you’re quite tired… That’s why it’s wise to create a dedicated workspace, even if it’s just a corner of a room rather than an entire room to yourself. In that way, when you’re in that space and at your desk, you’ll be in work mode, and when you leave it, you’ll be in home mode, and between the two of these things, burnout should be eliminated.

Once you have a workspace, it’s crucial to keep it tidy, well-lit, and stocked with everything you need to focus. If you’re constantly having to go and get things or rearrange your space, you’re going to be distracted (even if you don’t realise it) and that’s going to hurt your productivity – you’ll get less done, get stressed, try to do more, and, eventually, burnout. And if you work from home, think about dressing as if you’re heading to the office, even if you don’t have to. It’s a little thing, but it can trick your brain into feeling more professional and ready to tackle the day, and it certainly can’t hurt to try it. In fact, you might find you like it better than casual clothes (or pyjamas, as the case might be).

Learn To Say No

No. It can feel like such a harsh, hard word, and it’s never great to have to say it – or at least, that’s how it can seem. If someone asks you to do something, saying yes is so much easier; you won’t have to explain yourself or find reasons that you can’t help out, and you won’t have to get into any kind of confrontation. Best of all, no one’s going to think badly of you.

But… saying yes all the time just to please other people and make life easier is not the right thing to do. It might feel like it at the time, but if you keep saying yes, you’re just going to overwhelm and overload yourself, and you won’t have any time to do the things you need (and want) to do, including taking breaks or tackling your (albeit reduced) to-do list.

It’s important to learn and remember that being productive doesn’t mean saying yes to every request that comes your way. In fact, overcommitting is almost guaranteed to end in burnout, and then you won’t be able to help anyone anyway – you might even have to change plans and tell people you can’t help after you already said yes, which is often harder than saying no to begin with! Remember, you cannot and should not give all your time and energy to other people, even if it feels like the right thing to do. You’ve got to save time for yourself.

Since it’s hard to say no, you’ll probably need to practice, so try it out with smaller tasks to begin with, and make sure you’re not harsh or rude – and remember, you don’t have to give reasons why you can’t do something (maybe you don’t have reasons other than you need a bit of time to yourself or you really just don’t want to do it!), but if that helps soften the blow, it might help at least to begin with – but as time goes on and you get better at being sensible about what you can and can’t do, you’ll find a firm but polite know should do the trick and be enough.

Take Care Of Your Body

You might assume that being productive is more about your mental health and state of mind than your physical health, but the truth is that your physical health plays a huge part in how productive you are – if you’ve ever tried to work when you’ve got a nasty headache or stomach ache, for example, you’ll know what we mean – it’s impossible to focus and you end up not getting a lot done. That’s exactly why you need to take time off if you’re not feeling well – the more you try to push yourself, the harder it will be, and as well as not doing your best work, you might even make yourself more unwell in the process, and then you’ll be even further behind.

That’s one thing to bear in mind, but another is that you can’t be productive if you’re running on empty – it’s just not possible. You’ve got to take care of your body and ensure you’re in the best condition if you’re going to stand any chance of being productive and avoid burnout, which means you need to prioritise sleep, keep yourself nice and hydrated by drinking plenty of water, and ensure you eat healthy meals to keep your energy levels at the right place during the day – too much sugar might wake you up a bit to begin with, but you’ll soon crash, and then you’ll be far less productive.

You’ll also need to exercise, but that can be tricky when you’re busy. The key is to sneak in movement where you can – if you’re on a call, stand up and stretch, go for a walk during lunch, and take the stairs whenever you can, for example. It all adds up, and it means you’ll be more productive and healthy, so it’s all for a good cause.