Surprising ways to avoid burnout

Do you give yourself permission to rest? If you’re like many people in caring professions, you worry that taking time out to look after yourself means not spending that time helping others. That thinking may have got you to your position now, but is it serving you, or is it time to update your operating system?

The problem with rest is that we often confuse it with inaction. But rest from work doesn’t have to mean rest from activity. As this week’s guest, Nick Petrie discovered, for high achievers, rest could be going to the gym or Argentinian tango. Nick’s research shows that the way to beat burnout is not to stop doing things altogether, but to find things you love to do, but that are entirely outside of your sphere of work.

Choosing what you do outside of work needs to be done with care, however. If you’re used to working in a fast-paced and competitive environment, a gym where everyone’s visibly pushing themselves to beat their neighbour might not give you the release you need.

But engaging in activities or hobbies that give you a complete break from work and allow you to reconnect with your body and emotions could be instrumental in preventing burnout.

Listen to this episode to

Discover surprising factors that contribute to burnout.
Hear examples from high-performing people about the patterns and correlations of burnout across different fields.
Find out how people successfully manage burnout by finding activities that let them switch off and recharge.

Episode highlights

[00:04:41] Correlations of burnout
[00:15:23] Opposite worlds
[00:22:46] The risk of finding a world not opposite enough
[00:26:22] Six types of opposite world
[00:28:47] More correlations of burnout
[00:32:31] Sharing in others’ experiences
[00:36:07] Creating mechanisms for yourself
[00:38:11] The burnout curve
[00:41:35] Allostatic overload
[00:43:25] Three degrees of burn
[00:46:08] Catching the warning signs in yourself and others
[00:49:11] Nick’s top tips

About the guest

Nick Petrie is a researcher and speaker on leadership, resilience and burnout prevention. Nick helps organisations prepare for the future by creating solutions that help leaders be more adaptable, resilient and strategic. He holds a Masters degree from Harvard University and is the author of the book Work Without Stress: Building Resilience for Long Term Success.

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