I had a busy day today and as I looked over at the four or five applications I had to fill out, I could feel it. I was out of motivation and energy. So instead of forcing myself to fill out those forms I prioritized the ones I wanted to do and shut down the rest.
Everyone has a limit. Energetically, emotionally, physically, etc. Whether that limit is very high or very low. There are people who can go for days, months, or years at the same pace and suddenly, they just burn out. This is them reaching their limit. Then they have to take longer to get back to where they were before.
But what if there was a way to avoid this?
Well there is a few ways to avoid being burnt out. This is the same old advice of "take breaks, go on vacation, and rest". Is it that simple? Kind of. When I am not in a creative mood (right now for example) I tend to avoid writing.
The reason for this is that I want my clients to get good work. If I'm not in the mental state to do that, they are paying for my poor performance. So I'll just not write until I'm in the correct headspace to do it. Other times, I can just squeeze it out for a little longer.
Doing this, or some version of this, can help you extend your ability to work longer. I wouldn't recommend doing it all the time (it's because of the burn out), but you can sometimes coax a little more out of the tank.
Being able to know when to stop is a very handy skill, it also is a hard skill to practice. Especially if you're a people pleaser. Setting boundaries and holding to those boundaries can be very hard in certain situations. And if you are not willing to go all the way to hold those boundaries, you'll get pushed and pushed and pushed.
You'll be pushed well past your breaking point. That's because the people pushing you are not the ones expending energy. You are. It's almost a no lose situation for them. You do all the work, expend all the energy and they don't. If you run out, they'll find someone else.
And there's the secret. People who will try to push you beyond your self made boundaries for their own ends will find someone else anyway. You at least won't be burned out at the end.
"But they might think bad of me."
Listen. Barring the contractual obligations you may have to perform, any one who tries to push your boundaries for their own ends doesn't really care about you. They want something and they'll get something. With or without your help.
So when you don't have anything left in your tank for the day, just stop. That's all you need to do.
Ever encounter a time where you were run beyond your "tank's" capacity? How did that turn out?
Think about it.
Sincerely,
The Irreverent Gentleman
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