I wish I could say my return from burnout has been easy. Over 2020 and 2021 I had tried time and again to get it together and failed. I knew I would have to do something dramatic if I was truly going to make a change.
While my burnout experience was work related, work is only one way burnout can happen. I’ve seen these similar feelings in single parents, people taking care of aging parents, or parents of children with disabilities. All of these are high demand situations that require the person to always be “on”.
By fall of 2021 I had two businesses. The restaurant, and the market. The market had evolved from those first days of covid to also an e-commerce business. So, I got things in order the best I could and did a crazy thing. I left. I rented an Airbnb in Florida for two weeks and just left it all.
It’s interesting. As I’ve talked to other women who have gone through burnout, our journey’s have been similar in one way. We ALL did something big. We either quit a job, moved to another city, or left town for a large amount of time.
The thing I did differently this time was sit down and make a list of things I needed to help me start the change process. Here is a list of 7 things I changed in order to start healing form burnout.
- Decreased store hours.
At first, we were closed two days a week and then just one. I would go on to keep the store closed that one day a week for a long time until I could fully recover. These days allowed me to get a much needed physical and mental break. I was able to make a plan to be gone. For you, this may mean decreasing the overall hours you work or putting boundaries surrounding how long you work in a day or weekends.
- Created task checklists
We often don’t want or ask for help because we’re worried people won’t do things the way that we do them. I have found that people really do things the way we want them. They just aren’t clear what the standards are. I created detailed checklists for team members so they could help me evaluate others and complete tasks that didn’t need to be done by me.
- Created an HR position.
I was so blessed that our bookkeeper who had help a leadership position in another company agreed to take over HR roles. This meant employment paperwork, disciplinary actions, and policy adherence could be take over by someone else. Since she was on location several times a week, it was another set of eyes keeping things running smoothly. The was a huge load off for me.
- Boundaries on phone calls and messages.
I no longer accepted non-emergency texts or phone calls. I communicated this to all staff and clearly stated which kinds of things were reasons to call me and which weren’t. 98% of what I was called or texted for did not fit these criteria. The thing for you to look at here is to ask yourself if your phone is a source of stress for you? Are you too available ALL THE TIME?
- Raised the bar for managers.
Over time, I quit expecting managers to manage employees on their shifts. They didn’t correct people or work with employees not coming in on their own. I did it all, all the time. So, I became clear what my role was and what it wasn’t. It is not my job to manage their shift, deal with employees coming in or not, that this was their role. I explained that they should communicate what they DID, not go to me on what to do. What’s important here is that rescuing people ends up making them feel less capable. Saying “I trust you to make good decisions” and then actually allowing people to do that is so important.
- Notifications off my phone.
I took all notifications off my phone. All of them. Text messages, emails, social media, and our work communication app. My family knew how to go about getting a hold of me immediately and that was it. I no longer was held captive by the worry that someone would think I was rude or didn’t care by not responding immediately
- Other phone rules.
I no longer answered calls without names associated to them. Over time community members or customers gained my number and would call me at home at 9 p.m. about an order for the market or a panini not made right at the restaurant. I gave myself permission to have “business hours”. Messages sent directly to you rather than your place of business is an abuse of someone’s personal relationship with you. If you take the call or message, you will teach people it's okay.
Keep in mind that these were only what helped me to start the burnout recovery process. I needed to have time to rest, relax and think to manage my businesses and people effectively. It takes a long time to get to the place of burnout and it takes a while to recover. However, becoming clear about what you need will help ensure you stay focuses on the goal. What you need to do may be completely different. Trust that you have the solutions to the problems you are facing. You do.