Tips to minimize workplace burnout during the pandemic
The added stress of the COVID-19 pandemic can leave people feeling tired and overwhelmed in the workplace.
Lisa Aldisert, a business advisor, speaker and author who specializes in leadership development, shared advice on preventing the problem on the website fastcompany.com.
She wrote that time management helps but knowing how much energy each task requires is equally important. She terms a person’s mental energy as their bandwidth. If it’s drained, it doesn’t matter if you have hours available because you won’t be very productive, Aldisert maintains. Here are her tips including typical mistakes in the workplace:
- Always pursuing perfection. It can be destructive if it causes you to overwork a project that does not require so much energy.
- Agreeing to every new project. It will benefit you to consider all of your existing tasks and how much they will tax your energy before saying yes to something new.
- Staying online too much. It’s up to you to manage yourself. Being “on” 24/7 can deplete the last drop of your bandwidth.
- Underestimating your time. Set a more realistic schedule that allows for prep time, transition time between tasks, a time to respond to co-workers without interruption and time to catch up on something that may have slipped through the cracks.
- Losing track of your priorities. Take a moment at the end of each day to list what must be done the next day. You’ll start the day with a clearer head and direction.