According to a study by Kronos Inc. And Future Workplace, employee burnout has reached epidemic proportions. Not only is employee burnout bad for business, but it’s also bad for your own personal health and wellbeing. While you may not get a lot of relaxation time, here are 3 reasons to make the most of it.
Reduces Chronic Stress
Considering the biggest contributing factors to burnout are unfair compensation, unreasonable workload and too much overtime or after-hours work, it’s safe to say that a lack of quality personal time is a major contributing factor in burnout. This means that it is highly important to make the most of whatever relaxation time you can carve out for yourself. This means turning off your phone at the very least and if possible, disconnecting entirely. If you have children or other family demands, you might consider hiring a sitter or leaving your kids with family and check into luxury accommodations once in a while for a night (or entire weekend) of pampering.
Will Help You Outperform Your Competitors
You may think that the best way to outperform your competitors is to put in more hours than them. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The truth is, you will produce far more and of far higher quality when you are rested, relaxed and refreshed than if you are frazzled, stressed and exhausted. There comes a point in time when no amount of coffee is going to spur fresh, creative ideas, but a good night’s sleep is likely to.
Makes Your Career Track Sustainable
Another common myth is that the best way to get ahead in business is to burn the candle at both ends. In fact, nothing will burn you out faster. While your light may shine brighter for a time, there may be nothing worse than getting that raise or promotion only to collapse from all the pressure. While making sure you get plenty of downtime might make your upward progress a little slower, it also makes it more sustainable.
While carving out time may be next to impossible, it is vitally important to make the most of whatever time you can carve out. One of the most important aspects of making the most of your relaxation time is to your best to completely unplug. Just like all of your devices, you have batteries that need constant recharging as well. The more on-the-go you are, the more often they need to be recharged. Also like your devices, turning your device off or blocking all outside communication helps you recharge faster.
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.