Many years ago, I worked for a firm where the expectation was everyone would work huge hours. This was modelled by a guy who worked 5am-12am every day. When his wife had baby, rather than vary his schedule, he just hired a live-in nurse to take care of her. 

When I later worked with high-needs foster kids, I took this work ethic with me. Not because anyone was expecting this of me. Rather, the purpose was so important and the need was so great, I felt these kids deserved every hour I could give. I very nearly burned myself out. 

My light bulb moment happened one day while daydreaming. I could see myself in my mind’s eye, scanning boxes like a check-out operator – each box representing a problem I was trying to solve. I could see myself going faster and faster, trying to do more and more and more. Then I looked down the line and came to a realisation – the line of boxes was never-ending. No matter how quickly I processed them, I would never clear them all. Never feel like I’d ticked everything off my list. Never achieve everything I hoped to achieve. Never reach utopia. Not because I wasn’t working hard enough, but because my yardstick kept moving.

I wish I could say that was the turnaround moment and I’ve lived in balance since then. The truth is it took me a few more years to figure out the strategies that would support my ambition of achieving a lot without working myself half to death. Nowadays though, I’m quicker to remind myself that consistently working long hours is a false economy; each additional hour provides diminishing returns – not just for that day, but probably for the days that follow as well.

While I wouldn’t say I’ve arrived, I’ve come across some great tips and tricks and intend to share a few of the things that have worked for me over the coming weeks and months. If this is something that interests you, click the notification bell to get alerted to new posts.

#shanelwinning #winningperformance #psychologist #burnout #wellbeing #productivityhacks