How to Design Your Day to Prevent Burnout - Hope 103.2

How to Design Your Day to Prevent Burnout

Preventing burnout is an ongoing exercise. And it starts with planning a balanced day, writes psychologist Valerie Ling.

By Hope 103.2 NetworkMonday 6 Mar 2023LifestyleReading Time: 2 minutes

I structured my day a little differently today.

I designed my best day and acted accordingly.

A little bit of background on why I did this.

Preventing burnout is an ongoing exercise for me.

I hope it is for you, too, because you do not really “land” in the No Burnout Zone.

One of the main ingredients for burnout is a personality that cares. Cares too much, at times.

This is matched by a drive that does not switch off.

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Today, my journalling started with the words: “I care, which quickly translates to responsibility.”

I care about a lot of things. Mainly, things that impact people.

Thing is, so many things impact people.

Soon, without realising it, I have absorbed a range of issues and ideas which I assume are my responsibility to work on.

As you grow as a person, as you encounter more things in your life, your view changes of what you “need” to do for yourself.

So, in my journalling today, I shifted to ask myself: How could I anchor my day today to be the best day of not being responsible, just being present and purposeful?

That’s what I did. It went like this, some areas for the day with these key anchors:

Reflect: My daily devotions.
Learn: Do a little bit of a small course I have signed up on the “entrepreneurial process”.
Create: Catching up on some new music I have been listening to. It is creative because it involves instruments I don’t usually listen to.
Connect: Spending time with some friends (actually outside, we read and journaled and chatted).
Productive: Working on my Masters.

This did not include everything else that happened in my day, but it was a great way to just dream about the best day to have, and then have the small anchors and move through them.

You know what? It was a great day.

Perhaps you could try planning your day in similar way and see what a difference it might make.


Article supplied with thanks to Valerie Ling.

About the Author: Valerie Ling is a clinical psychologist and consultant with The Centre for Effective Living (a psychology and mental health practice) and The Centre for Effective Serving (a workplace wellbeing consultancy).

Feature image: Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash