Feeling tired from work is common and can be caused by many different factors. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to reduce fatigue and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Work can wear you out, whether your job requires physical labor or not. There’s more than one way to feel tired, and the daily demands of your job can leave you physically and emotionally weary, even if you spend your days behind a desk.
Other stressors — such as relationship issues, financial worries, or health concerns — can intensify the strain. And then there’s COVID-19.
If you’re still going in to work, you might find that you feel extra-exhausted from the added stress of worrying about potential exposure to the new coronavirus on the job.
If you now work from home, you might feel slightly safer — at the cost of greater pressure to blur the boundaries between work and home.
Long story short, it’s all too common to feel tired from working, especially during times of crisis and difficulty. You may not be able to quit your job completely, but you don’t have to watch your energy reserves slowly dwindle away, either.
There are several ways to recognize burnout.
A few of the most common symptoms of work fatigue include:
If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, it may be time to start identifying any factors that may contribute to your fatigue and consider making changes to your routine maintain a healthy work-life balance.
If work has you feeling a little more exhausted than usual, a good first step might involve taking a look at any habits potentially contributing to your fatigue.
Maybe you feel too worn out after your shift to do anything except relax in your favorite chair with your phone. You regularly stay up late to give yourself more time to relax, but you find it hard to drift off when you finally make it to bed.
Even though you want to get out for a hike, see your friends (safely!), and make time for meal planning and cooking, you just can’t seem to find the energy.
Small changes can be key to reducing fatigue and preventing burnout, including:
Regular exercise can also make a difference, as backward as this might sound. If you aren’t up for a full workout, no problem. Even a brisk walk around the block can help boost your energy levels and mood.
You might feel more informed and prepared to deal with challenges when you leave work devices on throughout the evening and weekend or if you continue check your email after clocking out for the day.
When coworkers or customers know you can always be reached, however, it often becomes close to impossible to fully “leave” work, especially when you’re working from home.
If you’re always on the clock, you’ll never find the time to recharge.
If you’re expected to handle work concerns outside of your scheduled hours, talk with your supervisor about setting some clear boundaries around times you aren’t available.
Perhaps your heavy workload often requires you to work late. Sometimes, this is just part of the territory.
But consider whether you tend to volunteer for extra work to keep others happy or avoid guilt trips. If so, polite refusals when you’re at capacity may serve you better in the future.
It’s also a good idea to discuss options for workplace support with your supervisor or human resources office. It’s tough to be productive when you feel drained or burned out.
When you show up rested and energized, on the other hand, everyone benefits.
When you have too many tasks to realistically complete without support, it never hurts to ask for help.
You might worry that requesting support suggests weakness or incapability, but remember: Your employer likely wants you to do the best job possible.
They can’t support you in achieving that goal unless they know how you’re really doing.
Here are a few other tips:
After a long workday, you might lack the energy for anything beyond a night of Netflix. Still, challenge yourself to do something different from time to time, particularly when you feel the most drained.
Watching TV or playing video games might feel relaxing, and there’s nothing at all wrong with catching up on a show or two. Yet more purposeful hobbies can often feel more rewarding and leave you with a sense of deeper satisfaction.
To feel more rejuvenated by your time off, consider starting a garden, picking up a book, or doing one thing to improve your living area every day.
Other possibilities might include:
Prioritizing physical and emotional needs is an important part of creating balance between your work and personal life.
Taking good care of yourself can improve resilience and strength, making it easier to manage challenges as they come up.
When you feel physically and emotionally sound, it usually becomes easier to maintain a positive outlook and fend off the feelings of irritability, hopelessness, and pessimism that often accompany persistent exhaustion and stress.
While getting enough sleep and eating well do have an impact, self-care goes beyond these basic needs. It might involve:
Learn more about identifying your needs and creating a personalized self-care plan here.
Keeping stress to yourself can isolate you and make you feel worse.
You might worry you’re burdening others by talking about what’s going on, but think about how you’d feel if a loved one were in your position. You’d probably want to help them however you could, right?
Friends and family might not have the ability to directly relieve your fatigue, but they can still offer support by listening and helping out in small ways, especially if you’re vocal with them about what you need.
Your roommate, for example, might motivate you to get up and make dinner by inviting you to help them out with a new recipe.
Your mother might drop by with a bag of groceries when she knows you’ve had a long week.
Simply knowing you have support from your loved ones can increase feelings of belonging and connection, making it easier to detach from work when the day is done. Feeling less tethered to your job can, in turn, help you relax and recharge more successfully.
Just as repetitive tasks can lead to yawning and zoning out, an easy but monotonous workday can leave you feeling drained and mentally numb. Changing up your typical routine can make a big difference.
Some things to try:
You’ve taken steps to address your tiredness, but workplace circumstances continue to drain you, and your employer has been less than supportive of efforts to create change. What next?
It may be time to consider another job or career, one that allows you to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Without this essential balance, the situation will likely only get worse.
You might find it hard to “show up” mentally even when you’re physically present, and you may take little pride in your work.
Your emotional well-being and relationships with family and friends may bear the burden of your exhaustion, too.
Sometimes, lingering tiredness is just a normal outcome of working, but exhaustion — physical or emotional — can have other causes, too.
If you have other unexplained symptoms, including pain, changes in appetite, or stomach distress, it’s a good idea to talk with your healthcare provider to rule out other concerns.
A therapist can help you explore reasons behind tiredness accompanied by mental health symptoms, including:
If you’re thinking of a career change, your therapist can offer career guidance and counseling as you make the switch. At the very least, they can direct you toward helpful resources.
You don’t need to wait to recharge until you’re running on empty. It’s usually harder to recover your strength after you burn out.
Making time to recharge and drawing a darker line between work and home life — visualize this line in Sharpie, not pencil — can help you manage stress before it knocks you down completely.
If your exhaustion begins to affect your relationships or quality of life, it’s best to talk with a healthcare professional right away.
Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.
Feeling tired from work is common and can be caused by many different factors. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to reduce fatigue and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Work can wear you out, whether your job requires physical labor or not. There’s more than one way to feel tired, and the daily demands of your job can leave you physically and emotionally weary, even if you spend your days behind a desk.
Other stressors — such as relationship issues, financial worries, or health concerns — can intensify the strain.
And then there’s COVID-19.
If you’re still going in to work, you might find that you feel extra-exhausted from the added stress of worrying about potential exposure to the new coronavirus on the job.
If you now work from home, you might feel slightly safer — at the cost of greater pressure to blur the boundaries between work and home.
Long story short, it’s all too common to feel tired from working, especially during times of crisis and difficulty. You may not be able to quit your job completely, but you don’t have to watch your energy reserves slowly dwindle away, either.
There are several ways to recognize burnout.
A few of the most common symptoms of work fatigue include:
If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, it may be time to start identifying any factors that may contribute to your fatigue and consider making changes to your routine maintain a healthy work-life balance.
If work has you feeling a little more exhausted than usual, a good first step might involve taking a look at any habits potentially contributing to your fatigue.
Maybe you feel too worn out after your shift to do anything except relax in your favorite chair with your phone. You regularly stay up late to give yourself more time to relax, but you find it hard to drift off when you finally make it to bed.
Even though you want to get out for a hike, see your friends (safely!), and make time for meal planning and cooking, you just can’t seem to find the energy.
Small changes can be key to reducing fatigue and preventing burnout, including:
Regular exercise can also make a difference, as backward as this might sound. If you aren’t up for a full workout, no problem. Even a brisk walk around the block can help boost your energy levels and mood.
You might feel more informed and prepared to deal with challenges when you leave work devices on throughout the evening and weekend or if you continue check your email after clocking out for the day.
When coworkers or customers know you can always be reached, however, it often becomes close to impossible to fully “leave” work, especially when you’re working from home. If you’re always on the clock, you’ll never find the time to recharge.
If you’re expected to handle work concerns outside of your scheduled hours, talk with your supervisor about setting some clear boundaries around times you aren’t available.
Perhaps your heavy workload often requires you to work late. Sometimes, this is just part of the territory.
But consider whether you tend to volunteer for extra work to keep others happy or avoid guilt trips. If so, polite refusals when you’re at capacity may serve you better in the future.
It’s also a good idea to discuss options for workplace support with your supervisor or human resources office.
It’s tough to be productive when you feel drained or burned out.
When you show up rested and energized, on the other hand, everyone benefits.
When you have too many tasks to realistically complete without support, it never hurts to ask for help.
You might worry that requesting support suggests weakness or incapability, but remember: Your employer likely wants you to do the best job possible. They can’t support you in achieving that goal unless they know how you’re really doing.
Here are a few other tips:
Knowing you did your best can promote a sense of accomplishment and leave you more motivated. After a long workday, you might lack the energy for anything beyond a night of Netflix. Still, challenge yourself to do something different from time to time, particularly when you feel the most drained.
Watching TV or playing video games might feel relaxing, and there’s nothing at all wrong with catching up on a show or two. Yet more purposeful hobbies can often feel more rewarding and leave you with a sense of deeper satisfaction.
To feel more rejuvenated by your time off, consider starting a garden, picking up a book, or doing one thing to improve your living area every day.
Other possibilities might include:
Prioritizing physical and emotional needs is an important part of creating balance between your work and personal life.
Taking good care of yourself can improve resilience and strength, making it easier to manage challenges as they come up.
When you feel physically and emotionally sound, it usually becomes easier to maintain a positive outlook and fend off the feelings of irritability, hopelessness, and pessimism that often accompany persistent exhaustion and stress.
While getting enough sleep and eating well do have an impact, self-care goes beyond these basic needs. It might involve:
Learn more about identifying your needs and creating a personalized self-care plan here.
Keeping stress to yourself can isolate you and make you feel worse.
You might worry you’re burdening others by talking about what’s going on, but think about how you’d feel if a loved one were in your position.
You’d probably want to help them however you could, right?
Friends and family might not have the ability to directly relieve your fatigue, but they can still offer support by listening and helping out in small ways, especially if you’re vocal with them about what you need.
Your roommate, for example, might motivate you to get up and make dinner by inviting you to help them out with a new recipe. Your mother might drop by with a bag of groceries when she knows you’ve had a long week.
Simply knowing you have support from your loved ones can increase feelings of belonging and connection, making it easier to detach from work when the day is done. Feeling less tethered to your job can, in turn, help you relax and recharge more successfully.
Just as repetitive tasks can lead to yawning and zoning out, an easy but monotonous workday can leave you feeling drained and mentally numb. Changing up your typical routine can make a big difference.
Some things to try:
Save more stimulating tasks for the afternoon to keep you out of a post-lunch stupor. You’ve taken steps to address your tiredness, but workplace circumstances continue to drain you, and your employer has been less than supportive of efforts to create change.
What next?
It may be time to consider another job or career, one that allows you to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Without this essential balance, the situation will likely only get worse.
You might find it hard to “show up” mentally even when you’re physically present, and you may take little pride in your work. Your emotional well-being and relationships with family and friends may bear the burden of your exhaustion, too.
Sometimes, lingering tiredness is just a normal outcome of working, but exhaustion — physical or emotional — can have other causes, too.
If you have other unexplained symptoms, including pain, changes in appetite, or stomach distress, it’s a good idea to talk with your healthcare provider to rule out other concerns.
A therapist can help you explore reasons behind tiredness accompanied by mental health symptoms, including:
If you’re thinking of a career change, your therapist can offer career guidance and counseling as you make the switch.
At the very least, they can direct you toward helpful resources.
You don’t need to wait to recharge until you’re running on empty. It’s usually harder to recover your strength after you burn out.
Making time to recharge and drawing a darker line between work and home life — visualize this line in Sharpie, not pencil — can help you manage stress before it knocks you down completely.
If your exhaustion begins to affect your relationships or quality of life, it’s best to talk with a healthcare professional right away.
Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.
It's a shame when work instead of money and pleasure brings only fatigue.
And it’s not at all the case if the day has just begun, but there is no strength even for elementary tasks.
Let's figure out what are the reasons for such a state and what to do if the work is tired.
Various household trifles seriously irritate and distract from work. For example, office workers often have to put up with an uncomfortable workplace or colleagues who speak loudly on the phone and distract with personal conversations.
Those who work remotely cannot always afford privacy. So cats, dogs and children who require attention, or neighbors with a perforator intervene in the workflow. It happens that there is not enough space in the apartment, and you have to work at the kitchen table, on the sofa or on an uncomfortable stool.
Domestic inconveniences not only interfere with concentration on work, but also cause physical discomfort: the lower back starts to hurt, the neck becomes numb, the tone of the shoulder muscles increases - they become wooden and hurt even at the slightest touch.
Physical fatigue is added to intellectual fatigue.
It will not be possible to work long and productively in such conditions
Organize a comfortable workplace. Wherever you work, at home or in the office, equip yourself with a comfortable workplace. There should definitely be:
Ventilate the room at least once an hour and drink more during the day. Water is a source of strength, it helps maintain hydrobalance and stimulates metabolic processes in the body. The European Food Safety Authority considers that the norm for adequate water intake per day is about 2 liters for women and about 2.
5 liters for men. In order not to choke and painfully pour in your daily volume, try this method: put a glass of water on the table and take a sip every time you stumble upon it with your eyes.
Tell your family that you are at work. Tell them that during working hours you cannot be distracted by personal conversations and household chores. Coordinate plans for the day with your family and discuss what hours you plan to work. If there are children in the family, help keep them busy during your work - come up with games, pick up cartoons.
Buy active noise canceling headphones. This will help you disconnect from extraneous sounds and focus on work. In addition, a good headset will come in handy for calls with colleagues.
Rent a coworking space. A good solution for those who do not allow the area of the apartment or family circumstances to work from home. Coworking spaces are gaining popularity all over the world: they have a working and creative atmosphere, comfortable meeting rooms and fast Wi-Fi.
According to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the normal working time is 40 hours a week or 8 hours a day. The same duration of the working week is adopted in other countries - 40-44 hours.
At the same time, statistics show that in practice many people face overtime. All over the world, employees stay late at work and spend up to 24 hours a month on it. In Russia, according to the statistics of the Superjob.ru portal Research Center, 58% of respondents regularly work more than the allotted time. They work overtime both in the office and remotely.
"Scourge" of remote workers: violation of the "work - home" border. If the workplace is a couple of meters from your own bed, it is difficult for the body to switch to rest mode. The working day is long over, but it seems that it is not difficult to answer a letter, looking at your favorite TV series with one eye.
When this becomes a habit, the subconscious mind ceases to distinguish between work and rest - as if you are constantly working.
WHO experts have found that regular overwork leads to chronic fatigue and psycho-emotional stress, and also causes serious health problems - increase the risk of stroke and diseases of the cardiovascular system.
Set the beginning and end of the working day. Clearly define the boundaries of working time. When it ends, "turn off" from the workflow and go to rest. If you work remotely, be sure to let your colleagues know about your working hours. Warn that at other times you are ready to answer only urgent messages, and postpone other questions for the next day.
Take breaks during the working day. Regular pauses of 5-10 minutes will help the brain to relax and work more productively. During the break, do household chores, make tea, or just lie down with your eyes closed.
Even better, do some simple exercises. 20-30 squats, tilts or push-ups will help disperse the blood and activate brain activity, relax stiff muscles, and give a surge of strength for further work.
The popular Pomodoro Technique helps you organize your day effectively—here's how it works and how to implement it.
Rest properly and regularly. In the evening, try to relax away from the workplace: walk in the fresh air, communicate with family and friends.
Be sure to get enough sleep to restore your strength. The Sleep Research Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine state that the minimum for an adult is 7 hours of sleep per night. And the European Society for the Study of Sleep generally believes that sleeping less than 6 hours is dangerous to health.
Balance work, free time and sleep
Arrange your routine so that you have enough time for a good sleep.
Not only the quantity but also the quality of sleep is important:
Don't forget holidays and weekends. You can not work hard for weeks without rest - this is a direct path to burnout. Even if you work in a flexible schedule, be sure to set aside 1-2 days a week for rest. A day off is when you relax, walk, do family chores and do not work.
Taking regular vacations reduces fatigue and stress. Statistics show that the number of days on vacation does not affect the quality of the holiday. Much more important:
Ideal if you can completely change your usual environment and daily routine. If you have a sedentary job, go on a hike or a trip to an unfamiliar city, where you can walk a lot and visit unfamiliar places. If you constantly interact with people - on vacation, try to limit active communication, spend more time alone with yourself, go online only when necessary.
If you want to change the fast working rhythm for peace and quiet, you can just seal on the beach or rent a country house in the neighboring area to walk through the forest and go fishing.
Focus and concentration are affected by an endless flow of information, especially when work is connected with Internet surfing and business correspondence. Distract messages in instant messengers, work letters, push notifications and advertising notifications on websites.
As a result, the task on which you planned to spend a couple of hours stretches out for the whole day - the working rhythm slows down, you are nervous.
Researchers of labor statistics believe that the productive period of work is only 3 hours a day. This is how many employees work actively and show good performance. The rest of the time is spent on related tasks - negotiations, correspondence, news monitoring, informal communication with colleagues.
If you do not set priorities and do not control wandering attention, time will be lost, and there will be no energy left for important things.
Make a list of goals before starting the work day. Mark how much time you plan to spend on each task, prioritize: what must be done today, and what can be postponed if you have to switch to urgent matters.
There are days when everything goes wrong and you can't figure out which side to start with. In this case, try to start with small or well-known tasks that are likely to be on your list. So kill two birds with one stone:
Sometimes it happens the other way around: there are no difficult tasks in the task list, but there are unpleasant ones.
Then you can "eat the frog" - this is what American business coach Brian Tracy advises. He read an interesting quote from Mark Twain:
"A person who eats a live frog every morning enjoys the feeling that nothing worse will happen to him today for sure."
The essence of the method is to do the most unpleasant of the planned tasks in the morning - then it will not hang over you and spoil your mood. "Eat a frog" in the morning, tell yourself: "I'm done!" and with a light heart solve the rest of the tasks.
Brian Tacy talks about eating frogs and 20 other time management principles
Observe rituals. Regular actions, familiar and well-known, will help you tune in to the working day. The authors of Staying Healthy Through Habits: The Psychology of "Habbit Formation" and General Practice believe that environmental conditions and repetition of actions play the role of a symbol - a signal to switch activities.
Come up with your own rituals that will serve as a signal to start the day.
What you can do:
Interestingly, one of the most effective morning rituals scientists call a few minutes of silence before starting work. This helps to focus on upcoming cases and put the daily routine in your head - this is the conclusion of researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.
Evening rituals are also important, they will help put the brain into rest mode. A good habit, for example, to turn off the computer when the working day is over, is how you signal to the body that the work time is over, it's time to rest.
Lack of understanding with management or colleagues is another reason for fatigue.
A negative microclimate in the team can be influenced by poorly established work processes: there is no quick communication between colleagues or it is not clear which employee is responsible for what. It happens that personal antipathy is mixed in or the inconsistency of views on solving work problems interferes. All this is the cause of misunderstandings and conflicts.
When building communication with colleagues takes more effort than the work itself, irritation, loss of interest and constant fatigue from a showdown are inevitable.
Talk to your supervisor. Explain the essence of the problem and tell that it affects not only the process, but also the result of the work. A professional and adequate leader is likely to listen and try to change the pattern of interaction between employees.
Change company. A good option if the minus in the form of a team outweighs the pros. Lack of understanding with colleagues and management experts call one of the most common reasons for dismissal.
Top 3 intangible factors of employee motivation. According to a study by the International Recruiting Company Hays
What is the essence of
You may have outgrown your work responsibilities. Tasks that once seemed interesting and required serious effort are now performed automatically, and the result is not satisfying. This happens when the level of responsibility and terms of reference have not changed over the past 2-3 years.
As a result, motivation decreases, work has to be done through force - this leads to fatigue and stress.
How to help yourself
Develop professionally. If you are tired of boring work and feel that things are becoming a routine, look for ways to develop. Read books, watch movies, listen to webinars, or take a refresher course. With new knowledge, you can look at familiar tasks from a different angle, get a promotion, move to a new position within the company or change jobs.
Change environment. Build connections in the professional field: participate in conferences, forums, webinars, meet interesting and experienced colleagues. On social networks, subscribe to the accounts of people who inspire you and who have something to learn. So you will be aware of the latest news from the professional community, you will be able to develop and find new interests.
Change jobs. Perhaps you just stayed too long in one place. A new company means new responsibilities and new goals to shake things up. Some daredevils decide on radical changes: they change not only the place, but also the field of activity. For example, they leave sales for copywriting or move to IT from humanitarian areas. Such a decision could be a big step forward. But remember: for big changes you need to have a financial airbag. And newcomers in any field are not welcomed with open arms and generous offers.
What is the essence of
Desire to lie like a rag instead of hard work, lack of strength and bad mood can be symptoms of illness.
It is with constant fatigue that emotional burnout begins. This, in turn, can lead to depression, a serious mental disorder.
How to help yourself
If you have tried all the tips, but you still do not find the strength and are constantly tired, consult a doctor. Start with a therapist: he will prescribe a set of studies and, based on the results, give recommendations or advise a narrow specialist.
Main
Tanya Kopylova
Editor and author at Unisender. I work with volunteer projects.
I write about marketing, psychology and culture.
Emotional burnout - symptoms, causes and how to deal with professional exhaustion
We tell you what emotional burnout is, what are the ways to prevent this syndrome and how to help yourself if you are already burned out
Stress at work - why it is dangerous. Ways to Manage Workplace Stress
Share ways to manage stress at work.
How to get rid of the routine and fill the unbearable working day with meaning.
Online test for emotional burnout
The test will help to identify signs of emotional and professional burnout. The questionnaire for identifying the professional burnout syndrome according to Maslach (MBI) was taken as a basis.
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At work, an ordinary person who is neither related to Rockefeller nor himself, spends most of his life. And even if this work does not require a constant stay in the office, sooner or later a critical point comes when fatigue rolls in, hands drop and the question arises very sharply: what, in fact, is the meaning of my activity and what does it bring for me personally?
This is exactly the case when the hackneyed phrase “Happiness is not in money” takes on a very real shape.
And let the one with whom this has never happened be the first to throw a stone at me.
So what to do now? Drop everything and start over? Or still find some other, less radical solution? In my opinion, this is quite possible, if only we slightly change our approach to the above question.
So, suppose you write an article (or do some other work) and offer it to a customer. You worked day and night and another day. And during the breaks, you pondered the essence of the problem, rummaged through the Internet and even (just imagine!) in print publications. And then the deadline arrived. Button pressed, email sent.
But no answer. And there is no day, and three no. You write to the customer. And finally, you get a short reply: "Your job is not suitable." What are you doing? Most likely, the first thought that comes to your mind is: “I am a bad specialist.”
That's not it! Perhaps you are not perfect. But that's not the point. The customer has hundreds of other reasons to refuse you: the wrong style of presentation, the wrong concept, or the task has lost its relevance altogether.
Not everyone is willing to take the time to explain all this to you.
Find a use for your work if possible and stop stigmatizing yourself. Everyone has room to grow. But this does not mean at all that you are not valuable right now.
You have found a customer. Or you have been assigned the solution of some interesting task in which you are well versed. And they ask a perfectly reasonable question: “How much does it cost?”.
I know a lot of people who are afraid of this question as if they were asked to show a personal skeleton in the closet. Why? Yes, because most of us tend to doubt our own competence. Unfortunately, more often this happens precisely with those who are really specialists.
One should never be ashamed to appreciate oneself. That is, name exactly the amount that you deserve. How to do it? Study the market and offers from specialists of your level (after all, deep down you still know it) and add up the price.
If you are interested, no one will run away anywhere. Simply, the customer will either agree to your conditions, or offer a more acceptable amount for himself. And then you will make the decision.
Are you passionate about work? Do you work quickly and tastefully? Are you responsible? Excellent qualities! Your boss or customer will certainly appreciate this and ... load you to the maximum.
At some point, you will feel that the tank has run out of gas and start to slow down. Or stop altogether. And, believe me, no one will push you. There are enough people around who want to harness themselves to your cart. And here you need rest. And, perhaps, a way out of prolonged depression, which usually accompanies chronic overwork.
Learn to slow down in time. And it’s better to plan your day, leaving in it, albeit small, but pleasant “pockets” for relaxation. Coffee or tea, music on headphones, a few minutes with your eyes closed, and if possible, a short walk at lunchtime.
.. Fatigue will be removed, and the world around will become much kinder. Working in this mood is much more productive.
What am I giving to this world? Yes, the question is rather hackneyed, and there is a lot of pathos in it, but in one form or another it visits very many people. Money stopped making you happy? Imagine this is possible. When everything you do seems small and insignificant.
See also
One stylist always advised her clients to take five steps away from the mirror. Good advice in any situation.
Big seen from a distance. Each of us does work that is often just a puzzle in one huge jigsaw puzzle. Step back five steps and see if this mosaic will really be whole and complete if your piece is not in it? You will see that it is not.
In some theater studio there was a principle that sounded like this: “You should always leave your backpack outside the threshold.
” It is really very important to leave the burden of problems where they have to be solved. The house should be your refuge, a place where you can relax and forget about work troubles.
And even if you work at home, try leaving your workplace to leave your drawings, blanks for future articles, and so on and so forth. Time to drink tea, eat cakes and give your warmth and attention to loved ones.
Turn on your imagination. It is quite possible to visualize the process. Close your eyes and imagine a briefcase or backpack in which you put sheets of your plans, drawings, sketches, your diary, calculator, to-do list, and more. Close it tighter. And leave it at your workplace. Going home without such a load will be much easier.
Well, if your condition has become chronic, it may be worth considering whether your doubts are really caused by fatigue and routine work, or it is time for you to change your occupation. Learning is not scary and it's never too late.
