Lately, I find myself talking to more and more people who find themselves in a nearly permanent state of exhaustion – maybe even close to burnout.

It’s a real challenge to try to keep themselves in a sustainable place where they can still work hard but enjoy their job. Even more importantly, it’s vital that they find a way to do that work for a long time instead of pushing themselves so hard that the edge of the cliff is in sight.

If you find yourself in this place, I would urge you to think about your life in three different buckets.

We spend our adult life doing three things…

We work for eight hours a day.

We come home and live our lives for eight hours – spending time with family, pursuing hobbies, doing laundry, etc. (I try not to spend time doing laundry).

And then we sleep for eight hours.

Obviously those numbers are going to be a little bit different for everyone, but that’s roughly how most of us live.

To cut down on your stress, you’ll want to think about actions you can take in each one of those areas.

WORK

What can you do to keep yourself from being burned out at work?

Now, that might feel out of your control depending on your job. But there are always steps you can take.

You can use the Pareto principle and focus on the 80% of results you get from doing 20% of the work.

What are the 20% of things that you do that others really judge your performance by?  Focus on those tasks. Make sure they are done on schedule and extremely well. If something has to be sacrificed, let it be the less important work.

Spend your time doing important things before they become urgent. One of the biggest causes of burnout is the sense that you’re always putting out a fire. That feeling will happen to all of us now and again, but burnout comes when you live your life that way 24/7.

Know the difference between important and urgent. Do the important things early so they don’t become urgent.(The 7 Habits of Highly Productive People is a great read for more on this).

Taking that concept further, spend time doing things today that are going to buy you time tomorrow. Find ways to take one hour and turn it into 20.

A good example: Invest time creating processes and thorough workflows. Screenshot videos are ways to do this. They take time up front, but once done can save your countless hours over future weeks, months and years.

Along those lines, don’t be afraid to delegate. Depending on your situation at work, this may be easier for some than others. Regardless, look for ways that you can help other people feel like they are growing while also helping you focus on your 20%.

Respect other people’s time and they will tend to respect your’s. Get used to asking, “Is now a good time?” at the beginning of conversations. Respect it when someone tells you no. Eventually, people will start asking you the same question, and you’ll be able to give them an honest answer.

In Part 2, we’ll look at reducing burnout in the other two aspects of life.

In the meantime, what part of this resonates most for you?