7 Steps to Reach Your Goals Without Burning Out

How to be successful when you feel like you can’t go on

Burnout is often discussed in a professional setting. Still, burnout can also occur in your personal life, whether at home, school or when working towards a goal. You might be experiencing burnout if:

• You’re constantly stressed.
• You’re perpetually exhausted.
• You feel like what you’re doing is meaningless.
• You’re unmotivated.
• You feel underappreciated.
• You feel like your work could be more challenging and exciting.

Luckily, we have seven steps to combat burnout:

1. Recognize the symptoms of burnout.

The first step to overcoming burnout is recognizing its symptoms. According to Helpguide.org, “Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.” Burnout can cause you to lose interest and motivation to accomplish even the simplest tasks. It can also make you feel alone, helpless, or even like a failure or imposter. 

2. Manage your stress.

Given that burnout is induced by prolonged stress, managing and reducing your stress can decrease your risk for burnout. Additionally, the Harvard Business Review suggests that learning to do things that fill you up can assist with feelings of burnout.

Find things to do that fill you up by doing an audit of your life. Determine what is causing you undue stress and what helps you feel centered and relaxed. This way, you can eliminate your exposure to stressors by cutting them out as much as possible. And you can introduce more of the things that make you feel happy and relaxed.

3. Help yourself feel rested.

Help yourself feel rested, relaxed and less stressed to reduce your risk for burnout. Career Coach Jennifer Herrity suggests, “Practice putting everything in its place, so work doesn’t follow you home and vice versa.” Keep separate spaces for each part of your life, and try to avoid them bleeding into each other. 

Give yourself cut-off times for different aspects of your life. For example, instead of allowing work to consume you, turn off your work notifications after you leave the office. This will help you be more present in your home life and allow you to work on other priorities.

4. Make sure your goal matches your values.

Ensuring that your goals match your values makes it easier to reach those goals. Amanda Hilton, M.A. clinical psychology, says, “It’s easier to maintain your energy sustainably when working towards your goals is bringing you closer to the person you genuinely want to be.”

To make sure your goal matches your values, ask yourself:

• Who do I want to be?
• Where do I want to be?
• What is helping me get to my end goal?
• What is preventing me from getting to my end goal?

If your current goal isn’t helping you reach your end goal, you should reevaluate and reshape your goal to fit your values.

5. Reward yourself. 

When working towards a goal, it can be easy to tell yourself, once I achieve my goal, I’ll reward myself. But the longer you work towards your goal, the harder it becomes to stay motivated. Suppose you are constantly chasing after a goal without celebrating the small wins. In that case, you won’t appreciate how much progress you’ve made. So, remember to reward yourself every now and again for your progress. 

6. Get support from others.

As previously mentioned, burnout can make you feel alone and underappreciated. You can overcome this by reaching out to others for support. Michael Baer, Ph.D., says, “We experience our goals on an emotional level — and ignoring those emotions is not the answer. It’s never a problem to ask for help.“

Seek support from those who can help you grow and succeed with your goals. You can find support in personal relationships–family, friends, coworkers and support groups– and through professional relationships–therapists, job coaches and mentors.

7. Reframe your thinking.

Shift your focus from an all-or-nothing perspective. This works duly for your vision of success and the situation you are in. The version of success you have outlined for yourself isn’t the only version of success. For example, if your goal is to complete a task four times a week and you only do it three, that doesn’t mean you failed and have to give up. In fact, you’re already pretty successful, having accomplished your task three times.

Moreover, you are not so stuck in a situation where nothing can be changed, and you have to quit. There are always aspects that can be altered to decrease stressors and increase happiness. For example, if you feel trapped, think about why that is. Do you need to spend more time outside? Instead of sitting miserably and feeling secluded, try going for walks or doing your work outside. Find little ways to improve your situation.