In today's day and age both leaders and workers have been more prone to feeling pressure and tension when trying to stay upstream and proactive. This level of exhaustion is often due to the seemingly infinite number of decisions we are forced to make both at work and in daily life. Performing tasks like communicating clearly, delegating, problem-solving, and facilitating all require higher-level cognitive functioning. During these high level cognitive functions, the brain requires more glucose, oxygen, and therefore more energy. In the workplace, one's ability to perform these tasks can be very important in order to be labeled as or feel successful. But, when we are expected to constantly use our full capacity (and energy) these everyday tasks can seem more mentally and physically draining.
The negative effects of this dynamic can be seen as someone feeling “burnt out” or in the action of “quiet quitting;” a newer term pointing to employees just going through the motions rather than putting any extra energy in. On the other hand, higher levels of energy and engagement with tasks, leads to a more lively and progressive workplace and often a boosted mood. The balance between ourselves and professional output seems to always be in flux, so how to take this knowledge and apply it to create more sustainable structures for ourselves?
First off, anxieties feed us self-doubts that permeate much further than one would think, if we don’t catch them. On a personal level this may look like being caught up on your schoolwork, but still feeling like we are missing something and being unable to relax. Another example is as a leader, if you haven’t set your team up for success, they may need you all the time, but if you’ve built good processes, you should be able to disconnect and trust one another to manage the work. When our brain tricks us into feeling like we haven’t done enough, it’s naturally harder to disconnect in the moment, even if that notion isn’t true. By practicing thinking through where the stress is coming from, over time it will become easier and easier to evaluate what you can do to relieve yourself from this cycle.
In order to really answer the question of how to create personal sustainability we must look deeper into what fulfills us vs drains us and how to use those tools to build a personal system that helps us grow. A great place to start in this process is by evaluating our personal boundaries and categorizing what needs to happen in a day/week/month/etc for you to feel your best. For example, if physical activity helps you feel good, be sure to build it in and protect that time. On the other hand, personal boundaries can also be affected by things that you don’t want to happen or do and may not even have control over. Being sure your expectations and realities match can help with this struggle. For example, if your lunch workout time is constantly interrupted by work, it might be a good idea to try to exercise in the morning instead or plan an extra 30 minutes to tie up demands before starting. Although our situations always change, recognizing what you need is important in setting and enforcing respectful boundaries.
Finally, in downtime practice separating yourself from your stressors. For many the constant lure by the grasp of technology and hyper-connection, can lead to equating our worth in relation to production or participation in these systems. Phones and media are a great example of things that cause us stress in the modern world, but work, school, relationships, and more can all grow too much to bear and require us to take a step back sometimes. Practicing mindfulness and/or planning reflective time into our days can help to provide a “personal reset” for the demand and stressors inevitably lingering outside. Further, the act of allowing ourselves to be more in tune with our body can aid in evaluating if actions do truly fulfil you or if they feed on your adrenaline to get enough energy to continue. The ability to recognize the feeling of being in “survival mode” and what that looks like for you, is incredibly important to ensuring you get the time and space you need before experiencing “burnout” like sensations. Some indicators you may be nearing “survival mode” are handling issues like they are crises, obsessively crossing items off your list, or spending every waking hour connected to technology.
Now, even with all these tools of how to create positive structure and feel good, it still can feel difficult to actually do them, like truly relaxing or incorporating tools into everyday routines. This is only part of the human experience as we often feel fear around trying something new, feeling disconnected, or trusting the process. Personal sustainability isn’t an easy formula or answer, but it really means looking deeper at your own self imposed structures and how that impacts you, both short and long term. Although this work is difficult and everchanging, it has the ability to bring us both personal and professional growth and teaches us that success goes past the workplace label and rather into our abilities to sustain ourselves.