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NeuroWisdom
a Mark Waldman Series
10
Brain-Based
Strategies to
Battle Burnout
by Dave Coenen
Practical NeuroWisdom
10 Brain-Based Strategies
to Battle Burnout
by Dave Coenen
MINI BOOKCLUB
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This book is copyright © 2017 by David Coenen, Mark Waldman and Van
Buren Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
“I’m embarrassed to say this, but it took me more than a year before I could accept
that I had a problem. I was working 14 hours a day and I couldn’t, or wouldn’t stop. I
ignored how my behavior had changed from being a great listener to yelling and
screaming at everyone around me. And then one day, I put a toilet roll in the fridge.
That might not seem like a big thing to you but it freaked me out. Something was
terribly wrong and I could not ignore it any longer. I broke down and started to cry
for hours. I couldn’t stop, so I went to a doctor who referred me to a private clinic
where I spent months without my family. I felt relaxed, but the moment I came back
to work I went right back into my old workaholic habits.
Within a month I felt so angry and depressed I felt like walking to the railway tracks
to end this misery. But I didn’t even have the energy to walk two feet. Now I’m
hooked on anti-depressants and I can barely drag myself to the office, even though I
used to love what I do. Can you help me?”
Before I share with you the strategies I taught to Brianna – simple things proven to protect
your brain and body from burning out – I want you to take a few minutes to see if you might
also be battling burnout:
1. Have you entered your career enthusiastically with high goals and expectations
that are no longer realistic?
2. Do you restlessly pursue success in your job without taking time to relax and
savor your accomplishments?
3. Do you find that your coping strategies are no longer adequate?
4. Do you, in spite of your success, continue to feel that you’re “not good enough?”
5. Are you becoming more angry and frustrated – with others and with yourself –
for no apparent reason?
6. Are you finding it more difficult to get a good night’s rest?
7. Are you finding yourself craving foods and drugs that you know are damaging to
your health?
Even a single one of these symptoms is enough to push you down the path that leads to
burnout i, a state that can permanently damage some of the most important circuits in your
brainii. Too much stress in your life, and especially in the workplace, will cause you burnout iii.
It is a common misunderstanding that the cause behind burnout is that you simply work too
long or too hard — research indicates that other factors, both individual and organizational,
can be just as damaging. These risk factors for burnout include lack of control and neglecting
responsibilities (individual), as well as rigidity of the organizational structure and lack of
recognition (organizational) iv.
In short, burnout is both a psychological and neurological syndrome that will cause
exhaustion, disengagement, and reduced personal accomplishment in your life and this will
turn meaningful work into an experience filled with chaos and unhappiness.
To battle burnout you need to look within. The following 10 experiential exercises will give
your brain the power to reduce stress before it undermines your health. Each strategy
addresses a different dimension of burnout and when you consistently integrate them into
your workday you will be able to battle burnout, increasing your resilience and productivity.
Battle Strategy 1:
Stress Mapping
Exhaustion is one of the elements of burnout. It can manifest as physical, mental, or
emotional exhaustion or a combination thereof. Exhaustion causes stress, and stress
distracts you from being able to solve problems and achieve your goals. It turns out that a
“mindfulness” based exercise is one of the most powerful ways to lower your stress levels,
increase your productivity and improve your interpersonal relationships in the workplace v.
Mindfulness is the act of simply being aware of yourself – your thoughts and feelings – as
you remain deeply relaxed.
In this Mindfulness practice you will explore where you experience stress: in what places and
in what shapes stress signals appear in you (physical, thoughts, feelings). Simply notice
whatever is present without judgment vi.
Lie on your back or sit comfortably in your chair. Check out where you experience stress in
your body. What areas feel tense? Where do you feel pain or discomfort? Begin by bringing
your attention into your body – scanning your body from top to bottom, looking for all the tiny
aches and pains. Close your eyes. Pay attention to the muscles in your neck. Now slowly
scan your shoulders, upper and lower arms and notice how tense or relaxed they feel. You’ll
notice that you’re being distracted by thoughts.
Be kind to your thoughts and when you notice them, shift focus to your breathing without
judgment. Expand your attention to your torso. Become aware of how your chest and
stomach move with each breath. Continue and feel how your upper back and lower back
touch the ground or chair. When a thought arises, gently return to feeling your body. Now
move with attention to your left foot. Notice what you feel. Is it warm or cold, or don’t you feel
anything? One is not better than the other. Expand your attention to your whole left leg.
Breath, as it were, to your leg. Release your attention and move on to your right foot. Notice
what you feel or the lack thereof. Now focus on your whole right leg and breath to it. Release
your attention from your right leg and with your next inhalation expand your full attention to
your whole body. Be aware of your whole body present and when you’re ready, you can
open your eyes.
Do you have an upset stomach? Does your breathing feel labored? Do you feel tired? If so,
just notice those feelings without judgment.
Once you’ve identified your physical tension, you can explore what feelings arise as a result
of your stress. How does your physical discomfort affect your mood? Does it make you
anxious or depressed, or irritable? If so, just notice those emotions without judgment.
Now here’s what I’d like you to do: begin to gently move your body very slowly as you
explore the different tensions. If you do so with curiosity – and without judgement – you’ll
notice that your physical tension and stress will dissolve. It usually only takes 60 seconds to
reduce any body tension you feel, and when you do this you’ll also be lowering the
neurological stress that is generated in your brain by physical tension and pain.
Make it a practice of taking inventory of your stress levels during your workday. At the same
time, think about different ways to respond to stressful situations to prevent exhaustion.
Battle Strategy 2:
Walk Away from Burnout
If you ask too much of yourself for too long, you will often suffer from these signs of physical
and mental exhaustion: low energy, chronic fatigue, weakness, and a wide variety of physical
complaints.
In fact, the longer you sit down, the more you’ll build up stress in your body and your brain.
So while you work, ask yourself the following question throughout the day: “Do I really need
to be sitting down to perform the specific task I am about to do?”
My recommendation: if feasible, get yourself an adjustable desk or work table that will allow
you to go back and forth between sitting and standing throughout the workday. Or, let’s say
you have a meeting planned with a colleague or a friend. Agree to have it while taking a
walk. Research has shown that 15-minute stand-up meetings promote increased activity
levels viii. You’ll have less stress. You’ll experience greater productivity. And you’ll prevent
your body and brain from burning out.
Feeling tense, angry, or just plain tired? Get up and WALK! It’s one of the best things you
can do to maintain a healthy brain.
Battle Strategy 3:
Unfocus
When you develop negative attitudes towards yourself, your colleagues, your work, and life
itself you are at risk of mental exhaustion. Chances are that you are observing with a bias
and only looking for the obvious. Imagine when 90-98 percent of your mental activity is
unconscious; focus can only get you so far. Therefore make it a daily routine to have
frequent breaks and switch between focus and what Srini Pillay, a neuroscientist at Harvard,
calls “unfocus.”
You can compare focusing with contracting the muscles in your hand to lift a heavy bag. It
will not help you to catch that book that falls from the bookshelf with your clenched fist. You
need calmness and a relaxed open hand to catch. The muscles in your brain work in the
same way. Focus narrows your thinking and depletes your thinking brain of energy.
Therefore, learn to unfocus by Positive Constructive Daydreaming, so that you can become
reenergized in your thinking and avoid burnout ix.
1. Plan 15 minutes to unfocus at a time during your workday when you are not
productive anyway; I would suggest at the end of your lunch break.
2. Do something low key to make it more effective; I recommend walking so you
effectively combine two battle strategies into one!
3. Create a vision that is positive and wishful; I can see myself winning the lottery
being the wealthiest person in the world. What is your playful wishful imagery?
You have now turned your flashlight from looking at the outside world to your unconscious
mind. Your mind will start wondering to find something of relevance. This will improve
creativity. In mind-wandering you are mixing and matching ideas and making connections
across your brain, unlike your focused mind.
Battle Strategy 4:
Internal Compass
Emotional exhaustion is an assassin. You feel helpless, hopeless and entrapped, which in
extreme cases can lead to an emotional breakdown. Instead of ignoring your emotions, from
now on observe them and find ways to look from another perspective.
To get in touch with your feelings and emotions practice the following exercise:
If you feel aversion, disgust, or nausea, then you can decide not to do it or to do it for a short
period. If you feel a positive and pleasurable emotion then do it!
Practice this exercise the coming weeks at least three times a day. Keep in mind that it takes
practice to get in touch with your feelings and emotions.
Battle Strategy 5:
Compassionate Communication
When you are physically, mentally, or emotionally exhausted, it does not mean that you
suffer from burnout. It simply means that you are exhausted. If you also are disengaged from
work, then it classifies as burnout. A sign of disengagement is cynicism towards your job,
your colleagues or your company.
Practice the following 12 steps of compassionate communication when you are speaking to
colleagues. This strategy is taught to Executive MBA students at Loyola Marymount
University because it enhances empathy and cooperation while protecting busy corporate
leaders from burnout xi.
My advice: choose your words wisely and speak them slowly. Even if you only apply a couple
of these communication strategies at work – and at home – your stress levels will
dramatically decrease.
Battle Strategy 6:
Battle Strategy 6:
Savoring Space
Work overload is most commonly associated with burnout. Your job demands may exceed
your human limits. The workload could be too much or the job may simply be too difficult
given your current conditions.
The American Psychological Association showed that one-third of employees lose one hour
or more in productivity each day as a result of elevated stress levels. What if I told you that if
you take more frequent breaks and savor successes, it makes you more productive?
Research shows that if you take brief but regular breaks at specific intervals throughout your
workday – away from your desk – you will increase your productivity! xii
I remember when I was in a corporate position. I was battling towards increasing tighter
deadlines. Also I needed to be more and more flexible and take on additional work to
minimize headcount. I simply had no time to recover from work overload. Let alone to reflect
and celebrate successes. Think about this:
“If you do not pause and reflect on successes, it is as if reaching the finish line does
not matter.”
Agree with your manager and co-workers to build in non-negotiable times of recovery
following particularly busy or stressful times at work. Plan small events to savor your
achievements. When you savor different positive aspects of your work life you’ll increase
your sense of recognition, well-being, and satisfaction. In savoring you give your full
conscious attention to the pleasant aspects of your life. Brain scan studies show increased
activity in the neural circuits involved with emotional resilience when you deliberately try to
enhance and prolong the positive feeling or memory xiii. You’ll notice that this will also battle
the workplace burnout levers of reward, community, and fairness.
Tip: when you finish a task, teach yourself to take some breathing space to savor
accomplishments and positive feelings.
Adding savoring strategies to your daily routine will reduce symptoms of burnout.
Battle Strategy 7:
Letting Go
Control is like juggling. A juggler can only control the objects in his hands, but he cannot
control the objects he tossed in the air. It works the same for you. You can only control what
you are working on at a specific time, but you cannot control the tasks that you are not
working on. Research has shown that you cannot multi-task xiv. Therefore you will need to
accept that you cannot control everything. Let things happen to you. Don’t control. You will
have to learn to disappoint people and say no. Not every task is worthwhile and not all tasks
have to be done perfectly. The harder you try to control something, the more exhausted your
neural circuits become – causing mental exhaustion and anxiety.
Brain Scientist Dr. Srini Pillay has developed a great battle strategy called CIRCA to deal
with control xv.
The best way to learn this technique is to take out a piece of paper and a pen and then write
down something that you want to control at this present moment. Whilst reading the
explanation below, follow these steps one by one. Write down for each step how it applies to
your example.
C is for Chunking
What if I chunked this down? What can I do in the short-term versus the long-term to reach
my goals?
Chunking means that when a problem comes at you, you are so overwhelmed by it that you
try to lift up that whole problem. You feel obligated to lift the whole weight that somebody put
on top of you. That is not reality! You need to chunk down the problem into bite sizes that
your brain can digest. Do not chew more than you can eat. What can you realistically
accomplish today? What can you complete by next week? When do you feel comfortable
completing the entire task?
Ignoring the inner dialogue going on in your frontal lobes positive and negative is really what
mindfulness is about. Close your eyes, yawn, stretch and relax. Focus on your breathing and
notice how the worries, fears and doubts fade away. Do this for 30-60 seconds.
Nothing lasts forever. Realize that ‘this’ too shall pass. Whatever is causing you anxiety is
only temporary. Accept life! Know that in time, it will subside. Let it go. In this stage it
definitely helps to engage in positive self-talk.
Control the things you can, let go of the things you cannot. And, just accept life as it is.
When you are anxious the brain tends to focus on the negative stuff. Therefore, every day,
let go of one thing that you do not want to control. Perform a little ritual and mindfully let go of
what you cannot control. Focus on what you love.
Here is where you take a flashlight in your brain and shift the attention from the problem onto
the solution. The brain is wired to focus on the negative to protect us from any potential
threat. We therefore focus too much on the negative and ignore the positive. Take a moment
now to look around you in the room where you are sitting. You will notice that there is no
immediate threat! You are not being attacked. You are safe and secure. Yawn, stretch and
relax! Take the torch and ask your intuition to shine it on at least three solutions to your
problem.
If you still feel like you want to control something, shape a work environment consistent with
your values. You will learn more about this in Battle Strategy 10.
Battle Strategy 8:
Small Steps, Big Reward
Your brain is all about safety. To prevent itself from wasting any energy, the brain is
designed to resist change. To change, your brain risks burning neurons. Therefore your brain
prefers to slip into old patterns – habits and behaviors – to protect it, and to use as little
energy as possible. The brain simply does not like change.
When it comes to goal setting, any goal, no matter how small or big, represents a change. In
order to set and achieve a goal, you need to use your conscious decision-making. The
amygdala works with your prefrontal cortex to access your problem solving skills needed to
reach your goal. If your goal is too big it can cause anxiety, which causes the amygdala to
trigger your fight-or-flight mechanism. Neurochemicals shut down your motivation-and-
reward system preventing you from accessing decision-making skills. The trick therefore is to
focus on achieving small goals to eliminate anxiety and fear xvi.
Your brain only learns new behavior in small nudges. This means, that you must find a way
to convince your amygdala that it is safe to reach a new goal, as it represents a change. You
can do this by setting up realistic goals – small steps – that you can attain. The smaller the
goal, the more likely your amygdala will not get alarmed and you can access your problem
solving skills in your prefrontal cortex xvii.
Here is proven way to tiptoe around the amygdala and reach your goal:
Did you know that in the first 60 seconds of an encounter you risk mirroring the behavior of
your environment? Mirror neurons are responsible for this mirror mechanism xviii. Think about
what the effect is on you of talking to a stressed, anxious and irritated colleague (or vice
versa). Next time, take the initiative and be the one that holds up the mirror! Enter your
conversation with an inviting expression that conveys kindness, compassion, and interest.
Follow Battle Strategy 5 and practice Compassionate Communication.
This Mindfulness strategy focuses on the premise that you typically enter a relationship with
judgment. Your behavior towards the other person is determined by the knowledge you
created about this person. Can you see the other person as he really is, without judgment,
ideas or stories? Make it a completely new encounter, as if it is the first time.
Below you’ll find some random useful tips to communicate without conflict:
Before you talk to a difficult colleague: Slowly breathe in through your nose and notice the
cool sensation of the air, then slowly breathe out through your nose and notice the warm
sensation of your breath. Repeat this for the next 60 seconds. This way you prevent that your
anger or frustration prevail.
Imagine yourself meeting this person. What ideas pop up in your mind? Do you recognize
these ideas as a pattern, as something that you’ve thought about other people as well? Can
you see these as thoughts instead of facts? How did you get these ideas? Become curious
as to how you think. You are not trying to fix or change your thoughts. This will happen
automatically when you observe your thoughts.
Observe what differences there are between your negative image about this person and the
actual person. Let this image go and engage him as he is – without judgment.
To remember a mistake takes up a lot of neural energy in your brain. Take a moment to
reflect on at least 5 positive attributes of the other person.
Look at your relationship as a game. Mindfulness should not be taken too seriously, just like
relationships. Relationships end up in a status quo because both parties take it too seriously.
Stop fighting!
Think about this for a moment: what is the worst that can happen? The answer to this
question usually puts things in the right perspective.
Battle Strategy 10:
Conflict in Values
In my professional opinion aligning your values will benefit you the most, not only will it battle
burnout, it will also provide you with deeper meaning and purpose. I experience that most of
my clients are stuck because they do not live according to their own values. Often times they
are not even aware of their inner values. The danger is that you live with an imbalance in
values.
In this exercise you’ll discover what the most powerful words in your life are.
Sit comfortably on a chair and start by closing your eyes. Yawn. Yes, yawn! Yawning is the
fastest and most effective way to reduce mental stress. Yawn three times. Yawn, slowly. Feel
how each yawn changes your mental and emotional state. Then, do a super-slow stretch by
rolling your head in a circle in 60 seconds. The slower you go, the brain will be able to send
relaxation signals to your muscles and reduce physical stress. Should you still experience
some anxiety, stress or negative thinking, stroke your hands and forearms very slowly and
gently. When you are in a deeply relaxed state ask your intuition the following question:
Write down whatever word intuitively comes to mind. Ask again. And again.
Now, deeply relax. Look at your list of words, and circle the one that feels the truest for you
at this moment. Close your eyes once more and repeat that word or phrase to yourself,
silently and then aloud. Savor that word for 10-30 seconds xix.
Integrate your value in your life, at your workplace, and reflect once an hour on that key
value that you circled on your paper. Change your value whenever you intuitively feel that
another word is more essential and meaningful. It is truly amazing that a single word can
improve the health of your brain and that repeating it throughout the day can turn on
thousands of stress-reducing and immune-enhancing genes xx.
I suggest that you take this exercise even one step further to intuitively explore both your
work related values and communication values. After you have done this, teach your
colleagues to do the same. Organize a team meeting and openly talk with compassion about
each other’s values. The results will be astonishing, as it will: strengthen engagement,
promote self-control, strengthen a sense of community, increase social rewards, and
encourage a sense of fairness. According to Kanter discussions about values also help to
decrease interpersonal conflict xxi. What a great way to battle burnout in the workplace!
Do you remember Brianna who came to me for help to battle burnout? In teaching her to
consistently apply the short mindfulness based stress reduction techniques throughout her
day, I helped her to quickly reduce her anxiety and depression. In our Neuro-Coaching
session on inner values she accessed deep levels of her intuition and found her desire and
passion to helping children eat well. Contributing to a meaningful personal goal, savoring this
and integrating it into her life changed her perspective completely. She decided to work one
more year in her current job to get sufficient funds to be able to start a charity in her own
local community with the mission to get every child eating well at home, in childcare, at
school and beyond. By applying Brain-Based strategies, Brianna was able to make a fresh
start after having battled burnout effectively.
Practical NeuroWisdom
info@innerlinkcoach.nl or
http://www.innerlinkcoach.com
xi Manning, Chris A.; Waldman, Mark R.; xxi Getting value from value. Kanter R.M.
Lindsey, William E.; Newberg, Andrew B.; Harvard Business Review (blog). 2010 Jun
and Cotter-Lockard, Dorianne (2012) 14.
"Personal Inner Values – A Key to Effective