I tried the “ideal” work routine ~ The Burnout Diaries CH3 (final chapter)

Well, it’s about time we wrap it up. 

The Burnout Diaries, that is. 

So do I still have burnout? Yeah. I still have headaches, tire easily, a bit of overwhelm at times. But I’m at the point of working full days again. 

But therein lies the problem: what is a full day of work?

You see, the past few years either being a student with a business on the side or full time with my business, I worked. The more the better. You’ll only become successful quicker! Put in those late night hours, those early mornings, skip lunches and don’t have a social life. That’s how you succeed! 

Lies. 

Well, I don’t know. Maybe this works for some people. But the more hours I put in, the less I thought about how I was working. What tactics I was using. I just worked all the available hours and at the end of the day said to myself “You did all you could have”.

But was that really the case?

This past week I researched what the ideal work day actually looks like. I read an article (click here to read it) that was quite basic, quite normal in the suggestions, but I was going to stick to it. For others it might be hints about how to do more, for me it was limits to make me do less.

And I’m not asking for praise when I say stuff like this. I actually need to learn how to be productive in a healthy manner, not in a way that will lead to burnout again. 

By thinking about the tasks, planning the tasks, doing the tasks and then STOPPING doing the tasks, I will be able to keep doing the tasks tomorrow. And so on.

So what did this article say?

Firstly, an obvious one, but a sleep schedule should be consistent and um… full of sleep. Well ok, let’s skip that step.

Breakfast is usually my first task after rising but it shouldn’t be. Instead a light breakfast should be had 30 minutes after waking, and instead start with a morning shower.

This was fine, except I was hungry after my shower, but my shower necessitated I followed immediately with my skincare and makeup routine. So let’s say a strong 45 minutes after.

Breakfast of champions, GF (of course) toast with Vegemite. I usually have something sweet but the night before I saw something about first thing in the morning being the worst time for sugar. Worth a try?

Then we’re commuting. I took Zoe pup for a walk instead. 

Coffee is at 9:30am, as are the hardest work tasks of the day. I worked on a business assessment task as this seemed the most thought provoking task, but to be honest I was still a bit groggy. Maybe I should have had a longer shower.  

Lunch is a “proper” lunch, then another coffee at 2pm. I opted for tea, which probably meant the 2:30 teeth brushing wasn’t necessary for me. Also because of the fact no-one was near me to be offended by my coffee (tea) breath. 

When work is over at 5pm, it’s exercise time. I did some yoga sitting down because the last warrior pose I attempted, I fell over from being lightheaded. 

And that was the day! 

The vlog is now available on YouTube, it was quite a nice experiment to see what it felt like stopping at 5pm, I really think I learnt a lot. 

(I’m writing this at 10:15pm)

X Siobhan