Hello!

You're helping absolutely no one—especially yourself—if you're burnt out. And one of the best ways to avoid burnout is by setting and maintaining boundaries. 

 

The actual act of setting boundaries and enforcing them can feel daunting, both professionally and socially. We get it. 

 

Will there be some pushback? Yep. 

Will it take practice and patience with yourself and others? Also yep. 

 

But those are no reasons to give up on your boundaries, and now is as good a time as any to start. 

 

Here are five easy steps to begin setting healthy boundaries for yourself in and out of the workplace.

 

Evaluate what you're saying ‘yes’ to and why. Are you saying yes because you believe in the project/task? Do you have no choice? Or are you doing it because you feel compelled to be a ‘good sport’ or ‘team player’? There's a way to prove yourself but protect your mental health, so be realistic about what you have capacity for and why you're saying yes. 

 

If you're feeling overwhelmed or anxious, talk it through with someone. Sometimes just getting it out and chatting about the problem or task at hand helps give you perspective and lightens the ‘mental’ load, so to speak. It also helps others understand just how much you have going on. 

 

Silently stewing or getting resentful about your growing to-do list will only add to the burnout factor. 

 

‘No' is a muscle that needs flexing. It takes practice and persistence to get comfortable with the feeling. Delivering ‘nos’ socially is a great first step to getting comfortable saying nope in a work context. 

 

Of course, we don't all have the power to say no in at work. But setting boundaries can look like telling people what deadline works for you best, not being beholden to the deadlines of others. It's not an outright ‘no’ but a simple way to pause and give yourself breathing room.

 

Delegating is not a sign of weakness or laziness. It's an important skill and one that should be put to regular use. Perhaps there's a task that you're able to pass onto someone else who would relish the opportunity to own something you feel you've outgrown. 

 

Of course, sometimes there's no one to delegate to, maybe you're running a business solo or just one in a team of two. Then it's a matter of going back to step two and finding a way forward that works. 

 

There are some relatively easy ways to set realistic boundaries now. 

If clients text instead of email, politely let them know you'll speak with them over email—extra points if you can give them a timeframe in which to expect your response. 

 

Identify what areas you feel taken advantage of or stress you out, and think logically and calmly about how you might solve this with practical action.