Five Strategies to Avoid Burnout During a Busy Season
052. How I avoided burnout during an intensely busy period of my life/career
In this episode, my focus turns to a familiar challenge for changemakers, academics, and entrepreneurs alike — burnout. Not the slow, creeping exhaustion that accumulates over years of overwork, but the acute, high-intensity burnout that can strike during periods of extreme demand. Drawing from personal experience during a recent six-week sprint of full-time training, professional commitments, and major organisational launches, this discussion explores what it takes to sustain energy, focus, and wellbeing in the middle of chaos. Burnout is reframed not merely as fatigue, but as a physiological and psychological depletion that can leave you feeling empty and disengaged from even the things you love.
1. Drill Down to the Essentials
When life becomes unmanageably full, prioritisation is the most powerful tool available. Entering a busy period is an opportunity to make deliberate decisions about what truly matters — and what can wait. As illustrated in this episode, identifying the essential tasks, projects, and relationships that demand immediate focus helps protect mental bandwidth and prevent overwhelm. This means pausing or scaling back on secondary projects, clearly communicating capacity limits, and creating temporary “stop doing” lists. Burnout often begins not from overwork, but from the inability to distinguish between what is urgent and what is important.
2. Set Boundaries and Treat Them as Non-Negotiable
Boundaries are the backbone of burnout prevention. Rather than abstract concepts, they should take the form of specific, enforceable rules that create structure and discipline. These might include limiting social commitments, defining work hours, or setting micro-habits that preserve order amid unpredictability — such as preparing lunches the night before or completing household chores before bed. Importantly, boundaries must be realistic. Unsustainable rules only breed guilt and failure, whereas well-calibrated boundaries foster self-trust and consistency. They also signal to others that your time and energy have limits — a crucial step in maintaining balance.
3. Make It Easy for Yourself
During high-intensity periods, efficiency is not indulgence; it is survival. Small adjustments can dramatically reduce decision fatigue — pre-cooked meals, batch-prepared content, simplified wardrobes, and pre-scheduled social media are all practical ways to streamline daily life. Reducing micro-decisions frees cognitive energy for more demanding tasks. As this episode highlights, proactive preparation — such as completing all marketing materials and communications before entering a busy period — transforms potential chaos into calm. Making things easier does not mean lowering standards; it means designing systems that support sustained performance without unnecessary strain.
4. Integrate Rest Intentionally
Rest is not the opposite of productivity; it is what makes productivity possible. True rest must be built into the rhythm of a busy season, not postponed as a reward. This may mean structured downtime — consistent sleep schedules, mindful commuting, or weekly rituals of stillness. Rest can be active or passive, but it must be deliberate. Creating opportunities for recovery prevents the slide from mental fatigue into physical burnout. Even brief, daily pauses to breathe, stretch, or disengage from digital inputs can recalibrate focus and preserve emotional equilibrium.
5. Be Intentional About What You Tune Into
Perhaps the most overlooked dimension of burnout is informational overload. In an age of perpetual crisis, choosing what to engage with is an act of self-preservation. The metaphor of “changing the radio station” captures this perfectly — you do not need to absorb every distressing headline or argument online. Curate your inputs: consume content that uplifts, educates, or genuinely informs your work, and disengage from that which drains you. As discussed in Episode 36, Should You Stop Watching the News?, mindful media consumption protects your mental clarity and guards against compassion fatigue.
Burnout is not an inevitable outcome of ambition. It is a signal — one that can be prevented when we approach busy periods with strategy, structure, and self-awareness. By drilling down to essentials, enforcing boundaries, simplifying routines, integrating rest, and curating what we consume, we can move through intense seasons not depleted, but stronger. For changemakers navigating cycles of intensity and rest, this approach reframes productivity as an act of care — one that allows for purpose, presence, and sustainability in the work of change.