I saw myself as an performer, so I was doing things with enthusiasm and I was proud of my results.
But a high performance level can not be maintained indefinitely.
“No matter how much you win, if you’re not the last one to win, you’re a loser” - Andre Agassi - Open
I've been out of the air for a long time. Things were happening, I was starting to think I was the common denominator of all the successes, and there was nothing wrong with it.
Then I started to get tired. Signs appeared everywhere. I was getting home, and all I was doing was dropping to the bedroom and throwing myself in bed. Dressed up.
And the mind perceived something wrong and continues to "chew" the data of the previous day. It was a constant pressure. The perception of everyone around me was that I could handle it, that I was on the wave. But all the results came with an increasing effort. I knew something was wrong.
And the efficacy began to drop dramatically, although the effort was the same. I could not concentrate anymore, I needed time to rebuild myself more and I woke up as I walked in the morning with the coffee in front, staring naked on the walls.
Even the agenda, which I gave myself in a few minutes, and which gave me unmet energy reserves-now I was doing it in almost two hours. It seemed like we were pulling time, despite the fact that we had more and more things to do and the deadlines were haunting me.
The others seemed still enthusiastic, but I knew. I knew they did not work anymore, and I knew I had to do something quick to get back, or else it would hit me.
I knew we were at the end of a cycle.
And the only person who ever knew what I was going through was my wife. No matter how calm I was in front of her, she knew that I had lost the hats in my hands and that if I did not slow down, the horses would enter the first wall in front of which I would not be able to turn.
I had become jerky, cynical with the others, completely ineffective and dissatisfied with me.
"I prefer the physical exhaustion of mental fatigue anytime."
Clotilde Hesme
BurnOut - Performer Syndrome
burnout3If you call yourself a performance athlete, manager or artist of any kind, when you put your emphases on the level of performance, you inevitably get into actual moments. Moments when the performance level you are displaying is far from your expectations.
As a coach I worked with performers in many areas. I remember a boxer's reply:
"I took a kick to a workout, my knees dipped. Matches that were funny before, easy with opponents, now cause me real problems. I feel like nothing comes out. "
Anyone who is accustomed to playing on a "high" level is constantly struggling between the image of others about him and his actual performance in moments of weakness.
Book authors call it "the writer's block".
Managers - Exhaustion.
Athletes - mental blockade.
In the literature it is called "burnout" and is the lowest threshold of performance.
If performance is born somewhere over 80% of your ability to exercise,
Personal mediocrity strikes somewhere at 50%, a little over.
The lower performance curve is somewhere below 20% efficiency despite physical and mental efforts.
When you're up to 20% of your capacity, you need a recovery of energy and motivation. Depending on your experience, if you have gone through it or not, depending on your temper, returning to a normal level of performance may take more or less.
Studies by athletes and performers in the entrepreneurial area show that age and experience have a major impact on "recovery." In the first 10 years of your career, you are more likely to get exhausted and find the way back. For athletes this may be dramatic, because the "peak" of performance is much shorter than in other cases.
Exhaustion "plays" on four different axes:
- physics
- mental
- emotional
- spiritual
"Subjects" usually prolong their agony by not accepting the situation they are going through. It's like having maximum performance claims from them in limited resource conditions.
It takes a regeneration of resources from zero almost and touching a balance that allows performance to be born again.
Performance athletes, usually going through these "holes" - have an incredible ability to reinvent themselves. Everything goes out of mind.
1. Performance is cyclical
If you do not accept this truth, your lower moments will hit you in pride and will cause long-term ravages. Also, if you have attained a level of performance at one stage, you will most likely be able to touch it again and you can even overtake it.
Of course this statement is made taking into account the laws of physics (related to age and various other limitations imposed by the physical world in which we live).
With experience, going through periods of reduced performance, a level of balance is created that helps you get over the hard times and keep up with good moments.
2. You need a zero point from which to go again.
That's why I said acceptance, because most of the performers who fail to get up are those who do not accept that they need to take it from the end, preferring to cling to the clutches of past performances.
When you accept that you are going through a crisis, it is easier for you to come back.
Also, when you accept that there is no instant treatment, but rather a progressive "recovery", you will be able to return more easily to "barricades".
3. Take a break from everything for a reset
To be able to restart and return the fate to your favor, you need a break to do anything else outside of your field of activity. For some people, it takes 2-3 days, for others we speak for weeks, in exceptional cases we have been talking for months.
Tennis players in this period are no longer allowed to reach the rocket,
Footballers ball,
Laptop writers (or "writing machine", metaphoric)
Sales agents close their phones and email
And so on
4. Sleep as much as possible during this time
To make changes on the physical axis, let the body and mind recover. Put yourself a fixed hour from bedtime, give up night activities and "fun".
5. Take care of food and hydration
Propose regular meals, drink as much water and get a solid serving of vitamins from the pharmacy (from magnesium to vitamin C, especially for smokers).
You need a rebalancing from all points of view.
6. It goes from 20% effectiveness
Allow yourself to rebuild the level of performance you are taught. It starts from a fifth of your maximum effectiveness and proposes to grow progressively, from day to day.
However, during burnout, no matter how much effort you make, you are not able to get remarkable results, so let yourself be accustomed to incremental progression.
First day - do not allow yourself to do more than 20% of what you normally do (on a quantitative basis).
The next day increases with 5 or 10% efficacy. In a week, you should already be half your normal capacity.
7. Discard toxic or conflictual interactions during this period
Because you need to "come back" on all your plans, anything that emulates you emotionally should be avoided. This includes friends and acquaintances that get tired, although there may have been times when their presence motivated you.
Only people who grow your energy and where you feel good are just around you.
Avoid contradictions as far as possible, response to criticism, conflicts of any kind. Do not help in this period!
In this category, enter, as much as possible, the technology that generates these interactions (social media, phones, emails).
8. Relax as much as possible!
For the mental and emotional axis - take moments in your day only for introspection, in which you do nothing but meditate.
Your mind has become accustomed to a state of agitation that does not help you perform. Now it's important to reassure her with peace.
9. Refuse new commitments for a while
Learn to say "no" as polite as it may be. A component of exhaustion is due to the excess of your effort and concentration capacity. Too many tasks, too many "battlefields," taking too many responsibilities - all this brought you here.
10. Watch comedies and read books of fiction
During this time, take care of what you give him "food" to the brain. Being a slightly more sensitive period, you should reduce the excitement of your senses. Think of yourself as a child and deny movies or works that are emotionally destabilizing.
If a movie is not recommended to children for reasons of violence, then you are not recommended either. It also applies to dramas, certain thrillers or horror films, etc.
Rediscover the books of fiction. Get used to the night when the bedtime comes, leave the technology aside (which acts as an exciting brain) and put your hand on a good book that calms you.
11. Rewrite your vision and objectives in the new posture.
Exhaustion often comes from not adjusting goals to the current performance level. It is the constant feeling that you lose something that is just inside your head.
Ask questions about vision - where you want to get. Redefine your goals and start, with little steps, of babies in pursuing them.
Often a good question goes beyond the times of crisis with brio.
Why are you doing what you do?
Who are you?
What are you leaving behind?
Where do you want to go?
How do you change your goals and reality with the new experience you are experiencing now?
Finally
If I were to tell you a single idea to stay at the end of this article about how to get back to the level of performance you were learning, it would reduce to:
"Start from the lowest level of performance you learn and add lightweight items every day until you get back to the top."
By accepting your human nature, you will be able to be what you have been in the past and even more so,
With love,
Adrian
PS - Perfectionists often end up exhausted. While those who are in search of excellence reach a higher level of understanding of one's own being, for the mere fact that excellence is not a destination, but rather a way.