Burnout, Social Care, and Positive Psychology: Manage your mental load like you manage your diary.

When we find ourselves becoming distracted quite regularly, this could be because we haven’t given enough airtime to whatever’s interrupting us. Mindfulness – or “being present” – is all about focusing on one thing at a time.

Prevent burnout by giving your thoughts the recognition they deserve

For example, if we struggle be present with a client because we keep drifting off into thinking about what’s for dinner, that could be a sign that we need to give ‘dinner planning’ (or whatever it might be for you) more mental airtime.

By scheduling an allotted time in the routine to attend to whatever’s demanding our attention, it becomes easier to dismiss interrupting thoughts because we know we’ve set aside to deal with them properly.

Social care workers don’t have any other time, that’s the problem!

Managing and maintaining a sustainable mental load is vital to preventing burnout.

When choosing what to prioritise and what to let go of (whether it’s with our time, budget, energy, etc.), it’s important to step back and consider what matters most.

Could it be worth disappointing some people or not getting as much done in the short term, to be the best worker/colleague/parent/spouse/teammate/friend/all-of-the-above we can be in the long run?

Taking the time to manage our mental load can improve mood, sleep, work, health and relationships… Sounds pretty worth it to us!

This article was originally published in BE Recruitment‘s blog.