7 WAYS TO AVOID “BURN-OUT”

7 WAYS TO AVOID “BURNT-OUT”?

I had an appointment last week and three times during the meeting the person mentioned that they were “tired and burnt-out”, and looking for a change to recharge their batteries.

I also read in the newspaper last week a footballer talking about how the team; were “burnt-out”.

It prompted me to write about this and offer some suggestions how you can avoid “burn-out” and maintain your passion for what you do and for life.  So in this article I am going to talk about five solutions to avoiding “burn-out” in your life:

1)      Do what you are passionate about. – Everyone has a purpose and a passion in life and successful people inherently know what their purpose is and do things that align with it.  Don’t just do a job because it will make you money.  Do a job that makes you money and makes you happy, that way you will always jump out of bed in the morning.

2)      Have a balanced life. – At Performia we talk about eight areas of life that someone should be succeeding in.  Make sure that you have time for all the different parts of your life and then you will be less likely to get tired and burn out at work.

3)      Play a game at work. – Set yourself new games and new challenges to achieve.  Someone with goals and barriers is more likely to be successful and have fun at work than someone who simply gets locked into the daily grind.

4)      Look after yourself. – Get enough sleep, get someone exercise and make sure you are eating well.  It’s easy to forget yourself when you are busy and producing, but this will eventually get to you and run you down, so make sure you look after yourself.

5)      Get trained constantly. – Always be improving your skills and stay ahead of the game.  You’ll keep expanding your abilities and find new ways to get things done.

6)      Handle any barriers that come up; when they do. – One of the easiest ways to get “burn-out” it to have a purpose to do something and get stopped.  If you find yourself being stopped achieving things you will often start to feel tired and the reasons that things can’t be done will mount up.  The best solution is to focus on the purpose and keep pushing to get that done rather than focusing on the stops as they will keep mounting up.

7)      Go for a walk. – If you feel yourself getting tired looking at a computer screen all day, go for a walk and put your attention and focus further out.  Look at the trees the buildings etc.  Often when you do this you will find yourself getting tired at first, but keep walking until you feel better.  Also make sure you have regular time for exercise and relaxation.

I hope these Tips help you get more energetic at work and maintain your energy levels.

Stay Productive

Greg Paul
Business Development Executive
Performia Australia
greg@performia.com.au
Ph: 1800 603 023

©2011 Performia Australia Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Performia Australia is part of an international business that are experts on helping business owners and managers know how to get the best results from their staff as well as recruit the most productive people to  business. Learn the right way to Build Your Team.

Performia Australia sends a weekly email newsletter with tips about how to improve your business.  Send your name, email, phone number and the name of your business to info@performia.com.au to register for the newsletter.

Performia Australia – 6 Steps To Build A Business!

6 STEPS TO BUILD A BUSINESS

When someone wants to build a business – or any group for that matter – there are certain things that must be done for the group to be a success. Here are some of the steps that I think are the key to building a successful and productive team;

1)      Know the purpose of the organization –

As the person who creates the group, you are the one who established what the purpose of that group is.  Whether it is to save the planet from Global Warming or simply to make good quality business socks, it is important to let everyone know what the purpose is and try and get the rest of the team to be as passionate as you are. 

For example, I recently discovered that one of our clients was complaining that the staff in his Australian office didn’t share the passion that he and his wife did.  The company imports their products from Indonesia and supports over 300 staff that would have otherwise struggled, as they live in a third world country.  I asked him if he had ever told the Australian staff about his purpose and he replied that he hadn’t.  After that he spent over one hour passionately talking to the staff about what the company stood for and at least three of his staff were in tears listening to them.  I am sure that they feel a lot different about selling “furniture” now than they did before.  It was so successful that they hired a consultant to plan their retail stores so they can now let their clients now their purpose as well.

2)      Have a goal for your business –

When you have a goal for your business you have something to strive for to achieve each day.

I had a client a couple of years ago and he was having trouble with the business so I asked him what his goal was.  He looked strange for a moment and then looked at me with a funny expression and said “I don’t know any more, I had a goal but we made that three years ago and never set a new one”.  Interestingly the business started to struggle exactly three years earlier.  We helped him work out what his goals were and now the business is more successful than ever.

3)      Keep doing what has worked –

Business owners and managers of start-up businesses are generally people who like challenges and change.  This is good in the beginning but can often mean that they get bored of doing the same thing over and over and admin is seen as being quite tedious.  The best thing to do is find what works and write it down as policy.  Then you can get others to read it and follow these actions whilst you test new things that may work.  This way the business will be making money steadily whilst you create new solutions that get even better results.  Importantly whilst you do this, make sure that the testing is done in such a way that doesn’t interfere with what you know already works. 

4)      Hire productive people –

Hire the most productive people to help you grow the business.  If you want to build a team it needs to be composed of the best people so measure the following before you hire them;

1. Productivity – past results.
2. Personality – will they fit, will they stay and will they get along with others.
3. Motivation – are they there for results or for themselves.
4. Knowledge – do they have the knowledge that you need to grow the business.

If you need help knowing how to predict or measure these things call Performia Australia and we can show you how to do this.

5)      Train them to succeed –

Take what you have learnt and write it down as policy and make sure they your staff know it and can apply it.  At the same time encourage them to find even better ways of doing things and get these written down as policy.

6)      Measure the results –

Measure the results everyone is getting and the business as a whole.  Then reward the people who are getting the best results.  When it comes to rewards, make sure you survey the staff and find out what motivates them.  I know of one client who spent a lot of time and effort in trying to find out what worked best in rewarding his telemarketers.  He tried bonuses and the results didn’t improve, he tried offers of promotion etc. and he even tried a lot of things that worked in other areas of the business.  It wasn’t until he talked to them and then created a system where they had quotas and when they achieved their targets, they could go home for the week and that really got results!  Everyone is different and has different drivers in the business.  If we were all the same everyone would be trying to create their own business.

7)      Constantly review and improve –

When you have these things in place, constantly review them, set new goals for yourself and your team and have fun building your business and your team. 

Stay productive,

Greg Paul
Business Development Executive
Performia Australia
greg@performia.com.au
Ph: 1800 603 023

©2010 Performia Australia Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Performia Australia is part of an international business that are experts on helping business owners and managers know how to get the best results from their staff as well as recruit the most productive people to  business. Learn the right way to Build Your Team.

Performia Australia sends a weekly email newsletter with tips about how to improve your business.  Send your name, email, phone number and the name of your business to info@performia.com.au to register for the newsletter.

Performia Australia – What Happened To The Socceroos?

The World Cup is coming to an end, and I can’t help but think that what happened to the Socceroos in South Africa is a good analogy for what often happens in our businesses and how we can avoid the same problems.

GERMANY 2006 V SOUTH AFRICA 2010

In 2006 we were drawn to play Brazil in our first game, then Japan and the Czech Republic.  In 2010, we were drawn to play Germany in the first game then Serbia and Ghana.  In terms of rankings and quality opposition we were probably worse off in 2006, but it was very similar.

Before we played Brazil in 2006, Socceroo coach Guus Hiddink made the comment that it was an exciting opportunity to be comparing ourselves to the best in the world and the players would go out as the outsiders but were going to give it our best shot and show Australia what they were capable of.  Captain Mark Viduka said that the players were excited and were going out to play and win the game.  The result was we lost but played well before defeating Japan and drawing against the Czech Republic and making the next round.

Before we played Germany in 2010, three players including captain Lucas Neill said that we would be very happy with a draw against Germany. Coach Pim Verbeek said that we were the outsiders and that Germany were a great team.  We then went out with a defensive game plan. It seemed we were trying to avoid losing by much.  The end result was we lost by a lot, 4-0 before another draw and win. The same as we did in Germany in 2006, but that one loss cost us a place in the next round.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS?

In business, as in life, have you ever noticed that some business groups look confident and can take on the world, whilst others question themselves and their teammates and don’t get as much done?

It would not surprise you perhaps to know that this self confidence and motivation is in no small part to the self-belief of the team’s leader as well as the belief that leader has in the team.  Some people can lead a team, and the people in it do better simply because that person is there.

This may seem a bit daunting to you as a leader in your business to realize how much your behavior and what you do with your team will affect the results of your business.  It doesn’t need to be.  There are tools that you can learn to help you build your team and get them working together with confidence.  The best thing for you to do is book for one of the Performia Australia Build Your Team seminars right now.  Don’t wait and cost your business money by not knowing this information!

You can ask Pim Verbeek to come too if you’ve got his number!

Click Here To Register

Stay Productive,

Greg Paul
Business Development Executive
Performia Australia
greg@performia.com.au
Ph. 1800 603 023

© 2010 Performia Australia Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Build Your Team Seminar

This seminar is designed for you, the business owner, manager or recruiter. This seminar covers the important things to know; which staff are most valuable and which aren’t so valuable or in some cases even destructive.

You will also gain valuable tools on how to interview your existing staff and candidates so that you can promote and hire the most productive people to allow smooth growth for your business.

This seminar will show you the key to understanding productive people and getting the most from your team.

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“The seminar gave me great insight on how to hire the right person. I learnt things I never knew before and realised we were doing things differently which weren’t helping us find the right people.”
– Sandra Mascaso, Centrum Printing Pty Ltd.

“The seminar gave me insight on how rarely we know what our products are in our roles and therefore waste lots of time being unproductive.”
– Kyle Elsdon

“There were many points which touched on day to day issues that we had identified but hadn’t found solutions for.”
– Gary Sasse, IDC Homewares Pty Ltd.

Register Here

Optima Training Center

Optima is a division of Performia Australia designed to take our expertise in personnel evaluation and hiring productive people to the next level.  We offer a range of courses from around the world focused on sales, to finance, personal development and advanced executive and business building.  The training is tough, but focused on results for you, your business and your staff.

Email Alex at alex@performia.com.au
Call Alex at 1800 603 023

Exelect Recruitment

Exelect is another division of Performia Australia that is a recruitment company.  If you need a productive staff member to join your team right now, give us a call and we can give you a quote on using the tools of Performia to find someone for you.

Email Caroline at caroline@performia.com.au
Call Caroline at 1800 603 023

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