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10 Insights on How to Recover From Burnout

There’s a promise underneath the pain. If God is doing surgery, it’s because he wants to bring healing.

It’s also a sign of his love. If God wants to go deep, it’s because he wants to take you far.

6. YOUR HEART WILL HEAL AND YOU WILL TRUST AGAIN

Your heart gets mangled in leadership because you: Trusted people who betrayed that trust. Hoped only to have your hopes dashed. Believed only to discover what you were hoping for never happened. That’s the natural stuff of leadership, but in the process, your naiveté and innocence are lost.

As a result, it’s hard not to grow cynical. It’s hard not to let your heart grow hard. (I write about cynicism in my new book as well.) How do you thrive long term when leadership can be disappointing? For me, it’s a combination of realism and optimism. Yep, it can be hard. Yes, there will be disappointments. But despite that, I will believe again. I will hope again. I will trust again.

Here’s something I’ve discovered: Leaders who thrive see life for what it really is but keep their hearts fully engaged.

7. YOUR EMOTIONS EVENTUALLY CATCH UP TO YOUR OBEDIENCE

When you’re burnt out, your emotions stop working properly. You sometimes feel nothing. Or you feel a deep despair. And at other times, you feel emotions but they are not proportionate to what is going on around you or what you should be feeling.

I think a lot of leaders simply quit because their emotions have stopped working.

What I’ve learned is that obedience is greater than my emotions.

I stayed in ministry because I believe God had not released me from my calling. So I just obeyed.

The amazing thing is, eventually, your emotions catch up to your obedience. As you get healthier, the emotions begin to work the way they should. Sometimes they work better than they ever have.

8. MANAGING YOUR ENERGY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MANAGING YOUR TIME

Prior to my burnout, I worked on time management.

Since I burned out, I still work hard on optimal time management, but I’ve discovered a much better approach: energy management.

Your energy waxes and wanes throughout the day. Rather than fight that, I’ve learned to cooperate with it. I’ve discovered that there are probably three to five hours a day when I’m at my best (for me, that’s usually in the morning).