How Connection to Values Can Reduce Burnout

Connecting with our values can help mitigate the effects of burnout and prevent it from building. “Values” here doesn’t mean financial gains, but deep personal values. These are things that we find important and want to keep in our lives. If you can find and connect with a value of yours each working day, it will make work (and other stressors) more manageable.

Identifying Your Values

This may sound simple on the surface, but it’s okay if it takes time. Especially if you have been feeling burned out for a long time and haven’t had a chance to connect with your values often. To help get you started, here’s a list with some common values that was compiled by Dr. Brene Brown:

If you can’t find something you connect to there, no worries. It isn’t an exhaustive list, just some ideas to help you start identifying your values.

Reducing Burnout With Value Connection

Now that you’ve identified your values, it’s time to apply them to work or whatever other area of your life is burning you out. We do this by figuring out how the value and the stressor are connected.

For example: Let’s say you have identified caring as a value of yours and work in the finance industry. You are feeling burned out by the lack of care you see for employees and customers, but you don’t want to quit.

In this instance, we would want to focus on what’s in our control for our values. It’s unlikely you’re in a position where you can change the values of your company or industry, so instead we focus on your role and how to find the value in it. Maybe you’re proud of the service you provide and show your care by doing the best for customers. Or perhaps it’s more team focused, you can point out to yourself how you positively impact your coworkers, or how you could. You might have no way of seeing how you can show your care in your position, so instead identify how the salary, hours, PTO, whatever makes you not want to quit, can help you care for others outside of work.

These very well may be things you already do, in which case point it out to yourself daily. We all have a natural negativity bias so we often notice the same frustrating thing everyday without also noticing the positive things everyday.

Rewriting the brain for positivity and values can take a lot of time and practice. If you would like a coach to help guide you through this process you can schedule an appointment at burnoutpreventiontherapy.com.