On a scale of 1 to 10, how burned out are you? Go ahead, be honest.
Just the other day I was talking to a worship leader friend of mine. I was always encouraged being around him. His perspective on ministry and life was energizing.
But something was different about him this day.
He was tired. Where once there was a spark in his eye and a skip in his step, now seemed to be nothing but exhaustion. Ministry was no longer a joy. He was burned out.
We’re all prone to this sort of burn out. Matter of fact, you may be burned out and not even realize it. You’re so accustomed to it that you can’t see the fires of exhaustion all around you. Burn out has become like a toxic friend that you hang out with because they’ve always been there…and, there’s no one else around.
Signs of burn out are numerous. Here are a few:
– You’d rather not show up for the events that you lead
– You’re content with just getting the “bare minimum” done
– The Gospel is a “been there done that” speech
– Altar calls no longer apply to you
– You constantly feel behind
– Retirement is the most exciting event on the horizon
– Your day to day tasks don’t inspire you
In this post I want to help you. If your burned out, I want to get you out. If you’re not, this post still applies to you because you need to be proactive about avoiding it.
I believe having a passion for your day-to-day work is important to a healthy life. Why spend most of your life doing something you hate?
It’s common for people in ministry to lose their spark. Since the calling is so lofty (reach the world), we push ourselves hard to accomplish it – at the expense of our health and our families. We find our identity in the work rather than allowing our work to flow from our identity.
I don’t think that’s how God intended us to live. If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t care for anyone. If you don’t take care of your family, no one will. If you don’t focus on crafting an exciting, energizing life, it won’t happen.
6 Tips For Avoiding Burn Out
Here are a few tips to help you avoid (or get yourself out) of burn out and start to enjoy doing God’s work for God’s glory.
1. Organize Your Calendar – The majority of burn out and stress comes from a disorganized calendar. You know in your subconscious that something isn’t right. You miss appointments. You don’t approach each day with a clear vision of what you’re doing. Here’s my suggestion: Block off two hours this week and organize your calendar. Schedule time for rest, relaxation, family, work projects, exercise, eating, reviewing finances, meetings – basically everything that is important to you. If you don’t schedule it, you’ll feel behind and stressed out.
2. Institute a Weekly Review – It’s so important every week that you align yourself with your life’s mission. You want everything on your calendar to contribute to what is most important. And if you don’t review it, it doesn’t happen. I wrote a post on the Weekly Review for creatives. I would check that out.
3. Do Scary Things – Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” I think this is fantastic advice, provided you don’t do something stupid like jump off a bridge. For example, I am starting a new podcast very soon. That scares me. I am speaking at a few conferences this year. That scares me. And that’s exactly why I need to do them. Taking risks keeps you fresh – trusting in God’s ability to work through you.
4. Define What Success Is – If you don’t define what success is, you’ll never reach it. You’ll live your life comparing yourself to others and chasing after more and more success. Since your identity is in your work, you’ll never be satisfied and you’ll run yourself into the ground. I once heard Mike Bickle say that burn out happens when you try to live in another man (or woman’s) anointing. Be grateful for your talents, your gifting, and the portion of grace you have received from God.
5. Empower Others – It’s quite possible that you are doing too much. Honestly, that can feel good. You’re needed by a lot of people. You’re the rescuer who steps into situations and saves the day. Eventually this will wear on you and slow progress. You can’t be the Savior of every situation. Rather, empower others to tackle projects and take action. Instead of taking on more stuff, raise others up to do it better than you ever could.
6. Pray This Every Day – Every morning, make this your prayer:
“Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways” (Psalm 119:33-37).
It’s remarkable what happens when you pray and turn your heart towards God every morning. Cry out for your life to be aligned in His ways – to do His will and live for His glory.
What about you? How do you avoid burn out, keep your life organized, and your heart alive?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments section. Go ahead, it’s worth it.
Dave, as you know, I recently went thru my darkest time with this last year. “Went thru” is the key statement here. And to testify of it, I must say that the number 1 cause of my burnt out state was allowing my well to be stopped up by offense and frustration.
We want everything in OUR time. We fail to see that God is using our circumstances, though He hasn’t created them, to bring refinement in us. God is never blindsided and He is never without the answer to any problem.
Burn out is always the fault of self, but within it, our focus becomes everyone an everything but us. I recently SAW a passage of scripture that I had read a thousand times and it became alive inside me. In Isaiah 28:11-12 speaks of the “Rest” for those who believe (Hebrews 4:3) as being the Holy Ghost. There is much teaching today about “sabbaticals”. There is no scripture to support it. The sabbath was for Jews. It was Saturday. The church meets on Sunday. After Pentecost, the church was given the gift of the infilling of the Holy Ghost. This is the rest. I always thru doctrines taught believed the rest was salvation. Although it is a rest from sin, it is not what Isaiah prophesied of when speaking of Jesus in chapter 28…”v11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people…v12 to whom He said, This is the REST wherewith you may rest.”
I found my strength in accepting what His Word says, not what a denominational doctrine has taught. Don’t ask God for strength…let Him become your strength…there is an endless supply!! His name is The Holy Ghost.
Chris, great thoughts. So you’re saying we need to own responsibility for our burn out and not point the finger?
David, I thought I would drop a few thoughts here. “Allow our work to flow from our Identity.” That is a GREAT thought ! On success, sometimes success can be so narrowly defined that it slips past us, because it is not exactly how we imagined it. I totally agree that God is our strength. Prayer and Bible study sustain us. I don’t totally disagree with the idea that someone can burn out. But essentially the concept of burnout is a modern one. My parents and grandparents never used the term, or expressed it in any other way. To stop and think of yourself as bunt out would have been self pity. If I stop and think I am bunt out, that means something is wrong for sure. But I hear my grandfather say,” fix it and get back to work”. To put things in perspective, I read about the Apostle Paul, I read Job. Do 3rd world Christians
concern themselves with burnout? Today is good because they haven’t been tortured or killed. My wife’s parents came home from the mission field in their mid seventies only because they could no longer get sufficient medical care in Central America. Did mother Teresa concern herself with burnout. I recently read an article about affluent diseases and poverty diseases. I think burnout is a symptom of modern affluence.
This all may sound harsh, but as usual, I agree in part and disagree in part. But you ALWAYS give us something to think about. Now, BACK to WORK ! I’m getting behind.
I hear what you’re saying. I supposed what kept Mother Theresa from total burn out was her eye on the goal. She had a vision for her life that kept her persevering through tremendous difficulty. Without that, I”m sure she would have given up. Always good to hear from you, Don!
Great article. Thank you. I agree with everything said and posted…I recently blocked 48 hours out and went on a quick mini vacation…before I left I was having back pain and fatigue issue, when I came back my back felt better and my heart felt rejuvenated!
Going to schedule that every 2 months from now on…basically just actually make a Sabbath a Sabbath (a crazy idea I know)
Great idea, Travis. What did you do on your Sabbath? Why was it refreshing?
Thanks for asking David!
Went to Chicago with my wife…spent time at the art institute, the Joffrey ballet, and the natural history museum. Much more important than those things though, was the time I spent in the evening doing nothing but reading in a hotel room and talking to my wife. It helps keep me honest about #4 on the list.
Can I ask – How would you define success?
Success is somewhat of a unique, individual decision. For me, it looks like loving Jesus with my whole heart, loving my family well, and seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Hi David,
Burnout is avoidable, if the individual and their leader puts the right measures in place. I like your tips and just want to add a couple of thoughts.
1. I like the motto, “work hard, play hard, REST hard”. If you don’t protect your time off (days and holidays), when do you rest, refresh for the often tiresome tasks of ministry?
2. We need relationships that replenish. People in ministry especially need people around them who encourage, motivate and inspire them
This is great, Bren. Your first point ties in well to my point on organizing your calendar. Part of that process is scheduling adequate days off, rest, and fun activities with family. If you’re not intentional, it won’t happen.
Relationships – that is huge! It’s often said that pastors are the most lonely people on the planet. What tips would you give for people in ministry fostering replenishing relationships?
Well put. Thanks for sharing!
Really appreciate your take on this topic David.To avoid burnout I think we need to:
1) Live from our values. Do the work of the ministry congruent with our what is most important to you.
2) Set boundaries. The harder part is actually keeping boundaries.
Hey by the way, I’m launching a podcast this year too! We should talk !
Excellent, Rob. Boundaries are so hard to keep. Yes, let’s talk!
I’m just in school now, so could you give an example of how to organize my calender?
Thank you.
Sharon, I would start by making a list of all your roles and everything that is important to you. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to learn? What do you need to get done? Then look at your calendar and plug those things in there. Create time blocks to get stuff done. Review your calendar every morning and clean it up every week in your weekly review. This relieves the mental burden of worrying about your calendar and if you’re missing appointments.
Thank you! I’ll try it. Your blog is a great help. God Bless You.
I was just saying if burn-out were a biblical issue, Paul and the New Testament authors would’ve addressed it. It is a cop out mentality and excuse for not keeping close to the Fire Who keeps us burning. In order to Burn, We need our lamps full of the Oil of the Holy Ghost. Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, etc..and never did je complain of over worked burn-out. He said I magnify my office!!! As his life progessed, He grew from asking three times of the Lord to remove the “thorn” which were the beatings and torment from preaching, “the messenger of Satan to buffet him” and he progressed to say “NONE OF THESE THINGS MOVE ME”. He grew in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. The Joy of the Lord is OUR STRENGTH. When it’s really His strength, circumstances dont phase us!
When David talks of burnout, I see a lamp that is burning on the wick instead of paraffin. An overworked, frustrated and discontented person who ends the day not because it has ended, but because he is too tired to go on. This reminds me of a friend of mine. He would make several appointments in a day, which practically would be impossible to keep. The end of the day always saw him depressed at having missed crucial appointments. He became almost depressed and was taken to hospital. The doctor put him on complete bed-rest in a hospital, without medicine. The doctor just ordered a drip to be attached to his wrist and commanded that he takes no liquid apart from the water from the drip. He stayed there for seven days and was discharged. Efforts by the patient to inquire what his sickness was from the doctor fell on deaf ears. As he was being discharged, the doctor confided in the patient’s wife. “Your husband is not sick. He is a workaholic. He is wearing himself down and will die soon if he does not stop.” From then on, the wife took over his calendar and scheduled his events. She did not allow him to multi-task, and always blocked his phone after five every day, and Mondays the whole day. She earned the wrath of the man’s parishioners (the man is a pastor), but she stuck to her guns. Seven years on, the church is doing better (it did not die when he minimized his activities), more people took up responsibilities in the church (some which could only be done by him previously), and the family is a better one. He spends Monday resting – no calls, no appointments, and once a year they take a week-long paid-up vacation. Burnout is real, and it should be avoided. People, especially ministers of the Gospel, should not take more than they can handle. Only then would they see the success of the little they could handle, and they would be inspired to continue. Burnout can kill. Let us avoid it.