Burnout, stress, and emotional exhaustion are threats to our well-being. Working harder and pushing through isn’t a strategy that will successfully address the symptoms or root cause.

How can you manage burnout and emotional exhaustion in life and at work? TT2 Consulting founder Terry Trafton shares expertise, practical tips, and insights in his upcoming workshop on March 28.

Trafton has worked with clients in the healthcare, behavioral health, for-profit, and non-profit sectors in the area of mental health and well-being.

“I have been a licensed/certified counselor for over 20 years and have worked in mental health helping people find better ways to approach challenges,” says Trafton. “Also, as an executive, administrator, and leader, I have helped employees, teams and organizations build better strategies to approach work and become more productive, engaged and satisfied. Your mental resilience will fuel your strategies for success.”

Below, Trafton offers insight on how the workshop can help participants develop valuable skills for use at home, work, and other settings.

Why is it important to develop skills to manage burnout and replenish emotional energy?

We all know how it feels to be stressed out at work. When stress isn’t dealt with over time, it becomes a nagging feeling of frustration, avoidance, and sometimes despair. This feeling can develop into hopelessness–when we don’t know what to do or if our job will change for the better. It is important to be able to pause, reflect, and develop awareness. Then we can manage our stress, emotions, and energy that guide our day.  When we can activate new strategies for emotions and energy this will help with our success hour by hour, day by day. 

Can’t we just gut through challenges and give ourselves time to get back to 100 percent?

It is often the current strategy for many people right now “to just gut through this” and “with time this too shall pass.”

Although what generally happens for people is unresolved stress and challenges continue to build to a breaking point. It is kind of like a pressure cooker. At some point you are going to explode–that could be saying the wrong thing at the wrong time or “going off” on someone for something that is a minor issue. Your response is not equal to the stimulus of the situation. Being able to build new healthy habits to challenges is important for individual success and healthy relationships. 

Is this course applicable to both professional and personal life? 

YES! 100%. Over years of doing work to help people activate new strategies for mental health, wellness, and productivity, I’ve found that building new habits around stress, pressure and burnout in work also helps bring balance to people’s personal life. People have shared with me that these strategies worked with their children, and it has changed the whole family dynamic. 

Are there different techniques or strategies for each part of the life we lead?

How people approach each part of their life is similar and it is dependent on the stressors you are facing. How are you becoming aware of the different stressors in life? What strategies are you using to manage and move through them? 

When you focus on being intentional with your day then you can best plan for how to move through different challenges you are going to be presented. You bring natural energy around certain tasks, projects, or events. You also have different emotions that come up throughout the day, so having a strategy to respond instead of reacting is going to serve you better and help you represent the best version of yourself. 

Who can benefit from this course?

All people. Managers, executives, solopreneurs, and employees can benefit from this discussion and interactive experience to build a better way of approaching your day and the work to be done. Most definitely, people who experience high levels of stress will benefit from this course. This course will help people identify how to manage stress so it doesn’t pull them down into burnout and hopelessness. Many people are disengaged at work because of stress, toxicity, and burnout. This course will help you to decide what is the best strategy for you to activate and build a better way of working and living. 

What’s another way to describe or think of emotional energy intelligence?

Emotional Energy Intelligence is a way to highlight how emotions and energy work together or not in how you represent yourself or how you approach stress and challenges in your work and life. 

How aware are you of your natural intrinsic energy? This energy helps get you excited and engaged in the things you do at work and in life or vice versa makes you drained and avoid certain tasks or projects. 

In the workshop, you will learn that there are many factors that can drive and impact your emotional response and approach. 

By learning these skills, “If you can approach your daily work with intention and preparation for difficult situations you will be able to move through these situations more easily and feel better about them. I am excited to be able to have this conversation with workshop participants about how to best support you in your efforts to be happier and more satisfied with your work and life,” says Trafton.