John was a PR executive at a fast-growing tech startup. He was passionate about promoting the company’s products and worked long hours to meet multiple deadlines. As an executive, he juggled multiple projects and managed a team of junior PR specialists while maintaining a life outside work.
John won many awards and rewards from his boss, ignoring signs of stress and fatigue that were building up in his body. Subsequently, he started to experience headaches, irritability, impatience, and lack of motivation.
Do you relate to John’s story? Are you experiencing any symptoms of burnout, or are you a healthy PR executive looking for ways to maintain your work-life balance?
If so, you’re not alone, as a recent survey shows that up to 43% of mid-level executives are at risk of burnout. This article offers tips for maintaining healthy boundaries as a PR executive in a fast-paced business environment.
5 Effective Tips to Become a Healthy PR Executive
Are you feeling burned out at work? Do you struggle with stress, fatigue, and cynicism? Here are ways to prevent and overcome burnout by creating healthy boundaries between work and personal life.
1. Plan and Schedule Daily Activities
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Having clear goals and activities for each day helps you stay organized. You can walk into the office with clarity and flexibility to handle new challenges as they come. However, without a clearly defined to-do list or project parameters, you can lose yourself in the maze of many interwoven tasks. This will lead to stress and contribute to burnout. You can use task management tools like Asana to plan your project and activities. These tools will indicate clear responsibility for each team member and reduce the time you dedicate to explaining project details.
2. Delegate and Empower Your Team
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You may feel like you can complete all tasks alone or don’t trust your employees to do it exactly like you would. However, you cannot win in the PR industry as a lone wolf; you need to focus on what’s important and delegate. To improve employee performance, consider providing a detailed project brief and support materials or hiring a professional. Trying to micromanage employees, taking on extra work, and staying long hours to rework project delivery will only lead to stress and burnout in the long run.
3. Adopt Strict Working Hours and Stick to It
We recommend making the concept of work smarter, not harder, your mantra. According to a recent Microsoft study involving 20,000 participants, 53% of managers are experiencing work-related burnout. Healthy PR executives must set strict boundaries about team members or clients calling for updates after office hours. It’s also crucial to follow your rules and leave work at work unless unavoidable.
4. Establish Personal Boundaries
Besides setting work-related boundaries, you also must set personal work boundaries. The office can be filled with people with different demands and behaviors if you work onsite. Many of these can be stress triggers, like helping a colleague with a project last minute. You must set personal boundaries that include saying “NO” to requests from colleagues or clients that are outside your scope of work or have unrealistic expectations.
5. Learn to Take Breaks and Breathe
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When was the last time you took a personal break? Two months? Last year or never? We understand the demands of being a PR executive. However, you owe yourself, your team, and your clients optimal productivity. You can’t achieve this when you’re burned out. Prioritizing time off work is a healthy boundary to help you maintain your creativity and results. You should take those free work days off and engage in activities you love. Also, take small daily breaks to incorporate self-care activities like meditation and exercise to maintain positive energy.
How Healthy PR Executives Overcome Burnout
If you are experiencing symptoms of burnout like stress, irritation, fatigue, and insomnia, there are some activities you can engage in to manage it:
- Consult a Professional: Talk with a stress management professional. They can help you diagnose what’s wrong and offer solutions tailored to your needs.
- Take a Break: Engage in stress management activities your health professional recommends. Consider taking time off work, or reduce your workload and delegate tasks to your team members if that’s not possible.
- Incorporate Healthy Habits: Adopt the healthy work-life balance habits discussed in the previous section. Tailor these suggestions to meet your unique needs. Remember, maintaining a balanced lifestyle will help manage stress and boost your creative contributions to your team.
The PR industry is fast-paced, and getting lost in the rat race is easy. It’s best always to have healthy boundaries to keep us from developing habits that can result in burnout.
Are you looking to become a healthy PR executive? Outsourcing your PR projects might be a better way to manage your time effectively without compromising quality. You can contact an experienced company like RPR Firm to develop effective PR strategies tailored to your business needs.