I Followed The 8/8/8 Productivity Rule To Avoid The End Of Year Burnout That Is Around The Corner, And OMG I Wish I Tried This Wayyyy Sooner
As excited as I am to finally be in my favorite time of the year— fall— I can't deny that I feel a slight knot in my stomach, knowing that the end-of-year race will soon be upon us, which notoriously leads to me — and I'm sure many others —feeling burned out.
It's undeniably hard to avoid burnout completely, especially during these times when many of us may be juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet or have other responsibilities outside of our day-to-day. However, there are many tools and methods that people swear by to make it more manageable.
One of these methods is The 8/8/8 Rule, which strategically divides your day into three eight-hour blocks. For example, you might dedicate 8 hours to work, 8 hours solely to yourself (doing literally whatever you want to do during that time), and then 8 hours to sleep. I learned of this rule while listening to an episode of The Every Girl podcast.
In addition to the inevitable burnout, I definitely spread myself thin, which often makes me feel overwhelmed with life. When I learned about this method, I figured I had nothing to lose if I gave it a go, so I decided to try this method for a few days and report back if it helped me feel productive, less stressed, be more intentional with my time, and overall feel more balanced in my life.
To give some backstory of how my day goes, sometimes I'll work past 6 pm on the couch while trying to catch up on a show. Sometimes, I'll do laundry after a long meeting or just work through lunch, which screams chaos.
The night before I started, I planned my days to figure out how exactly I wanted to divide my hours. Here is what I came up with:
-The first three hours of my day would be dedicated to me.
-I planned to work for eight hours with an hour lunch break
-I planned to spend four hours at the end of my workday for me.
-Then off to sleep for 8 hours.
WISH ME LUCK!
In addition to being a full-time writer, I also teach group fitness classes on the side, so I usually start my days early (around 6 a.m.) with a workout. I count this hour as "me time," whether teaching or participating in the class. Then, of course, I have another hour afterward to have breakfast, shower, and prepare for my day.
I mainly work from home, which is a great thing, of course, but I notice that it's sometimes hard to jump right into my work day without a commute, as I like to ease into it. But for the sake of trying this method and not wanting to waste an hour of my time chunk on nonsense (I am a person who can easily putz around my apartment), I sat down at my desk with my coffee, glanced at the day's to-do list, and got to work around 9 am.
I also put an hour lunch break in my calendar, which I typically never schedule when working from home. I rarely eat lunch at the same time every day and often work while eating, but NOT TODAY. Since this was my fourth hour of "me" time for the day, I was more intentional with it and either watched a YouTube video, read a book, or just caught up on social media around 1 pm.
While following the 8/8/8 method, when it came to my work block, I realized how easily I get distracted and let my mind wander about doing other things. I think this is more common when working from home because it's easy (for me, at least) to start checking off things on my personal to-do list, like doing a load of laundry or cleaning the kitchen while I'm waiting to get edits back on a story or after sending a few emails.
I really tried my best to remind myself that I would have time for those things later after my workday and to finish on the block at hand.
After my work day ended around 6 p.m., I had those last four hours to do whatever I wanted before bedtime. I figured out how to fill that time by asking myself, 'What do I want to do?' What will fill my cup? What things do I want to get done so I don't have to worry about them?' Some nights, I had plans with friends. Other days, I cooked dinner, talked on the phone, or watched a show.
Lastly, getting into bed earlier than 11 p.m. was tricky when that's usually my bedtime. While trying The 8/8/8 Rule, I aimed to be in bed by 10 p.m., even if I had to read a book in bed some nights to make me sleepy. Overall, having this set bedtime every night really helped me have some sort of structure around my nighttime routine instead of staying up late watching a show or scrolling on my phone — things I would often do to make me feel like I had time to myself.
I've shared in past posts how I am a light sleeper, which leads to a lot of tossing and turning throughout the night. Talk about being a sleepy girl!
Honestly, when I first started following this method at the beginning of the week, it did feel rather regimented, something that I don't really care for. However, after a few days of it, I noticed that I never felt the "I don't have enough time" stress — a common feeling I would often complain about.
Looking at my day like three separate blocks allowed me to be more intentional with my time and not feel like all aspects of my life were bleeding into one another. I struggle with time management sometimes, so following this simple method helped me structure my day and time better. I was able to reclaim my time, which I could see in the long run will help me with burnout and not have me walking around grumpy by Thanksgiving feeling constantly overwhelmed.
It's important to note that this method might not work for everyone, considering your profession, whether you work from the office or home, have kids, etc. If you take anything away from this, let it be that prioritizing time for yourself and what brings you joy is crucial to having balance in life and avoiding burnout from the day-to-day grind.
Do you have any tips for time management and avoiding burnout? Share all your advice with me in the comments below!
