Too often we’re victims of our negative, self-defeating thoughts — ones that erode our confidence, diminish our enthusiasm, and zap our energy. Most of us look outside ourselves to identify the problem, such as our hard-driving supervisor, difficult-to-please physician, disengaged staff, and demanding, unappreciative patients. The alternative is to develop healthy personal power.

Imagine you’re driving a car, stopped at a red light and eagerly awaiting the green light. However, instead of taking your foot off the brake and depressing the gas pedal to accelerate, you keep your left foot on the brake and attempt to accelerate with your right foot. Even if the car lurches forward, riding the brake in this fashion is grossly inefficient for performing work and produces excessive wear and tear on the vehicle. Fundamentally, this is what we do to ourselves.

Any underlying resentment we feel sends a very deep signal for us to put on the brakes, even though we're trying to move forward and do what’s expected of us. That is, whenever we ride the brake, so to speak, we’re working against ourselves, usually without any conscious recognition of this process, only to become more exhausted and burned out without knowing why.

Common indications of burnout include physical and/or emotional exhaustion; becoming cynical and overly critical towards oneself and/or others; and struggles to find enthusiasm, motivation, and positive focus. Ongoing symptoms should prompt you to stop any self-defeating behaviors, escape the workaholic treadmill, if necessary, and reinvigorate yourself. The cure for burnout is a combination of healthy self-care and personal empowerment.

This article will provide tips on getting in shape, mentally/emotionally, and developing healthy personal power as your internal driver to be better equipped to handle the very real challenges you face.

Understand and accept reality

Denying or avoiding reality, no matter how unpleasant or unfair that reality may be, wastes energy, so accept it.

Here we do well to follow the wisdom of the Serenity Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” Stay focused on playing your position, work within your wheelhouse, and stop trying to change people and/or things beyond your control. Accept (holding your nose as necessary) and move forward!

Become non-defensive

Develop personal responsibility, genuineness, and humility. Be accountable for your choices with confidence and transparency. No one can make you do anything without your permission, so stop giving your power away to those who’ve learned how to push your buttons. Learn to be nonreactive.

Become mindfully present

Focus on and engage with each and every moment. A past or future focus detracts from such engagement and limits your being present to others. As best-selling author Eckhart Tolle has said, “Stress is caused by being HERE but wanting to be THERE.” Be here now!

Dare to dream

Embrace a sense of adventure and excitement with appropriate risks. Faith in your dreams generates hope, and hope provides you and those sharing your dreams with energy for living and striving. Keep your eyes on the prize and look beyond, remembering that this too shall pass!

Walk to the beat of your own drum

Think, feel, and act as the DRIVER of your life. Honor yourself as the author and creator of your life by doing what is right for you, assuredly paying the toll when someone else disapproves. Instead of feeling trapped and bemoaning all the things you HAVE to do, take charge by taking ownership of your choices and asserting what you NEED to do. Promote yourself to become president and CEO of your life!

Look internally for joy

Joy originates from deep within, while pleasures come from outside. Pleasures, even healthy ones, when overdone, eventually steal our power. Hedonism, defined as seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, is fraught with pitfalls that can trap and disempower us. Instead of going too far down such enticing but self-defeating paths (e.g., overeating, abusing alcohol, compulsive gambling), find appropriate ways to express love, and joy will return in fulfillment and independence/freedom.

Strengthen your social connections

Develop meaningful relationships with others. A healthy interdependence creates a sense of wholeness, safety, and fulfillment. Great relationships are mutually empowering in healthy ways; I’ve found that most people respond well to appropriate invitations.

Become optimistic

Adopt a positive attitude, perspective, and expectations. When you fail, bounce back with self-forgiveness and renewed faith that you will succeed, eventually, through perseverance. Remember, a self-fulfilling prophecy works for or against us, depending on our expectations. Be careful what you expect, you’re likely to be right!

Count your blessings

Use gratitude for your life situation — free from comparison to anyone else. Failure to appreciate your blessings is the root of discontentment, a sense of want, and painful envy. What you focus on tends to expand, whether positive or negative, so focus upon the good people and things in your life to enjoy a positive expansion.

Find a purpose greater than yourself

A mission for serving a purpose greater than yourself helps to avoid becoming self-absorbed or preoccupied with personal issues. Happiness flows from such unselfish, outwardly directed service, and refreshing, life-generating energy wells up within us far greater than that which we expend in doing so. Create a mission-focused legacy!

Next time your red light turns green, push the gas pedal and “GO” with full power, neither riding the brake nor giving any mixed signals. OP