Business Coach Breaks Down The ‘AMI Method’ To Help You Find Out Why You're So Burned Out At Work
We all deserve a break and some self nourishment.
PeopleImages.com - Yuri A / Shutterstock We’ve all had moments at work where we simply cannot focus on the job and want to get up, leave our desks, and spend the rest of the day decompressing.
Sometimes we may not even be able to pinpoint why we are feeling so unmotivated.
One business coach is encouraging employees to unearth the cause of their unexplained burnout using something known as the “AMI” method, to help them heal from their work exhaustion.
The business coach explained the ‘AMI method,’ which helps employees understand why they may be so burned out at work.
It is not uncommon to suffer from burnout when you spend most of your week working. According to a PR Newswire report from December 2023, 65% of American employees suffered from burnout to some degree last year, and 72% of employees claimed that their burnout was directly impacting their work performance.
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Burnout can be especially frustrating when you have no idea what could be causing it and how to improve it.
Luckily, business coach Toni Robinson shared her trick, which she dubbed the “AMI method,” which helps workers identify what leads them to burnout.
‘A’: Acknowledge the cause
The A in the “AMI method” encourages workers to pause and recognize the exact cause of their burnout.
“It’s impossible for you to truly recover from your burnout if you don’t acknowledge how you truly got there, to begin with,” Robinson explained.
“Sometimes it can be self-inflicted, sometimes it’s workplace related, sometimes it’s a combination of the two, but you need to know exactly what is the underlying issue that is causing you to burnout.”
Robinson shared a few of the most common causes of work burnout, including people-pleasing, fear of failure, and overworking.
‘M’: Make a plan and put it into action
Once you’ve determined the cause of your burnout, you should develop a plan to resolve it.
“Depending on the cause of your burnout, you’ll need to come up with a plan to overcome your people pleasing, heal from the savior complex, or make an exit plan from the toxic workplace,” Robinson said.
“And then you need to put a system in place so that every single day, you can be working toward that plan and resolution to your burnout.”
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Whatever is causing you to feel unhappy and unproductive at work, you want to turn it around and get back on track. Sometimes, this means letting go of the need to be liked by all of your colleagues, scaling back on how much time you spend at your desk, and taking a couple of days off just to connect with yourself again.
Robinson encouraged burnt-out employees to consider their priorities and what they need to eliminate from their lives to regain their vigor.
‘I’: Implement daily nourishment
“While you are in the process of discovering what is burning you out, discovering that you are a people pleaser, you’re discovering that there is this trauma that you’re holding onto that is burning you out, you’re discovering that maybe your workplace is not so great for your mental health,” Robinson claims.
Unpacking everything that is triggering your burnout can be another exhausting process in itself. Therefore, Robinson urged people to take time for some self-nourishment.
This can look different for everyone, whether it be treating themselves to their favorite coffee, unwinding in their yard, or going on a hike to clear their heads.
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She highly recommended practicing gratitude in the wake of unpacking your burnout to improve your overall mindset.
“Reminding yourself what you’re grateful for is going to keep your mind in a really positive space which you’re going to need in order to be resilient as you fight this burnout,” she said.
Anyone who works hard is bound to suffer burnout to some degree. It is normal to get tired of the same routine and experience a lack of motivation.
However, next time you feel burnout starting to creep in, you may want to steal a move from Robinson’s playbook and follow the AMI method to stop it before it becomes a bigger problem.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.