{"id":48456,"date":"2020-11-16T15:17:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T20:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?post_type=articles&p=48456"},"modified":"2025-05-08T07:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:07:14","slug":"banish-stress-stop-ruminating","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/banish-stress-stop-ruminating\/","title":{"rendered":"Rumination: The #1 Reason for Stress and Burnout"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Banish Stress and Burnout by Stopping Rumination<\/h2>\n

Ever wonder why different people respond to tough events in different ways? Why some people seem to be more resilient in the face of stress and burnout than others?<\/p>\n

As we follow news of the coronavirus pandemic devastating cities around our world, many of us are consumed with fear and worry. We\u2019re finding it hard to sleep and tough to concentrate. How we respond often depends on our unique backgrounds and our communities.<\/p>\n

When it comes to general anxiety, stress, and burnout, more than 35 years of research point to one clear difference in our ability to be resilient during hardships: our tendency to ruminate<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Rumination?<\/h2>\n

\"Rumination:Rumination is the tendency to continue to churn over emotional upsets, and it\u2019s a key determinant of whether you become stressed or not.<\/p>\n

Rumination is what you do when you wake up at 3 a.m. and can\u2019t get back to sleep because you\u2019re thinking about how many months you\u2019ll have to simultaneously home-school your children and work from home. It\u2019s the kind of thinking that happens when you spiral into worst-case scenarios about your aging parents.<\/p>\n

Rumination is what happens when you leave a meeting where you stumbled through your presentation and you can\u2019t stop thinking about what you should have said. Or your mind wanders to past events or future scenarios, replaying worry and negative thoughts over and over.<\/p>\n

In short, rumination is the mental process of thinking over and over about something and attaching\u00a0negative emotions to it. And there\u2019s nothing useful about rumination. It just creates stress symptoms and is the enemy of resilience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

People who don\u2019t ruminate may have plenty of pressure or hardships in their lives, but they\u00a0aren\u2019t stressed by it.<\/p>\n

\"Pressure<\/p>\n

To feel better, live better, and lead better, you need to find a way to stop ruminating and help your teams and direct reports do the same.<\/p>\n

How to Banish Stress and Burnout: 4 Habits to Build Your Resilience & Stop Rumination<\/h2>\n

Try these 4 mental habits, outlined in our white paper<\/a>, to increase your resilience and reduce rumination.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a><\/p>\n

4 Ways to Reduce Stress & Burnout<\/h3>\n

1. Wake up.<\/h4>\n

To reduce stress and burnout, you need to recognize how much time you spend ruminating. People spend as much as 70% of their daytime hours in a half-awake state, on autopilot or daydreaming. This is where rumination takes place and stress is generated.<\/p>\n

The alternative? Wake up, practice mindful leadership<\/a>, and focus on where you are and what you are doing in the present moment. Don\u2019t let your mind drift into worrying about the past or the future. As the mind develops new habits, you’ll ruminate less often.<\/p>\n

2. Control your attention.<\/h4>\n

People often feel stressed about their lack of control. The one thing you always have control over is your attention. Once you have woken up, you can use and direct your attention. Practice consciously putting your attention where you want it to be and holding it there. Reduce distractions when you\u2019re \u201cin the zone\u201d \u2014 working on what matters most, thinking strategically, or being singularly productive.<\/p>\n

3. Detach.<\/h4>\n

Detachment is the ability\u00a0to maintain perspective<\/em>. Get appropriate distance from the situations you\u2019re facing. A lack of detachment and the tendency to ruminate are intertwined in a spiral of leadership stress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When you experience rumination, things balloon out of proportion, and when things are out of proportion, you\u2019re more likely to ruminate and reach burnout. If you can detach from the situations you\u2019re facing, you can distinguish between care and worry. It allows you to reflect and plan, and as we like to say at CCL, burn bright \u2014 instead of burning out.<\/p>\n

4. Let go.<\/h4>\n

To maintain perspective, you need to let go. But that doesn\u2019t mean doing nothing or letting go of the work, tasks, or effort. What you let go of are the negative emotions that have become entangled with your situation or issue. Ask yourself a simple question: Will continuing to focus on this help me, my people, or my organization<\/em>?\u00a0If the answer is no, let it go. It isn\u2019t doing you any good.<\/p>\n

Of course, because of the strength of habit, negative and worrying thoughts will return. When they do, instead of blocking them out or fixating on them, observe and acknowledge them as just thoughts, and let go of them by not continuing to feed them with attention.<\/p>\n

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Access Our Webinar!<\/h3>\n

Watch our webinar, How to Promote Wellbeing at Work<\/em><\/a>, and learn how to build a workplace culture that supports and promotes wellbeing for all employees.<\/p>\n

Access Webinar<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Change Your Habits: Stress-Reducing Tactics to Try<\/h2>\n

How do you banish stress and put these ideas into practice, especially at work? Here are a few tactics to try on your own and as you lead others to reduce burnout:<\/p>\n