While a career in communications is exciting, intriguing and fast-paced, the feeling of being in a pressure cooker is another common feature of a comms pro’s work experience. You’re often on the front lines of a business, managing the brand’s reputation, putting out fires that various crises can create and possibly serving as both the brains behind your company’s communications strategy and its spokesperson.
Doing all of this while managing multiple, critical PR, marketing and advertising deadlines can be mentally and physically taxing, which can lead to health problems if you’re not deliberate about taking time to recharge. Here, 15 members of Forbes Communications Council share ways for PR pros to maximize their downtime and reduce the risk of burning out.
Forbes Communications Council members share ways for comms pros to relieve stress and maximize downtime.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Take Your PTO
It sounds like a no-brainer, but take your paid time off and set boundaries around rest time. In an always-on media world, it’s too easy to try and match the pace of information and the schedules of stakeholders. It can also be difficult to delegate tasks when we’ve got so much company knowledge in our heads, but it’s important to remember that a big part of our job is to train and elevate the next generation. - Rebecca Takada, Empire Selling
2. Leave Your Smart Phone At Home
Communications is the lifeblood of any organization, and for that reason, it can feel as if there is a never-ending stream of work. Finding a balance between work and life can be a challenge. Past experience has taught me that in this hyper-connected world, the best thing you can do to live in the moment and maximize your time off is to leave your smart phone or device at home. - Conor Coughlan, Armis
3. Prioritize
Not everything is urgent. That doesn’t mean ignoring emails, calls or texts. It means setting boundaries with internal and external stakeholders while communicating that they’re a priority so that you can unwind, disconnect and do things you love. While comms teams are under pressure, you’re not a machine. Protect your “on” and “off” time to be creative, effective and passionate. - Heather Spilsbury, 50/50 Women on Boards
4. Find Fulfilling Outside Interests
Around-the-clock responsiveness plays a key role in career success as a communicator. But it’s important to find outside interests that allow us to live in moments separate from work. Personally, writing/playing music, snowboarding and cycling take me into a Zen-like state. My phone stays on, but work is not on my mind. Finding fulfillment away from the office helps ease pressure and keeps us fresh. - Paul Corliss, University of Texas System
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5. Treat Your Mind Like A Well Of Content
Treat your mind like a well that you need to be constantly filling with content to be able to draw from later. If you only draw from your well, you will eventually run dry. You should be constantly filling your well with new experiences, travel, books, food, conversations with interesting people and documentaries. Maximize your downtime by filling up your well. - Scott Stevenson, Blackstone Products (North Atlantic Imports LLC)
6. Disconnect Responsibly
Marketing moves at the speed of ideas and is always seeking to beat demand. For marketing teams, it’s easy to burn out! Every team member should have the opportunity to turn off and recharge while away. To disconnect responsibly, plan for task transfers and prepare “just in case” outlines for each employee, including the boss. This helps everyone feel supported and allows you to do your best work upon return. - Sarah O’Sell, Anim8
7. Focus On What Is Important But Not Urgent
A hectic schedule and shifting priorities demand energy and attention, so as the pressure subsides, focus on what’s important but not urgent. Take time to decompress, revisit your long-term plan, make needed adjustments, develop strategies and have brainstorming sessions. Investigate time-saving technological tools and expand your knowledge and skills. Downtime is also a good time for team-building. - Kay Midthun, Wisconsin Reinsurance Corporation
8. Set Both Boundaries And Expectations
Set boundaries and ditch the devices—but set expectations, too. Let your team know your plans to fully disconnect and help them plan well for your absence. This also helps you worry less while you’re away. Remember to reciprocate for other colleagues in their downtime, too. Disconnecting is easier when you’re confident that rest is encouraged and valued across your team. - Sueann Tannis, United Nations Foundation
9. Embrace Stillness During Downtime
Because we’re often engulfed in the frenzy of deadlines and crises, it’s hard for communications professionals to decompress when there’s downtime. We become better, more creative practitioners, though, when we take those times to embrace stillness. In the stillness, we create space to breathe deeply, slow our pace and reconnect with family and nature, which recharges us to face the next challenges. - Maria Chacon Kniestedt, City of Rancho Cordova
10. Block Out ‘Focus Time’ On Your Calendar
“Focus time” is a must on my calendar. It is not always used, but it also serves as a blocker on my calendar to avoid back to back-to-back meetings. The other thing is to truly understand your top priorities and stick to them. If something doesn’t fall in your top 20 priorities, it goes on a wish list for a later date. - Emily Burroughs, BGSF
11. Create An ‘Out Of Office’ Handoff Document
Take time to create an “out of office” handoff document that outlines your key projects, including the status, next steps and points of contact for each project. Sharing this doc and walking stakeholders through it to clarify any gaps before taking time off minimizes the chances of your downtime being disrupted by work. - Roohi Saeed, Samsara
12. Always Prioritize Wellness
You can’t be great at your job if you don’t prioritize wellness. Have lunch without your phone or computer, don’t miss your yoga class and try not sleeping next to your phone. Urgency is important in many cases, but if we apply it to everything we do, we’ll burn out. - Lauren Gumport, Faye
13. Proactively Set Boundaries And Prioritize Downtime
You have to be proactive about taking personal time off, or the work will consume you. Communications roles don’t have the same, defined business hours as other positions, so work will creep into your personal time if you aren’t proactive about setting boundaries and finding time to recharge often. - Noah Echols, CARROLL
14. Mitigate The Risks Of High Stress During Your Downtime
Embrace the fact that working in communications sometimes feels like being in a pressure cooker. Prepare to alleviate these feelings by mitigating the risks during your downtime. As with any risk mitigation, plan quality-control checkpoints throughout the process to give you added peace of mind. After that, find out which decompression methods work best for you and use them to calm down on those high-stress days. - Nestor Makarigakis, MISTRAS Group, Inc.
15. Go Out To Lunch
Too often, the to-do list is long and we skip taking care of ourselves. The midday mental break associated with getting out of the office—even if you’re just chatting about work—resets the mind for a more productive afternoon, as compared to just pushing through and eating at your desk. - Kimberly Osborne, UNC Greensboro
