Beating Burnout, Finding Balance

CHAPTER 4ON SELF-REGULATION

Self-regulation is the capability to remain calm in difficult situations, manage your emotions and adapt appropriately to your environment. As we saw in chapter 1, the first step to managing stress and preventing burnout is developing self-awareness. The second most effective step for preventing burnout is the ability to self-regulate. This chapter explores the concept of self-regulation and discusses what it is and why it's so important. I will also give you some practical tools on how to develop it.

Back roads of Uganda

The way to travel the back roads of Uganda and Rwanda is on the back of farmers’ trucks as they travel through the countryside. You simply pay the driver a few dollars as you jump on and they drop you off en route to their destination. Sometimes you may share your ride with the farmers’ beloved chickens and goats and other times with a group of noisy schoolchildren. It's mostly fun and you never know what's in store.

Self-regulation is the capability to remain calm in difficult situations, manage your emotions and adapt appropriately to your environment.

On one particular late afternoon ride, the truck I was on was picking up young, male soldiers armed with rough-looking machetes and machine guns, some of which were held together with gaffer tape. I had a gut feeling that this was not going to be one of those fun rides. This seemed more like a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Over the previous few days, ...