It’s important to keep a healthy balance between work and life, but it can be challenging when you’re in a high-pressure environment with endless deadlines. 

The stress of balancing personal and professional obligations, coupled with the pressure of performance reviews, can create an overwhelming experience that leaves employees feeling exhausted. 

These feelings are perfectly normal and experienced by many employees within any organization. However, if these negative emotions persist for too long or become more frequent, they can lead to a toxic mindset. 

A toxic mindset is any thought pattern that has a negative effect on your performance and productivity as well as your relationships with colleagues and superiors. 

If left unaddressed, a toxic mindset can have a negative impact on your growth mindset, and consequently on your career growth. 

Here are some tips to protect yourself from a toxic mindset :

Change your perspective

One of the best ways to protect yourself from a toxic mindset is to change your perspective about work. 

If you’re used to thinking about work as this giant, insurmountable task, you might feel like you’re drowning. 

Instead, try to think of your work as a puzzle that you have to figure out - and you can do it if you approach it in the right way. Work isn’t everything.

 It’s great to be passionate about what you do, but you also need to have a life outside of the office — no one can survive on three hours of sleep, three meals a day at their desk, and 50 cups of coffee.

Set boundaries

Another way to protect yourself from a toxic mindset is to set boundaries. 

You might be used to putting in long hours, but that doesn’t mean you should always be available to your colleagues and superiors at all times. 

You need to be strategic about when and how you set these boundaries. Let your boss or colleagues know when you have too much on your plate. 

If you’re too busy to commit to a new project, let them know about your workload so that you don’t get put on the spot to say yes (or no) when maybe you don’t want to. Let people around you know that you’re busy — and that they should respect your time. 

You don’t want to be that person who’s always saying “yes” but never getting anything done. There’s nothing wrong with telling people that you’re too busy (within reason) to help them with their projects or events. 

You should not overextend yourself just because you want to help everyone. And you definitely don’t want to resent your colleagues or superiors for putting you in a position where you feel too stressed out to do your job well.

Find support

Another way to protect yourself from a toxic mindset is to find support. Support can come in many forms, such as working with a coach, having a mentor, joining a professional society, finding a peer group, or even just reaching out to a friend for advice. 

The point is to find someone who can help you make sense of what you’re experiencing as well as provide you with a new perspective or a different approach to your situation. 

When you’re experiencing a toxic mindset, you tend to make decisions based on your emotions rather than logic. You may make impulsive decisions or feel like you have no control over your life. Or you may obsess over what’s going wrong in your life, which can lead to feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. 

When you talk to someone about your feelings, they can help you put things in perspective. They can also help you come up with solutions to the challenges you’re facing at work, which can help you feel more in control. And if you’re feeling like you have no control over your life, talking to someone can help you get a fresh perspective on what’s going on in your life. 

This can help you feel less overwhelmed and more in control of your life.

Take care of your physical and mental health

A toxic mindset can also be a sign that you need to take better care of your physical and mental health. 

• Are you getting enough sleep ? 
• Are you eating well ? Are you exercising on a regular basis ? 
• Are you spending time doing activities that bring you joy ? 

If not, you may want to take steps to improve your overall wellness. Expectations are constantly rising in the workplace, and it can be difficult to keep up with them. However, it is possible to succeed regardless of the challenge. By following these tips, you can protect yourself from a toxic mindset and excel at work.