Battling Burnout Toward The End Of The Season

It’s been a hot-button topic in recent years, as more and more studies are conducted around workplace dissatisfaction. While a number of issues could be at play, one of the main reasons that people tend to hate their jobs comes from burnout - that feeling that you’re just spinning your wheels, not getting anywhere, and knowing that you’ve done too much with too little progress to show for it. This condition can make a major impact on your career, but what about when you experience burnout around the things you love to do in your free time?

Many of us may not want to admit it, but despite how much we love the sport of disc golf, burnout happens here too. When an activity that you love and participate in, oftentimes to reduce stress and boost your mood, actually ends up being the source of burnout, is there anything that you can do?

Take A Break

Even disc golf’s top-level professionals have sat out a tournament or two in their career in order to regroup and spend some time recharging their batteries away from the course. If you’re heavily involved in your local disc golf community and find that you’re enjoying it less and less, it might be time to take a step back. Ask for help from others if you’re responsible for specific tasks within a club, or simply take a weekend off to put your feet up instead of throwing a few rounds.

Change Your Scenery

One of the reasons that nearly any activity can lead to burnout is that it becomes too routine and doesn’t provide any sort of challenge or excitement. If you’re guilty of visiting the same two or three courses over and over again and you’ve stuck to a pretty regular routine, try changing things up a bit.

Drive a little farther and explore the new 18-hole layout that you’ve never played before, or try challenging yourself with a putter only round. Instead of playing a full game, spend some time doing fieldwork or dialing in your putt around a practice basket - anything that will break up the schedule you’ve dug yourself into.

Adjust Your Attitude

We all have a passion for disc golf, but sometimes that can translate into taking the sport, and ourselves, a little too seriously. Instead of getting down on yourself for not playing well or treating disc golf as your full-time job, assuming it’s not, infuse some fun into your next round. After all, didn’t we just see a well-known player competing with just six discs in a shopping bag?

Rather than stepping away from disc golf permanently or even taking a longer than necessary hiatus, think about the ways in which you would approach burnout at your workplace and apply it to the sport. Whether you need something new to excite you, extra help with specific tasks, or simply should take the time to reassess your feelings, there’s nothing wrong with some reflection around our hobbies.

Have you ever experienced disc golf burnout? What steps did you take to refresh your love of the sport? Share with us below!