TRY TO DO SOMETHING OUTSIDE WORK THAT YOU ENJOY EACH DAY. LOOK FOR ACTIVITIES THAT TAKE YOUR MIND TO OTHER PRODUCTIVE PURSUITS AWAY FROM WORK
BURNOUT
Burnout is a loss of motivation and satisfaction at work. A job that might previously have been enjoyable becomes exhausting and dull. Every day is hard to get through, and we just want to stop. Why does it happen? Can we prevent it? If we experience burnout, does it mean we are psychologically unwell, or do we need a rest or a change of scene? How do we recover?
HOW DO WE BURN OUT?
Burnout is often associated with those who put a great deal of energy into stressful jobs, but it is not limited to high-flying doctors, lawyers and executives. Those who have monotonous work with little autonomy are also vulnerable.
Sometimes, burnout occurs when we are on all the time.
Constantly experiencing lots of stress can wear us down. We have used up all our energy, the tank is empty, and there is nothing left. Our nervous system is exhausted.
Common signs of burnout are a loss of energy and enjoyment at work, increasing cynicism and scepticism, being detached from our work, and feeling that what we do is not important. Workdays become a series of tasks to try to get through, rather than something that might bring us some satisfaction or enjoyment. We can lose any real interest in our job, our co-workers and the organisation we work for.
For those whose job involves helping others – health and aged care workers, teachers, lawyers and so on – one sign can be an increasing loss of empathy. After years of willingly shouldering the burden of helping others to solve their problems, you find yourself wishing they would all just go away and stop bothering you.
No one can expect to love their job all the time. Almost everyone goes through ups and downs at work. Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. How, then, do we tell the difference between being a bit bored or unenthused for a while, and being burned out?
What are the signs that our disengagement has got to a level that we need to address?
We should look at two things: the symptoms, and how long they last. Feeling disengaged and unmotivated sometimes at work is normal, but feeling like that constantly for weeks is not.
If you experience burnout symptoms consistently for two weeks or more, it should be addressed. If you have a break from work during which you sleep well and have a nice time, and then as soon as you return, you feel bored and detached again, that is a problem.
Prevention is better than cure. How can we reduce our risk of burnout?
REDUCING THE RISK OF BURNOUT
No matter how exciting you find your job, it can’t give you everything you need. If your life revolves entirely around your work, and you lack other social relationships, activities and stimulation outside it, you are at increased risk of burnout.
If you have a challenging, stressful job, then to maintain enthusiasm and energy at work you need to take care of yourself by creating good habits and routines. Good sleep, good diet and exercise are important, as is regular downtime, family time, socialising and doing other activities you find rewarding and refreshing.
Try to do something outside work that you enjoy each day. Look for activities that take your mind to other productive pursuits away from your work.
It is important to have a realistic attitude. A friend of James’s, with a high-powered job, said that a turning point was when he realised that no matter how hard he worked, he would never get everything done. There would always be more work to do. He had to change his expectation from, “Get all your work done, then go home”, to “Get some useful things done each day, then go home”.
Recognising when you are near full capacity and learning to say no to further demands is also important.
If your job involves helping people – social work, nurse, aged or child care, doctor or lawyer – then always expecting to completely solve everyone’s problems is unrealistic, and sets you up for frequent failure and disappointment. Raging at the injustice of the system might only increase your stress and likelihood of burnout.
There is no end to the number of people who need help. Rather than beating yourself up every time you don’t get a perfect outcome, having the more realistic expectation of doing the best you can, given each person’s circumstances, and understanding both what you can, and cannot, control and influence is more likely to be sustainable.
If you have a job that you find boring, look for ways to find some pleasure in it. If you are bored working in a shop or at a supermarket checkout, can you get some enjoyment from chatting to customers or workmates?
These days, our working life can last
50 years. Variety is important. Ian thinks he may have avoided burnout and feeling stuck by frequently changing what he is doing, and taking up new challenges – like our podcast and this book.
Those who think of themselves as the “key person” often experience burnout. They believe that only they can do certain tasks.
“I must keep working or something terrible will happen.” Often they have some obsessional, controlling and perfectionistic qualities.
Some surgeons think, “No one can do this type of operation as well as me.” This belief imposes enormous pressure, and often makes them reluctant to heed early signs of burnout. “If I don’t keep working, people will die and it will be my fault.”
Key person syndrome is also common in executives, small business leaders and lawyers. When they are finally persuaded to go on holiday, they ring the office all the time; “Is everything okay?”
When told that it is, they sound disappointed. “Things aren’t falling apart without me?”
It is much better for the long-term health of both the individual and the organisation to recognise that no one is indispensable and ensure that the next generation is always being trained.
Work-life balance is often discussed as being important in preventing burnout, but the term suggests there is work, which is non-life, and there is life, which is non-work. Ideally we want our work to be a satisfying, engaging and a very pleasurable part of life.
And for goodness sake, take your holidays. You get paid. To have a holiday! What’s the bad bit? For some reason, many let months’ worth of holiday leave bank up, and have to be shoved out of the building by HR. Holidays are good for you. A surgeon who has recently had a holiday and is well rested will probably do a better job than one who has been working non-stop for a year.
We are not machines.
This is all about minding your mind preemptively. Doing some planning to try and make sure you have a good life.
DEALING WITH BURNOUT
Burnout might feel unpleasant, but it can sometimes serve the useful purpose in forcing us to step back, re-examine our relationship with our work and make decisions we might have otherwise avoided. Burnout can be our brain and body’s way of signalling that something is seriously wrong, and that we need to engage with it and make some changes.
There is a sliding scale from those who just need some time away from work, and to make some minor adjustments, to those for whom it has become a psychologically more significant event, and who need to consider bigger changes.
Our brains want novelty, difference, challenges and new stimuli.
They want to do different things, not the same things over and over again. If we do not give them enough novelty, we can struggle.
Those struggling with burnout, and who find that holidays bring only temporary relief, may have been doing the same job for too long. They might be good at it, but are bored. It might be time for a change. “Yes, this is a good job and pays well. But is it what I should be doing at this point in my life?”
Deciding to change jobs or careers can be difficult, particularly when we have financial and family commitments. Many who feel stuck in jobs are also scared by the uncertainty of change.
Some have more options than others. Focus on the options you do have, rather than on those you don’t.