Table of Contents Show
Strategies for dealing with them
People often believe that a high income, regular vacations, and meditation act as reliable protections against burnout. However, even freelancers, senior managers, and owners of their own businesses burn out – since the causes of burnout differ. The easiest way to check for signs of burnout is to use tests: the scientifically validated Maslach Burnout Inventory ($15) or the free and simpler MindTools. Yet it is still better to know the reasons: so you can identify alarms in time and find effective ways to avoid them. Maybe it won’t even be a vacation.
A sense of meaninglessness
Burnout is caused by work that goes against values. It’s not that you have to violate your conscience. Besides money, values are the ideals and motivations that lead to this job. In the absence of a connection with values, you burn out and feel that the work is pointless. In addition, it brings a lot of issues that make stress worse, such as choosing a less healthy lifestyle.
What should be done?
- Utilize your character strengths more often in your work, such as helpfulness and friendliness, to increase motivation and satisfaction.
- Keeping personal goals and work goals aligned is not only a way to prevent burnout, but also to be more productive. The most difficult part is defining your objectives clearly. As an example, it could be helping others, in which case helping colleagues and mentoring will make the work more meaningful. It won’t work if success or freedom are more important to you.
«Me = my job»
In a sensational article, BuzzFeed columnist Ann Helen Peterson referred to millennials as “the burned out generation.” From their parents, they learned to work hard and keep improving themselves. They became perfectionists that are vulnerable to burnout. Regardless of generation, why are perfectionists at risk? They derive their worth solely from their own accomplishments, which leads to them working continuously to avoid failures that lead to self-destruction. When mistakes are made (which is inevitable since failure is anything that isn’t perfect), perfectionists criticize themselves, which increases their stress. They are always thinking about work even while they are resting. Alternatively, they turn rest into another job – self-development, with the same high demands.
What should be done?
- The best solution is to defeat perfectionism itself using cognitive behavioral therapy. A specialist can help you create an individual strategy, but you can also try it on your own.
- Make sure you get enough rest so you can truly recover. Do not turn your hobby into a place to grow. Enjoy the process.
Chaos in the workplace
Paradoxically, highly skilled, mentally healthy, and resilient people are the most at risk of burnout. Because their excellent mental and physical health permits them to work long hours in poor conditions. Under such circumstances, the workload is inadequately large, you are constantly under time pressure, have to behave chaotically, and feel that you cannot influence the process. Inability to make plans is especially demotivating: discussions of changes with the customer over the weekend or frequent and sudden conceptual changes.
What should be done?
- Work to improve conditions. Establish boundaries: delegate some of the tasks, refuse to do extra work and less important duties, such as endless video calls.
- Find out which recovery options are most effective for your situation through research. Try psychologically withdrawing from your work if you don’t seem to be in control. For this, it is worth disconnecting as much as possible from job tasks during the rest and learning new skills that are unrelated to the firm’s main business. If you are constantly pressed for time, it is important to relax and do something appropriate, such as reading a book, walking in the park, or doing progressive muscle relaxation.
Fatigue due to compassion
Our best qualities – empathy and willingness to help – may be responsible for burnout. Consequently, doctors, teachers, psychologists, and in general everyone whose work involves close contact with people and empathy is at risk. You can get tired of compassion, even if you are not a doctor, but you are deeply involved in the problems of others. As an example, you strive to be a good leader, and you support employees who are experiencing a hard time. It may be that your business is social, and you often have to deal with emotional stories. Usually, the explanation goes as follows: the more empathy, the more excitement and stress – and the body literally turn off emotions to survive.
What should be done?
- Compassion itself does not cause burnout (it can become a defense), but excessive empathy does. You can prevent it by increasing your self-regulation skills and learning to separate yourself from others. Mindfulness practices and cognitive behavioral therapy can help.
- If you can’t disconnect from other people’s problems, change your focus: think about a loved one, think about plans that are important to you.
Responses