To save the burning(out) man.
We all experience days when getting out of bed and facing yet another day at work seems like an insurmountable challenge. We all have periods when the things that used to bring us joy at work no longer satisfy us, or when we get overly irritable or impatient with our bosses, colleagues, or clients. Most of us have also experienced times when work made us feel physically exhausted and experience otherwise unexplainable headaches, stomach problems, insomnia, loss of appetite, or other stress symptoms.
Many of us these days take it as a given that work by nature is stressful and we just have to clench our teeth and get on with it. ‘Keep calm and carry on’, as the Brits say.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with a healthy dose of stress that “stretches” and motivates us to upgrade our skills or step outside of our comfort zone. In fact, it’s likely to increase job satisfaction and performance.
Equally, whilst an odd ‘bad day’ at work is unavoidable, when it becomes a continuous pattern, it might lead to a burnout; and it’s a much more widespread problem than we may think.
A recent Gallup study showed that 44% of adults report to have experienced work-related chronic stress that left them physically or emotionally exhausted, with little or no sense of accomplishment and identity. A growing body of research, in turn, shows that burnout — like any kind of distress — is not only detrimental for job satisfaction and professional outcomes, but can also chip into one’s overall health. As such, it definitely deserves much more attention than many of us devote to it.
I certainly had moments in my life when I had to spend a few hours every morning to prepare myself to face the day ahead at work. No matter how much I tried to fill my “energy buckets” through morning exercise, meditation, journaling, motivational ‘pep talk’, and so on, I’d always find myself completely depleted and disillusioned in the evening. Equally, no evening activity could relieve burnout symptoms for longer than a few hours, and I would still dread going to work the following day.
While maintaining a healthy lifestyle, work-life balance, and self-care routine outside of work are crucial for preventing and fighting burnout, I’ve found that the only way to actually ‘get better’ is to address the root causes of work stress and change our behaviour at work. After all, we spend about a third (if not more!) of our lives at work, and it’s unlikely for us to be well in the long run, if the whole experience is predominantly dreadful.
Now, while a prospect of quitting one’s job and setting off on a year-long career-break journey across South-East Asia definitely seems appealing, it might not be feasible for the majority of us. And so, below we explore some techniques that will help you relieve burnout, but which do not require selling all your belongings and exchanging your city flat for a beach hostel on a tropical island.
1. Reframe.
Under stress we often tend to focus on the negatives, failing to appreciate the positives of any given situation. This is completely natural, as our brain is wired to detect and fixate on potentially threatening stimuli. However, it’s rarely the case that any situation is purely negative or positive, and by turning our eyes toward the bright side can diametrically change our overall experience.
Writing a work-related gratitude journal, in which you list three things that you appreciate in your job, is one of the ways of doing so. For instance, you may dread the long hours and frequent international travels, but still appreciate the high level of autonomy you’re given, the calibre of clients you’re working with, and a generous pay-check that allows you to fund your chosen hobbies.
Another powerful tool to change your approach to work challenges, is focusing on the learnings you can derive from the experience. A friend of mine, now a successful business owner, remembers his first student job as a furniture store assistant that taught him persuasion skills, sales techniques, and perseverance that he now uses daily in his entrepreneurial role.
Lastly, viewing your current experience through the prism of your larger career goals can bring more purpose to your work overall. We all need to learn certain skills and gain a sufficient level of professional experience in order to seamlessly move on to the next stage. Thus, even if we don’t enjoy them, the struggles we are going through at the moment are quite likely to better prepare us for both the challenges and the glory of where we want to be in the future.
2. Connect.
One of the common symptoms of work burnout is persistent irritability toward your co-workers and supervisors. Thus, if you’re suffering from burnout, engaging with your team quite likely is the last thing you feel like doing.
However, as research shows, human connection is a powerful antidote to stress. Oxytocin, the hormone released when we connect with others, protects our cardiovascular system from the effects of stress, helping blood vessels stay relaxed during stress and heart heal from any stress-induced damage. It also stimulates serotonin-producing neurons, increasing levels of this ‘feel-good’ hormone.
In practical terms, as a 2015 study[1] published in the Personnel Psychology Journal suggests, building and maintaining strong workplace friendships can boost our efficiency and performance, by allowing us to gain access to information we might not otherwise get and creating a more pleasant work environment overall.
Thus, even if you don’t feel like it, try to engage with your colleagues, by offering your support or asking for help when working on a difficult project, organising a team lunch, going for a lunchtime walk with a colleague, or joining team activities after work.
3. Discover the root cause… and address it.
According to Gallup[2], the primary drivers of job burnout are unfair treatment at work, unreasonable deadlines, unmanageable workload, lack of support from managers, and the added stress from having to respond to emails and texts during off hours. Working a job that doesn’t match one’s skillset, interests, or long-term career goals, is yet another reason why people disengage from work.
The problem is that we often aren’t fully aware what exactly the problem is — especially when we are dealing with multiple stressors at the same time. In those situations, keeping a ‘stress diary’ can be extremely useful.
Every time you encounter a stressful experience, record what triggered it, how it made you feel, and how stressful on a scale of 1–5 it was. After a few weeks of keeping the diary, you will be able to see clear patterns in the kind of stressors that you encounter throughout the day, and their relative impact on your mood. Though its premise seems trivial, a stress diary can provide you with a wealth of information on the root cause(s) of burnout.
Whatever it is that is consistently stressing you out at work, it’s important that you look the truth in the eye and address the issue heads-on in an effective manner. Sometimes, you may need to take ownership and fix the problem yourself — by managing your time more efficiently, upskilling to match the requirements of the task, or delegating parts of the job to others, and so on. Sometimes, you may need to ask for support from your colleagues or supervisors, or voicing your issues with the management.
In extreme cases, you may realise that your work does not satisfy your professional aspirations and interests, or does not match your natural strengths, and that career change might be the only way to alleviate stress.
While avoiding stress is virtually impossible, Leon and I strongly believe that we all have personal responsibility to avoid distress — the damaging kind of stress that can negatively impact on our overall mental and physical wellbeing. Reframing and connecting with others are powerful tools that will decrease your stress levels, but without addressing the root cause of burnout, you’re unlikely to alleviate it long term.
In most cases, the root causes of workplace stress can be fixed by either yourself or through an open communication with your supervisors or colleagues. In extreme cases, however, changing your job may be the only way to fix the problem, and that’s ok. Whatever you decide to do, the power to be well both in and outside of work, is in your hands.
[1] Methot, JR et.al (2015), Are Workplace Friendships a Mixed Blessing? Exploring Tradeoffs of Multiplex Relationships and their Associations with Job Performance, Personnel Psychology
[2] Gallup (2018), Employee Burnout, Part 1: The 5 Main Causes
How to deal with stress is a publication packed with tips and techniques for dealing with stress and anxiety in everyday settings — brought to you by Agnieszka (Aggie) Zbieranska & Leon Taylor.
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