Burnout: Next Steps

In my previous post, I covered how to create space in your life to begin considering what you can do to create a more sustainable career situation. In this post, we’ll examine how to identify next steps in your process. Admittedly, some of this is also a way to generally create more space and establish healthy boundaries with work, but it is all related.

Take Breaks

In the March 3 edition of The Snoozeletter, the editors shared this article from Apartment Therapy summarizing how bad Americans are at taking vacation time (at all) much less actually disconnecting when they’re on vacation. (Full disclosure: since I am a therapist in private practice, yes, even on vacation, I check messages once a day because I want to make sure my clients have what they need, but I’m also self-employed and a clinician. This doesn’t apply to the majority of our workforce.)

Here’s another thing: I know most people do not take lunches, regular breaks, or even start work at start time and leave on time. Most of us are overachievers who come in early, stay late, and work through lunches. I used to think I should take up smoking because it would at least force me to get away from my desk more. (Yes, this was when I was working for someone else. And no, bad idea. Please don’t do that.)

Coming in when you're sick. Please don’t. This applies to telecommuting as well. I mean, if you work in an office where you have to be there, flu season and COVID should be enough to make it clear that sharing is not caring. Nobody wants your disease. It also slows your own recovery and increases the likelihood that you will experience more severe complications from whatever bug you have. (Hello bronchitis and sinusitis.) Additionally, if you’re trying to work with brainfog you will make more mistakes, work less efficiently, and be grumpier.

Skipping out on sick days, lunches, breaks, and vacation also can lead to resentment toward your employer. Realistically, showing up is considered an obligation and your employer is not necessarily going to give you extra credit for being the most reliable in that you are always at work. If anything, if you’re not taking breaks when you need to and consistently have to work through them, you could be masking the fact that they really need to hire more people and burning yourself out by doing it. To make matters worse, doing this is no guarantee of flexibility when you need it or promotions. It’s worth asking yourself when you put in extra time: is this actually satisfying to me or do I expect something extra in return? If you come back with feeling like your employer owes you one, don’t do it.

Assess Your Own Values & Priorities

I have a few tools that I use in my work with clients. Unfortunately, they’re proprietary and I can’t share them publicly here, but I’m sharing this resource from Psychology Today. Of course, you can always just create a journal entry or scribble on a scrap of paper all the things that seem important to you. After you do that, go through and cross out all but 10. Then, rank the remaining 10 in order from 1 being most important to 10 being least important.

Compare what is on your list of values to what you are spending the bulk of your time on. If you’re spending a lot of time on the things at the bottom of your list (or stuff that didn’t even make the list.) It’s time to make some changes.

Changes do not need to happen overnight. The point is to make a plan to move yourself and your life in a more rewarding direction, and doing this in an informed and empowered way can help a lot with burnout even if you don’t change anything tomorrow or even this year. It’s not a race. It’s not a contest. This is just about making your life more fulfilling and meaningful. This is important, and the important stuff is rarely accomplished in a hurry.

Establish Short Term and Long Term Goals

Is there anything you can do differently starting tomorrow? Some examples include taking your lunch break every day, going to bed on time, spending an hour a day doing something you enjoy, or just listening to a podcast that inspires you. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Even just setting aside time throughout the week to plan your next move is good.

It’s helpful to set longer-term goals at 3 months, 5 months, 12 months, and 5 years. Remember, these are your goals. It’s helpful to enlist a friend or colleague to hold you accountable, but you don’t have to, and it’s also important to remember that you don’t know what you don’t know when you get started. Sometimes, we underestimate how long something will take and need to recalibrate. That is not a failure. That’s making an adjustment. It’s okay.

Celebrate Early and Often

There’s a saying among wine fans that you should always keep a bottle of something sweet and something sparkling in your fridge. (This applies to sweet white wine, by the way. Don’t put ruby or tawny port in your refrigerator.) The idea is you always want to be ready to celebrate an accomplishment or good news. If you need some booze-free ways to reward yourself, here’s a list.

As adults, we don’t receive a lot of gold stars, but we still need that positive reinforcement, so it’s important to give yourself a pat on the back. Nobody knows better than you how much work you put into getting through a tough day/week/month/meeting, whatever it may be. It’s important for you to recognize that.

Make Connections

I was going to call this section “networking” but that tends to bring up images of people in suits with stale cheese cubes and glad-handing. That’s not what I’m talking about. Admittedly, I’ve done plenty of that too and I have made some good connections that way, so I don’t recommend writing it off completely, but if you just can’t do that, don’t worry. How you find your people or who your people are doesn’t really matter. The part that matters is making the connection.

My hairdresser actually reaches out to people who interest him through Facebook, and just by making the effort, he hears back from a surprisingly high number of them. Who knew? You probably won’t find your closest group this way, but if you read an editorial or a book you enjoy, write to the person who wrote it and tell them. Comment on blog posts. Get involved in your professional organizations. You never know who you will click with.

Also, if you’re feeling stuck, I recommend asking everyone in your social circle if they know of anyone who would be willing to talk to you who has felt the same way. I actually did that once when I was in a bad spot right after graduate school and it completely changed my outlook and my life. I felt heard and understood in a way that I never have in years of therapy and it was just. a phone call with another regular person.

Learn Something New

A lot of people skimp on professional development, especially when they’re feeling disgruntled, and I think this is career suicide in many ways. First, you’re missing an opportunity to keep your skills current which will not serve you well if you try to pursue something else. Second, it’s isolating. Third, it’s boring. If your workplace offers professional development opportunities, take them.

Even in the most stingy workplaces I’ve been in, they at least offer internal seminars. Many workplaces now offer classes through Coursera or Udemy (including some that are actually fun.) Plus, a lot of public libraries have subscriptions to Wondrium (formerly The Great Courses) and Learning Express Library among others. All of these services provide training on more conventional workplace skills like communication, management, common business applications like MS Office, etc., but they also offer courses on the science of well-being and even how to play guitar.

It’s good to have something to concentrate on that takes your mind off of the boring work stuff, and engaging in something outside of the grind can increase your motivation and creativity.