Practical Tips for Beating Burnout
Seven takeaways:
It is hard to completely avoid being overwhelmed at work. But when constant work stress leads to burnout, it becomes a serious issue, harming not only your own well-being and performance– both at work and at home.
Research has linked burnout to a host of negative physical and mental health outcomes, including coronary artery disease, hypertension, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety, as well as to increased alcohol and drug use. Moreover, burnout has been shown to produce feelings of futility and alienation, undermine the quality of relationships, and diminish long-term career prospects.
Valcour points to three common, distinct traits of burnout that can help us recognize it in ourselves. These are:
- Exhaustion: the feeling of your tank running perpetually on empty: the physical, cognitive, and emotional fatigue that undermines your ability to work effectively and feel positive about what they’re doing.
- Cynicism: also called depersonalization, this represents a gradual decline in engagement with your work. A natural means to distance oneself from their work, cynicism often stems from overload, conflict, unfairness, or lack of say in bigger decisions in the workplace.
- Inefficacy: Inefficacy is the sense of falling short—feeling unproductive, ineffective, and unsure you can succeed. It often accompanies exhaustion and cynicism, as it’s hard to perform well when you’re depleted and disconnected.
Valcour then points to four tactics for overcoming the feeling of prolonged burnout:
- Prioritize self-care: Focus and efficacy is tied to energy. To restore yours, prioritize sleep, nutrition, exercise, social connection, and calming practices like meditation, journaling, or time in nature. If your schedule feels too full, spend a week tracking how you use your time- it will reveal blocks of time for you to fill.
- Shift your perspective: Assess your mindset and assumptions at work. What aspects of the work situation causing burnout are truly fixed, and which can you change? Altering your perspective can buffer the negative impact of even the inflexible aspects– and show you which aspects of the job & your performance you can most easily change.
- Reduce exposure to job stressors: Reset expectations with colleagues, clients, and peers about what you’re willing to take on and how you’ll work together. You may face pushback, but it’s important they understand these changes support your health and long-term productivity.
- Seek out connections: The best antidote to burnout—especially from cynicism and inefficacy—is engaging in meaningful relationships and ongoing growth. Seek mentors, pursue learning, and consider advising others to help shift out of a negative cycle.
Burnout can often feel like an unshakable disease. But by understanding your burnout, you can begin taking these practical steps to overcoming it.
By Monique Valcour for The Harvard Business Review
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