Beating Burnout: The 5 Things You Should Do If You Are Experiencing Work Burnout
Millions of Americans are returning back to work after being home during the pandemic. While this has been exciting for many, some are feeling burned out by their work.
What do you do if you are feeling burned out by your work?
How do you reverse it?
How can you “get your mojo back”?
What can employers do to help their staff reverse burnout?
Check out my latest interview with Authority Magazine where I talked about dealing with workplace burnout.
Selected Content from the Interview
What can an individual do if they are feeling burned out by work? How does one reverse it? How can you “get your mojo back?” Can you please share your “5 Things You Should Do If You Are Experiencing Work Burnout?”. (Please share a story or an example for each.)
Talk about it. Find an outlet. Whether that’s a trusted coworker, a partner, friend, etc. Get an initial person on your side who can help you start to process what you’re feeling. They’ll also be able to help you remember that there’s more to your life outside of work.
Get professional support. Since burnout can easily transition into depression (and has similar symptoms), it is important to seek out professional support through a therapist or licensed mental health counselor. They can help you sort through the causes of your burnout, how that’s impacting other areas of your life, and most importantly, help you address if this has transitioned to depression.
Find or create wins for yourself every day. There is more to life than work. And even at work, we can find little things that can motivate us each day. When I’ve been in burnout from a particular job, I’ve found great motivation in the tiniest things. Consider celebrating the tiny accomplishments throughout your day, the phrasing you used in a meeting or email, a small deliverable you finished, smiling or laughing with a colleague, or even how much money you brought in that day for your family. Be your own cheerleader and give yourself credit for all the things that you do.
Add some variety to your work day. During burnout, it can feel like “same stuff, different day” so try something new (or several things) to get you out of your funk. Change locations where you work. If you’re working remotely, try a new room in your home, taking a couple hours to work from a coffee shop, your patio, another public space. Update your computer screen background. Update your calendar or switch up your daily schedule. It may not make an impact immediately, but overtime, you’ll start to see a bit more momentum and energy start to come back to you.
Schedule nonwork times and stick to them. Close your laptop. Turn off email notifications on your phone. Get your body moving. Read a book. Watch a documentary or learn about a new topic. Go for a walk. Play with your kids. Really focus on those things that are outside of work and aim to be present in them. Your life is so much more than work, and yet, many of us have no sense of work-life separation anymore. Take the time for yourself — it will actually make it easier to concentrate later.
What can concerned friends, colleagues, and life partners do to help someone they care about reverse burnout?
Most importantly, you can be there for someone. Call them up. Invite them to go for a walk. Helping someone who is in burnout to see that there’s more to life than what they’re going through can be really helpful. Most importantly, though, be gentle. Everyone has their own cycle with how they process burnout. It’s important that you don’t minimize their feelings, while providing that steady encouragement to change things up.
What can employers do to help their staff reverse burnout?
Employers need to start taking an active role in reversing the cultural expectations and structures at work that are systemically contributing to burnout. The fastest way to burnout for your employees is being overworked. We tend to over rely on our top performers for all the urgent or high visibility projects. This is also extremely draining. Take time to review how you’re driving towards various outcomes. If you’re in a state of constantly pushing to meet aggressive deadlines, look into this. There are always ways to let up on some of that pressure — bringing on temp workers, adjusting deadlines or expectations, looking at priorities with fresh eyes, planning farther ahead, and more. Make sure you’re giving and encouraging your team to take time off. We all need a mental and physical break from work, but since most of us aren’t traveling right now, many folks are not using their time off. Set up systems to look for patterns of people or teams that aren’t using their time off so you can investigate what is keeping them from feeling like they can.
(c) 2019 - 2024 Katie McLaughlin, McLaughlin Method
