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Welcome to issue #27 of Pondering Leadership: A Deliberate and Thoughtful, Yet Informal Look at Leading and Managing. Last week, I wrote about being a mentor. I have always gotten a lot out of being a mentor. If you haven’t mentored someone, I hope you will consider it. In this issue, I am discussing job burnout.
As we move toward the end of February, a lot of us are getting antsy. In many parts of the country, we cannot wait for the weather to get warmer. “Think Spring” is on a lot of our minds. March Madness is right around the corner. The December holidays are a couple of months behind us. Even if we did not have holiday time off, many of our work loads were a bit lighter then. As work becomes busier and more stressful, how do we avoid burn out while we are waiting for our next break or vacation?
I cannot begin to thoroughly help anyone with job burnout or work-related stress because we are all different. There are a lot of resources available on job burnout, including your EAP, if you have one. But, I felt like this is a topic worth mentioning in my newsletter because many of us are going through job burnout and do not know it. If we do not know what it’s called, we cannot try to move out of it.
Job burnout can affect your physical and mental health, as well as possibly lead to depression. Here are a few ways to tell if you might be experiencing job burnout.
Do you have to drag yourself to work most days?
Have you lost patience with your staff or co-workers?
Do you lack the energy to be interested in your work?
Have your sleeping or eating habits changed for the worse recently?
If you are experiencing some of these, you may be experiencing job burn out. If you are feeling incredibly overwhelmed, it might be time to talk to a professional. Please find someone if you need to.
If you do not feel quite so bad, it is still important to have someone to talk to like a friend or colleague, preferably not at work. I hope you have someone who can listen more objectively than someone who may be involved with your same area at work. Sharing your story can relieve some of the stress.
Take regular long walks. It might not seem like it when you are experiencing any kind of burnout, but exercise can be beneficial in many ways. If you can walk through a park or botanic garden, it really makes a difference. If you live in a big city with no access to such nature, walking is still effective. Focus on your steps or your surroundings and get out of your head for a bit.
Getting a good night’s sleep will make all the difference in the world. Make necessary changes to your evening routines like going to bed earlier, taking your shower at night, eating earlier, etc. Whatever will put you in the best position to get some rest is worth doing.
Some ways to maybe lessen the chances of burnout are topics I have covered in previous newsletters. These are things that make your job a bit easier.
Get organized and maintain it. There will be times when you cannot be organized, so if you normally are organized, getting back to it will be easier.
Create a visually appealing workspace so you have something pleasant to look at during the day.
Hire good employees so you will not have to wonder if work is getting done and getting done well.
Delegate to get some work off of your desk.
Take the time to attend networking events. Getting out of the office is crucial even if it is for work related events.
Sort through your files so you can easily find what you need.
But, burnout happens. Many of us have an overwhelming workload that is not going to let up any time soon. Many of us do not have enough staff to keep up with the workload. Those of us in helping professions never see a ‘slow season.’ Please take care with yourself.
Your Turn…
Have you ever experienced burnout? How did you handle it? You can comment in Discussion.
Thank you for reading issue #27 of Pondering Leadership. I hope to see you next Thursday afternoon for issue #28 when I will write about budget/cost cutting. Thank you for reading and supporting my writing.
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You know you're burned out of your job when:
* You think that hanging yourself is better than going to it.
* You place notes in the suggestion box that say "kill the boss."
* You call up friends at rival companies and read the notes from your staff meeting verbatim.
* You booby-trap the toilets in the executive washroom.
* You use your competitors' stationery for your memos.
* You stock your desk with your competitors' promotional giveaways.
* You walk down the hall, clucking like a chicken.
* You set up your cubicle as a Satanic shrine.
* You summon your co-workers to staff meetings with a bucket of sand, a small shovel, and demand to know who ate the strawberries, while rolling steel balls in your fingers.