Pay Attention to your Feelings

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February begins our look at 10 ways to treat and handle burnout at work.  Each month moving forward, we will explore 1 of 10 ways for us to personally address job burnout.

Although it may feel overwhelming, burnout doesn’t have to be a permanent state. The fact is, burnout arises as a result of multiple factors, so a multi-faceted approach is often the best way to treat it.  Most people who are experiencing signs of burnout at work daydream about just packing up and leaving it all behind. However, leaving on a permanent vacation may not be feasible — and burnout doesn’t disappear overnight.

If you can’t run away, you can start building habits that make burnout less likely to take over. Here are some ways you can recover from burnout (without having to necessarily quit your job):

  1. Pay attention to your feelings.  Burnout is inseparable from emotion, and emotions are powerful clues to what is important to us. Paying attention to feelings that arise and when they come up can help you manage resentment, frustration, and disillusionment before they turn into burnout.

Stay conscious of your thoughts, desires, and feelings as you go through your day, and take note of those you need to work on. Acknowledging the need for improvement is a big step toward attaining it.

Here are 12 tips to sharpen your self-management skills:

  1. Keep your promises. There are two parts to keeping your promises. First, do what you said you would do (DWYSYWD). It creates trust with others and within yourself. Second, be careful what you say yes to. Your job is not to be a hero. It is to stay focused on your role and to work to your strengths. Know your boundaries, but apply compassion as you hold them.
  2. Align to the right level of engagement. Appropriate engagement varies.  Keep your focus on the right point for your role.
  3. Focus on what you can control. No matter how good the plan we make, we are not in control of, or responsible for, everything that happens around us. What we are in control of is how we respond to the impact of these circumstances. Fred Kofman, the author of Conscious Business, likes to ask “how are you response-able?” What is the best action you can take right now?
  4. Be a player, not a victim. If you begin to feel things like “this isn’t fair” or “why didn’t they do XYZ?” you are likely seeing yourself as a victim. How can you move from victim to player? A player works with intention rather than being controlled by external events. They can often find themselves engaged more productively by evoking a coaching stance, being creative to propose solutions, or respectfully challenging the status quo.
  5. Know who you are (and who you aren’t). Keep an inventory of your strengths in mind, and as you plan your work, assign yourself work that fits these strengths. The corollary here is that you also know what you aren’t good at, which means finding others who are.
  6. First things first. If we have a good plan we know the critical items we have to get done. We also know that there will be many demands/requests for our time helping others meet their objectives. We need to stake out time on our calendars for our work first, while still allowing enough time to be supportive of others and to stay in tune with the organization. By doing this, you control which items of lesser priority get your time.
  7. Meetings with yourself. Make time for yourself to stay on plan. At a minimum, set time aside for a one-hour weekly meeting where you take stock of progress, catalog problems, notice opportunities, and update your plans for the next week, month, or quarter. If taking work home with you is a problem, you might do this daily to “check out” of the office so you know where to pick up in the morning.
  8. Nurture yourself. You can’t do your best if you aren’t at your best. Know that you will be most effective if you eat well, focus on physical wellbeing, and get at least seven hours of sleep daily.
  9. Take breaks. It is very easy to get caught up in work, and being tied to your desk is counterproductive. Taking breaks allows time to release stress and recharge. Get creative: visit a colleague, get some water, go out for a walk in nature, or call your partner. Just get away from work for a few minutes several times a day.
  10. Practice mindfulness. Introduce the habit of mindfulness and meditation into your day. When we enter a state of meditation, it is just as helpful to our brains and bodies as sleep. Spending 5-10 minutes, a couple of times each day, can create new energy for us.
  11. Avoid “coveting.” Coveting is defined as a yearning to possess or have something. When we do this, we attach our happiness to future outcomes which can provoke feelings of stress in the present about achieving those outcomes. Keep your energy in the present, knowing that good work now leads to good outcomes later.
  12. Don’t multitask. The idea of multi-tasking has somehow been given a badge of honor. The fact is that human minds don’t work that way. We are wired to do one thing, and then switch tasks. Switching tasks requires energy to refocus, so the more we do it the more time and energy we waste.

Recommended Book to Read

The Burnout Fix by: Dr. Jacinta Jimenez