Dealing with Professional Burnout: Understand, your career is not a race.

Career Trends: July 19, 2022
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS

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Content Credit:

• Article published on hrnews.co.uk. Original article link.

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Modern office life has moved to smartphones and laptops. Now, many people don’t even notice they began to solve business issues around the clock. The imbalance between life and work can lead to professional burnout and emotional exhaustion. Job burnout is a special type of work-related stress — a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.

Signs of this condition include: 

• Constant desire to sleep 
• Frequent feeling of tiredness
• Excessive reactions to stimuli
• Reluctance to try new things
• Acute painful reaction to deviation from plans
• Lack of excitement and inspiration

What can help prevent these symptoms? Physical rest is the key. For example, you can pick up a hire van and go on a big trip with the whole family. Travelling in a hire van will bring you closer to relatives, allows you to relax your soul, and gain mental strength. However, what if a vacation is not possible soon, there are other steps that you can take.

Here are some simple anti-burnout techniques you can start applying today:

1. Analyse your work and identify what interests you.

• Doing something just out of a sense of duty or anxiety about the future is a direct path to burnout.
• Do you feel the current work doesn’t quite suit you? Are you overly stressed? Are you very tired? Pay attention to the type of activity that is easiest for you to master and that inspires you. 
• It’s impossible to make an informed decision and even enjoy life without analysing the tasks performed.
• Therefore, start listening to your inner voice and admit to yourself the simplest things.
• If you are hearing a critical voice within you that is never satisfied with what you are doing, this may be a reason to seek professional help.

2. Ask yourself regularly, “How am I doing?”

• It’s difficult to pay attention to your condition while maintaining a frantic working rhythm.
• In such a race, you can forget to take a break.
• If you want to improve your life, stop ignoring fatigue, signs of illness, and changes in your emotional state.
• Make a habit of stopping for five to ten minutes daily and asking yourself questions like, “How am I doing? What do I want now? What little action would make me happy right now?”

3. Learn to say “no”. 

• Saying “no,” “stop,” “I can’t do it anymore” may be difficult, but assertiveness skills can help.
• This is the ability of a person not to depend on external influences, independently regulate their own behaviour, and be responsible for it.
• A great resource for those who want to develop assertive behaviour is “How to be Assertive in Any Situation” by Gill Hasson and Sue Hadfield.

4. Personalise your workspace.

• A workplace decorated with things important to you will make you feel safer in the office.
• In addition, such a corner will remind you that you are not only an employee, but a parent, friend, fantasy lover, or avid hiker.
• In stressful moments, you can turn to your other roles and find support in them for further movement. 

5. Have unique, joy-giving rituals during your workday. 

• It can be something pleasant, like having a coffee before starting work or taking a walk before returning home.
• Create to-do lists, mark what you accomplished, review your notes at the end of the day, and praise yourself for good work and other accomplishments.

6. Try to choose a suitable work schedule and place of employment.

• Remember that the modern world is often more flexible than we think.
• Even large companies can agree on remote work or periodic visits to the office, and possibly shift the schedule.
• If you feel that you need something like this, try to negotiate with your senior colleagues. 

7. Plan how to recharge and rest after work.

• If you have a specific deadline, plan resource sessions to help you recover daily.
• For example, take small meditations, walks, and something pleasant after a difficult period.
• It could be meeting up with friends, a trip to a nearby town, or a day alone with your favourite book.
• Such planning will help you recuperate and support you through a challenging period of work.

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Have you checked out yesterday’s blog yet?

Why do we Procrastinate or Lack Motivation? And what can we do about it?

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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

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