Just like any other relationship, your relationship with your job is going to have its’ ups and downs. In some cases it can be clear the best solution is for the two of you to separate – meaning you will need to find a new job. In other cases, making a few changes to how you work can rekindle your passion for what you do, allowing you to keep your job and your sanity.
You may not have any physical signs of burnout. The list below highlights seven red flags that signal you may be overwhelmed and could benefit from making some changes.
- It’s Monday 10 AM and you can’t wait for Friday.
- Your meeting status: unprepared and uninterested.
- You’re more inspired to make an excuse than make a deadline.
- You day dream about getting sick so you have an excuse to stay home.
- You avoid people because you’re afraid of getting more work.
- People avoid you because they don’t want to hear about your workload.
- You use the 50/50 rule: you spend 50% of your time trying to figure out how to get out of 50% of your work.
If these behaviors have become the norm for you instead of the exception, you may have started to think of yourself as a slacker. I’ve actually met very few people who are slackers, what I encounter are people who are bored, haven’t found a way to what they are passionate about and as a result feel stuck in a job they hate. Going into “slacker” mode is also a response to the frustration of being overworked, underemployed, underpaid and poorly managed. Good news: If you identify with any of the seven signs, there’s something you can do. Here’s a short list of practical things you can do shift out of neutral and move into drive mode.
Get Real: Acknowledge how you are feeling about your work-life. Journal it, talk about it with someone you don’t have to sensor yourself with, but stop holding it in. The more you try to ignore how you really feel, the more anxiety and frustration you will feel about your situation. The sooner you identify how you feel, the sooner you can address it.
Get Inspired: Find a book, audio CD, or MP3 – something that tells someone else’s success story and read it or listen to it. The focus here is to connect with their ups and downs on their journey and the challenges they had to overcome to reach their goals. Let their success motivate you to press towards your vision despite how you feel right now.
Take Control: Are there too many meetings and tasks on your to-do list? Become a guardian of your time and energy by mastering your schedule. Limit the number of meetings you have a day: if your limit is 4 meetings, then meeting number 5 that comes to your invite box gets declined or proposed for another day and time. Set up a system for managing e-mails and prioritizing request. Make sure you get outside or get to connect with other people so you are not functioning in isolation everyday.
Play a Different Role: Are you the team member that organizes everything? Or are you the ad-hoc tech support person for your team? Maybe you’re the one everyone goes to when there’s a last minute crisis. Taking on a specific role within your team may have boxed you in and now you can’t get out. Whatever hat you normally wear – take it off. Changing how you engage can change how you feel about your work and your colleagues.
Make a Plan: It can be really hard to stay motivated if you can’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. Most people stay on the road to no where because they haven’t made a map to go anywhere else. Start putting together a plan for how you are going to escape or move into another role. It could mean going back to school, updating your resume for a lateral move within your company, expanding your professional network – the point here is to move from being dominated by feelings of frustration to a place of action.
Tai Goodwin is a career and business coach who specifically works with professionals who are launching a business while working full-time.
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8 Comments
Sometimes, a nice vacation helps as well! Perhaps you are not sick of your job, but you simply need some rest.
Can’t you just take a vacation and call it a day? My predicament is tough. Working full time while running a business with my wife. Coupling that with being a new homeowner (first time) and a new father, and pretty newly married. All of it combined is burning me out.
I’m really not sure what to do. I haven’t had a vacation in like three years (a real one). The days I take off are to help my wife out at her dance studio for major events, sick days, and maybe a holiday here and there.
Having suffered from job burnout myself (former workaholic!), something that really worked for me was drawing definitive boundaries of when I worked and when I played and rested. Learning what things recharge you (for me, reading at home really helped) and doing those things will help you achieve better balance.
Great article, Tai!
And thanks for sharing tips on how to overcome job burnout. I think, everyone experience this dilemma and it is inevitable but thanks to goodness for I can overcome it. The bottom line is: Love what you do. Do what you love.
Again, thank you and I’m looking forward to more great articles.
SuperCareero
Good ideas… for someone who has the power to manipulate their own job and workload like that! For those of us with the option of doing our job as is or being shown the door, this article is just another reminder of our powerlessness.
Amen to that!
I, however, am looking for a new job.
Tai, excellent article!
It's so true, if you aren't happy in your job, it probably shows in some way or another, and it doesn't do you or your team/organization any good to maintain this dissatisfaction. This is a great outline of how to turn around your career!
There have been many times when I feel burnout of my job. I am lost at what to do. Thanks for sharing this unique fixes, I shall implement them and see the difference.