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Suffering from burnout?
Rebekah Kendal
Posted Thu, 16 Oct 2008
If banging your head repetitively against the wall or cleaning your entire house with a toothbrush sounds infinitely more appealing than heading to the office, you may be suffering from job burnout. On the other hand, you may just work for Home Affairs.
Based the apparent understaffing of the Department of Home Affairs, let's assume it's the former.
Unfortunately, a bruised forehead and worn toothbrush are unlikely to provide constructive and enduring solutions to the problem. The good news is that while not everyone can afford to change careers or take an extended holiday, there are measures you can take to prevent or manage burnout before it becomes debilitating.
What is burnout?
Burnout is a state of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion resulting from prolonged exposure to excessive stress. However, stress does not automatically result in burnout and the behaviour of a stressed individual differs significantly from that of someone suffering from burnout.
While an unreasonable workload can lead to burnout, your perceptions about your work are just as influential. You are more likely to suffer from burnout if you feel underappreciated or unrewarded for the work you do.
Stress is also more likely to escalate into burnout if you feel that you have no control over the amount of work you need to get done, or if you feel no sense of accomplishment from the tasks you do complete.
Symptoms of burnout
- Negative emotions — emotions can range from frustration, anger and irritability to extreme apathy, despair and disillusionment. Your approach to others and work will probably become more cynical.
- Health problems — the most obvious physical symptom of burnout is chronic fatigue, but you may also find yourself suffering from headaches, back pains, more frequent colds and insomnia. Self-medication (food, drugs, alcohol) increases and serious depression is not unusual.
- Declining performance — burnout results in increased absenteeism and a decrease in productivity and efficiency. Furthermore, due to a 'why bother' attitude, the work that you do produce is likely to be of inferior quality.
- Interpersonal relationships suffer — emotional outbursts, irritability and a desire to withdraw from social interactions will have a negative effect on your relationships with your co-workers, friends and family. You will find it more difficult to communicate and may become more confrontational or hostile.
Causes of burnout
While some professions are more inherently prone to burnout — health professions, law enforcement, teaching and professions that require exacting attention (such as air traffic control) — everyone is susceptible to burnout.
You are more likely to suffer from burnout if:
- You set unrealistic goals for yourself (or have them imposed by your superior).
- Your work regularly violates personal values.
- You have a monotonous job that rarely challenges you.
- You feel that the conditions under which you work are unnecessarily punitive.
- You are trying to be too many things to too many people.
- You feel underpaid, under-appreciated and overly criticised for matters beyond your control.
- You identify too strongly with work and lack a balance between your work and personal lives.
- You are uncertain about the expectations of your job and your degree of authority.
- You are exposed to dysfunctional office dynamics (bullies or a micro-managing boss) or feel that you have not been given the resources to do your job properly.
- Due to economic reasons, you are trapped in a job that you don't particularly enjoy.
Preventative measures
Because of the inherent inertia of the condition, it will be difficult to tackle burnout once you are suffering from it. It is best, therefore, to put some preventative measures in place or to change your working conditions if you suspect that you are becoming a little too unhappy about getting out of bed in the morning.
If the pressure is internal (unrealistic goals or an over-identification with work), it is important to set yourself some parameters — make a point of leaving work on time; don't take work home with you; and find a way to relax while you are not at work.
If you simply have too much work and are struggling to get everything done, you need to learn to prioritise. Do the most important things first and try to delegate (or cut out) tasks that are less important.
If you keep things organised and approach the work in a systematic way, it will be easier to tackle that insurmountable pile of demands. Clarify your job description so that you can object if you feel that you are being given work that falls outside of your area of responsibility.
If you have been doing the same work for a long time and are becoming bored or unchallenged, take on some new challenges. Conversely, if you feel that your job is too challenging, ask for additional training so that you are better equipped to cope with the requirements of your job.
Try to follow a healthy lifestyle. If you eat regular balanced meals, exercise at least three times a week and avoid crutches such as alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine, you will be better equipped to deal with the stresses of your job and less likely to suffer from health problems.
Remember to reward yourself. Just because your company or boss overlooks your hard work, it doesn't mean that you don't deserve a reward. Compliment yourself for work well done and when you complete a particularly difficult task, treat yourself.
Finally, social support is very important — so cultivate relationships. Make sure that you spend some time outside of work socialising (even if you don't really feel like it) and when you begin to feel overwhelmed at work, talk to someone about your problems.
