Avoiding Burnout: Proactive Strategies for a Sustainable Work Life

We’ve all been there before, a person, situation or decision is staring us down, waiting for an answer or response and I. Just. Don’t. Care. The Oxford definition of Apathy is simply “lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern”, and it’s hard not to feel that way at times. Everyone is entitled to have a bad day; we are all human and sometimes we just can’t care about that one more thing. So, what is the difference between Apathy and Burnout?

While apathy is about not caring, burnout is more commonly not caring that you don’t care. Most of the time when we are exhausted mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, part of the frustration we feel is that we know this isn’t how we want to react, or we wish we had more time and energy to lend the situation at hand. But when you are burned out, even those things you used to care deeply about are now of little importance to you. You don’t even have the capacity to care that you no longer care. Your former passions are looked upon with cynicism and disdain as you now dread what in the past brought you fulfillment.

So, what do we do about this? How can we recover from Burnout, or better yet, what strategies can we use to avoid future Burnout so that we aren’t stuck in a vicious cycle for years to come? To the former, let me suggest this:

1) Try and remember why you started in this job. 

Ponder the excitement you had as a new hire, or when you first learned about this opportunity, or reflect on those days when you did love coming into work. This doesn’t fix everything, but it can help you focus on the bigger picture and shift your perspective on the frustrating issues you are currently facing.

Many times our “lost passion” is due, at least in part, to people and situations outside of our control. But rarely are we completely innocent, so to speak, which brings me to the second point that is:

2) Own your role in the lost passion / engagement.

It’s true that your organization and the leaders you report to have a responsibility to do their part in providing a positive work environment, but ultimately, it’s up to us how we respond to even poor leadership. Are we using other people or situations to excuse our apathy or even laziness? Take time to self-reflect. 

On the topic of Avoiding Future Burnout, there isn’t a failsafe approach to this one either, but there are some things that we can do to set ourselves up for less “burnout opportunities”. I would equate this to preventative maintenance. We can’t avoid every possible issue that could come our way, but you have a much better chance of succeeding if you are doing the following:

3) Be proactive instead of reactive. 

We, especially in America, are not great at thinking long-term and making decisions based on future dividends (that we may not even reap). This is a struggle for many of us to focus on appropriate areas of our job (or just our life in general), before we are forced to do so. So, take time assessing your past, current and upcoming workloads; look for trends that can help you identify busy seasons and crucial time periods where you know that you will be overburdened. Likewise, in many situations, resolving an issue / task as early as possible often keeps it from building up and becoming a crisis later.

There is another thing that I know many of us struggle with, especially when you are in leadership, or are a technical expert in your area, and that is:

4) Ask for help!

Often people feel as if asking for help is a sign of weakness or that it’s something that they aren’t allowed to do (especially as a “leader”). But in reality, asking for help is one of the most important things that any employee can do to help their organization and their individual career. When you put yourself on an island, you are setting yourself up for individual failure. If you “own” a project / initiative / decision but utilize different perspectives on your team and ask for reasonable help to accomplish those goals, the shared mental and physical load will do wonders for preventing future burnout. 

The last suggestion I have for you today, in relation to things you can do to avoid future / potential burnout is to:

5) Don’t say yes to everything.

A great piece of advice I heard a long time ago and always held onto was “every time you say yes to something you are saying no to something else.” It is simple but profound, because we rarely stop and think about the opportunity cost of committing to yet another thing. It happens in our personal lives and in our work lives, because many human beings want to be seen as someone who can “get things done” or be the “go-to person” for certain things. Even if the new task is something you really don’t want to do it is still hard to say no because no one wants to give the impression that we can’t handle the job, aren’t a team player, etc.

But remember, you are giving something up every time you take on another task and that will never change. Now, sometimes that can be a positive tradeoff, for example if you don’t have much on your plate then you are giving up some free time / flexibility to pick up a new project. Is it the right decision, probably so; but is there still a decrease of “down time” in order to take on an increase of “productivity”, absolutely. Where this can become a factor of burnout is when you start giving away more time and capacity than is healthy for you and your family. You begin trading away your family time and / or mental capacity to “get a job done” and before you realize it, the tradeoff has paid negative dividends in your personal life. All of this doesn’t mean you should never take on more work, but rather practice having “priority conversations” with your boss or peers about what tasks may get less focus if something new needs your attention. The tradeoff there is simply which projects should get done first and which can wait, because you can’t create more hours in the day.

Of course, this isn’t a comprehensive list, but hopefully these suggestions give you some starting points to wrestle with this important concept. Being burned out has became almost a “badge of honor” in our society, something to prove how important or valuable we are in an organization. But that isn’t sustainable or healthy. So, let’s be different and choose to be people who are intentionally engaged, secure in our abilities and willing to let go of the “need” to be burned out. I can guarantee that you are more valuable to your company, your community and most of all YOUR FAMILY when you are not living in long-term burnout. You are too important to spend the majority of your waking life zapped of all emotional and mental energy, just waiting to retire. Please ask for help, be intentional with your decisions, and let’s set a new standard for employees and leaders who are not willing to settle for a burned-out life.

Respectfully, 

Dad of 3 boys who need me at my best