Nine Dimensions of Burnout
The Great Resignation swept across America this summer. In one report, 95 percent of workers said they were considering changing jobs.
Burnout -- a long-term reaction to stress characterized by exhaustion and emotional withdrawal -- has propelled this turbulence. A few months into COVID restrictions, nearly three-quarters of employees reported experiencing its symptoms.
For leaders everywhere, from CEOs to nurses to parents, pandemic-era leadership is centered on navigating unprecedented uncertainty and change. Sustaining oneself, and helping others do the same, requires consistent practices in monitoring and fIlling one’s own tank.
I’ve noticed that exhausted clients are most susceptible to behaviors that further exacerbate their distress. If you are experiencing burnout, or know someone else who is, it may be driven by one or more of the following:
You like feeling busy. Many people enjoy feeling like their time is stretched. Your identity and self-worth may be tied to your perception of how much you do.
To feel “productive,” you overvalue low-importance tasks. You’re exhausted, but given your seemingly endless to-do list, you resolve to power through. Action without sufficient prioritization is not a winning formula. At best, you might do something important; at worse, you’ll distract yourself through excessive refreshing of messages and social media — even when the servers aren’t down.
Your boundaries between work and life are blurred. You might do work as soon as you wake up; in fact, you might aspire to work all the time. When your brain invariably falls out of flow, you wait for that “second wind.” You might even save your the hardest work until late at night.
Your sleep is insufficient. Low-quality sleep poses huge health and performance risks. One common cause for leaders is engaging in stressful behaviors late. Working at night can interfere with natural, circadian rhythm and interfere with falling or remaining asleep.
You lean hard only on yourself. In leadership roles, there’s a significant amount of responsibility on your plate. It’s on you to drive impact and make things happen. You might not be leveraging your team to its fullest. You might not trust others fully in their abilities, and you might shy away from clear roles or processes in order to keep yourself at the center. Folks with this mindset often refrain from taking vacation.
Your belief in hard work permeates your life. When hard work is highly valued, you aim to bring 110% to everything you do. A strong desire to succeed, from work to fitness goals, often correlates with a “no days off” approach that triggers maladaptive behaviors. Over time, unsustainable approaches require compensation through reliance on caffeine, sleep aids, and high doses of sugar.
You cannot find the time to care for your mind and body. Many others intend to do a workout class, meditate, or cook a healthy meal, but don’t feel like they have the energy or time. Health, relationships, and mental acuity often suffer as a result.
Your work does not align to your life priorities. You’re not spending your days in a fulfilling way. It is draining when there’s friction between what you do day to day and how you want to spend your life. Consciously or not, a lack of clarity on your own priorities means you’re following someone else’s.
Your self-care efforts stall out. You want to make a change and can typically throw yourself into a consuming self-care plan for a week or three. Eventually, you fall back into your old ways.
Such challenges are often interconnected and compounding. To manage them, I recommend to my clients consistent steps toward the following:
Identify values and priorities. Most people rank family and health as their top priorities -- and then acknowledge sheepishly that their use of resources is misaligned to those values. Consider your current work and life priority alignment, and determine some actionable steps to drive toward your values. The more that your work nourishes you and fills you with energy, the better.
Regularly examine actions and motivations. A regular practice of evaluating what you did and why highlights where you’re aligned to your priorities and values. Scheduling either an hour a week or 10 minutes a day can work well.
Empower others. Ask who around you can lead various workstreams. What support do you need? Who can help? What growth opportunities can you create for these collaborators to succeed? Distributing leadership promote team’s engagement and your own sustainability by reducing your own workload.
Take back control of your life, right down to your hourly schedule. Plan your highest priority activities at the time of day when your energy is highest.
Leverage natural energy levels. Complete your most important projects when you’re fresh. If you think you function best at night, consider reworking your schedule to align to circadian rhythm.
Take breaks to refresh yourself and create time for new ideas to emerge. To help your mind recover, disconnect from work through walking, stretching, or other exercise.
Prioritize sleep and nutrition to improve the quality of thinking and resists burnout. Stay hydrated and eat nutrient-dense foods to support brain function. Most adults should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep. Take steps to ensure you are getting the sleep you need. Wind-down routines free of screens and stress can help improve your ability to fall asleep.
Move your body. Breathing and sweating improve aerobic capacity and quality thinking. It needn’t be complex or expensive: walking alone has tremendous cognitive benefits.
Build habits to support this work. Instead of trying to address all challenges at once, identify the biggest challenge or two and take small, daily actions. Let your body and mind benefit from predictability and routine, and lead those around you in building their own rituals.
With its many sources, burnout often requires a comprehensive solution. Adding more to the to-do list, of course, typically exacerbates the sense of overwhelm. To counter pandemic chaos, lead with intentionality and simplicity.
