How to Proactively Address Burnout in the New Year
Work takes up a significant portion of our lives, and workplace stress is one of the primary reasons why people seek counseling. Burnout is a more severe form of work-related stress that can be hard to recover from. As we begin the new year with hopes of personal and professional growth, it's an excellent time to adopt strategies to help us avoid exhaustion, cynicism, and disengagement from work.
What is Burnout?
Burnout is a work-related mental health condition. It occurs when you experience emotional exhaustion, inefficacy about yourself or your performance, and negative or cynical attitudes towards work and colleagues. Burnout symptoms can be similar to those of depression or anxiety, including fatigue and lack of motivation. Although burnout may seem identical to stress, burnout symptoms are more persistent and long-lasting. When a person is experiencing burnout, research suggests they tend to miss work more frequently, take more sick days, and are more likely to quit jobs. Additionally, research also shows burnout negatively affects physical health.
What Causes Burnout?
It's tricky to answer this completely.
Burnout can be a challenging experience.
It can happen for various reasons, and it's important to understand that it's not always your fault. Researchers suggest that burnout can occur when the job demands skills that haven't been developed yet, when you don't have enough control over your work, when the effort you put in doesn't match the reward, and/ or when the work environment is stressful for an extended period. Fixing some of these issues might require changes from your organization. If you haven't been trained properly, you might need to spend more energy to find what you need to do your job well. That means you have to work harder to get the same amount of work done. If you don't have enough agency over your work, it's natural to feel frustrated when you can't overcome obstacles to achieve goals. Factors like work-life balance, pay, and mismatched expectations on the job can all contribute to an imbalance of exerted effort and reward of working. This imbalance may be caused organizationally, but it can affect you quite personally. Burnout happens slowly and can be challenging to overcome, especially when there are too many work demands and limited resources. Resources are things you value that help you reach your goals, like your own abilities, support from people around you, and having control over your situation.
Remember, feeling overwhelmed is okay; there are personal ways to develop these resources and overcome burnout.
Who Experiences Burnout?
Anyone can experience burnout. If you experience any of the above, you could be at risk of burnout.
Helpers
Helpers are at a higher risk for experiencing burnout because, by definition, one person is "giving" while the other is "receiving," which is usually the case with professionals like physicians, nurses, teachers, or social workers.
How to Address Burnout?
Understandably, many of us tend to focus on relieving symptoms of mental and physical strain reactively, using avoidance or emotion-based coping strategies. Reactive coping looks like eating/drinking our feelings, procrastinating, or choosing not to think about our problems. It's not easy to address the underlying causes of burnout because we already feel bad. But it's important to remember that emotion or avoidance strategies only provide temporary relief and won't solve the problem in the long run.
That's why it's crucial to consider active task-based and/or cognitive coping, which have effectively reduced the three aspects of burnout: disengagement, emotional exhaustion, and cynicism. These strategies involve addressing a problem directly or changing the way you think about it.
It's important to recognize that focusing only on tasks and problem-solving might ignore our emotions. It's okay to talk about our feelings and get support. If you tend to use more emotion-based coping strategies, it might be helpful for you to find someone to vent to before moving into the above coping strategies. Speaking with someone supportive can help us see things differently. Try to have positive conversations that lead to change. Check-in with yourself if emotion-coping leads to thinking and rethinking without a solution. Other unhelpful forms of emotion-based coping include suppressing emotions, blaming self/others, or passively resigning.
Remember, when we feel burned out, we might be too exhausted to implement these coping strategies. We may choose to avoid them instead. Avoidance coping strategies include procrastination, passive-aggression, and rumination. Sometimes, temporary avoidance is ok. A short walk outside to decompress might be a helpful avoidance strategy. It's important to take care of ourselves and seek support when needed.
Task-Oriented/Cognitive Coping Suggestions
Seeking out more Training or Coaching to boost your knowledge and skills
Creating a Problem-Solving Plan (i.e., talking to the boss about procedures, looking for new leads, writing a proposal, finding alternate employment before leaving a job)
Limiting Time Spent on less crucial draining tasks to engage in more fulfilling tasks
Setting Boundaries to Limit inessential conversations/emails/phone calls that distract or lower mood
Speaking Up Constructively with an intent to improve rather than criticize
Identifying Potential Benefits of a Recent Change
Initiating a Change that would improve work processes, such as reprioritizing or delegating tasks (It might help to take inventory of all required tasks/meetings and record how you feel about each and how much time is taken doing them)
Altering your Budget to reduce financial stress. (May include asking for a raise or looking for additional job opportunities if current financial needs are not being met)
Reframing a situation to recognize the positives and not just the negatives (Ex. I don't have much in common with this new colleague, but they could offer a different perspective because we think differently)
Noticing unhelpful negative self-talk and reframing to positive self-talk.
Ex. "I'm not good enough," becomes "I'm competent at my job, but I made a mistake. I can learn from my mistakes," or "My job does not define my self-worth."
Emotion-Based Coping Suggestions
Talking to a Spouse, Family Member or Friend for emotional support about a work-related problem
Asking Coworkers for help or advice
Practicing Deep Breathing before an important meeting or proposal
Planning Vacations to take throughout the year (Note: These are planned and not reactively taken due to external factors)
Decorating workspace with encouraging messages or photographs of people you love
Using Mental health/ Sick Days
Work-Related Avoidance Coping Suggestions
Taking a Short Walk before a hard conversation
Asking for more Time to complete a project if needed
*Avoidance-based coping often offers only short-term relief and tends to increase feelings of stress in the long term. Implement long-term self-care strategies to care for yourself.
Burnout Preventative Self-Care Strategies
Maintaining an Exercise Routine
Eating a Nutritious Diet
Spending time Connecting with those who Provide Support
Practicing Gratitude
Doing Hobbies/Sports/Activities you enjoy regularly (Singing, Dancing, Sewing, Seeing A Movie, etc)
Engaging in Religious/ Spiritual Practices
Listening to Inspirational Music/Books/Podcasts before work, during breaks, or on drive home.
Keeping a Journal
If you feel stressed, overwhelmed, and burned out or have difficulty preventing burnout, try these stress-reducing tips or contact a counselor today.
References
Awa, W. L., Plaumann, M., & Walter, U. (2010). Burnout prevention: A review of intervention programs. Patient Education and Counseling, 78(2), 184-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2009.04.008
Endler, N. S., & Parker, J. D. (1994). Assessment of multidimensional coping: Task, emotion, and avoidance strategies. Psychological assessment, 6(1), 50.
Otto, M. C., Van Ruysseveldt, J., Hoefsmit, N., & Van Dam, K. (2021). Examining the mediating role of resources in the temporal relationship between proactive burnout prevention and burnout. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1-15.
