When the leading cause of burnout is: YOU
A little over two years ago, I showed key signs of burnout:
- Low energy
- Cynicism
- Lack of confidence
I didn’t identify it as burnout at the time, because while my job was challenging in many ways I wasn’t working egregiously long hours by a long shot. I saw burnout as healthcare providers pulling double-shifts on their feet and Wall Street traders collapsing face first into their coffees (or worse) after an 80 hour work week.
Freudenberger, who first coined the term burnout, defined it as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.”
This was definitely me.
Although I knew I wanted my lifestyle to be different (I wanted to live on a coast and be “less corporate”), the work itself seemed aligned with what I thought I wanted to be doing, and yet I didn’t feel fulfilled or good at it.
It’s funny that as an organizational psychologist (with expertise in employee engagement!) I would hold such a narrow view of what burnout meant and what could cause it.
Burnout is often seen as a product of overworking and a demanding work load. In reality, a LOT of things can lead to burnout, including whether our job responsibilities and impact make our hearts go pitter patter, whether we feel seen and supported, and whether we have a clear sense of what “doing a good job” means (this is a standard that we might set as much as our managers, by the way).
Since anything less would have been to admit defeat, I took an extreme route — quitting my job and taking a long sabbatical from full-time employment to rekindle neglected or unrealized passions while traveling — from Japan to France, with several countries in between. I got beat up and healed in ways I never would have expected but I didn’t fully answer my questions about my work and my relationship to it.
I regret nothing because WOW the places I’ve gone, geographically, psychologically, and spiritually. That said, if I had known then what I know now, I definitely would have done things differently.
If you or someone you care about is showing signs of burnout, it’s important to pinpoint the source, or what’s missing, so you can directly address it. This HBR article describes several.
For me the bottom line was that the way and means through which I produced results was not sustainable or healthy. Certain work cultures and job characteristics make burnout much more likely. My own burnout had a lot more to do with the misapplication of my values, interests, and strengths, as well as my relationship with value, success, and ultimately myself than it did with the workload per se.
In the end I intend to produce a lot more in the future, only now I’m doing it for versus in spite of me.
Without a doubt, companies can do a lot to make burnout far less likely. But if you’re the one affected, it is you who needs to raise your hand, and opt out of it.
If you’re struggling with burnout and eager for serious retooling beyond “working less,” schedule an introductory call with me. We’ll explore root causes and clarify next steps.
