Avoiding Job Burnout
Posted on January 31, 2007 by Ching under Life, School.
Steve talked about job burnout at length in MIS class today. I can’t remember how he tied it into our current topic but he managed to bring it up. I think it was because we were talking about corporate structure and being a group of MBA students pretty much everyone’s goal is to reach the top of the hierarchy. He made the observation that what happens too often is that people end up burning out before getting there. I suspect that’s probably true.
Anyway, all throughout his ten minute tirade about avoiding burnout and not worrying about things that will eventually take care of themselves (which reminds me of something that Brian might say; along these lines, Brian has preached to me that I shouldn’t worry about things beyond my control many, many times) I felt like he was talking directly to me. How did he know that I was experiencing huge amounts of job stress? I know I’m pretty transparent but was it really that obvious? Of course, the world doesn’t revolve around me. I know it only seemed this way because work has been stressing me out a lot lately. Regardless of what the case may be, it got me thinking.
What is burnout exactly? Burnout is what happens when run yourself ragged at work. It’s when you have so much work to do and not enough time to recover. Some of the symptoms include but are not limited to taking your work home with you, taking your frustrations out on your partner, waking up in the middle of the night from work nightmare—which I’ve actually done. I had a dream that I didn’t get my time tickets done because I was stuck in an all-day training class that I could not get out of.. Weird, huh? Although, I’ve exhibited mild versions of some of the symptoms of burnout I refuse to think I am. Maybe I’m in denial but for the sake of this blog entry let’s agree that I’m not experiencing job burnout (not yet, anyway). So think of this post as some sort of preventative measure.
You can find out more about burnout here. It’s pretty informative. It gives helpful information about how to differentiate stress from burnout. Even though burnout and stress sometimes go hand-in-hand they’re not necessarily the same thing. Anyway, some of their ways of dealing with job burnout, like looking for a new job or requesting a transfer, may not be feasible for most people.
Mindtools has a special section on burnout. They have a burnout self-test as well as articles on how to avoid and recover from burnout. You can also check out these burnout busters from friedsocialworker.com.
One of the things commonly suggested to combat burnout is do something that you enjoy—get a fun hobby. Brian actually suggested that I start working out again. He said that I was a lot less stressed when I used to workout because I had an outlet for my stress and frustrations. I currently don’t have one so he thinks that I am bottling everything up inside me which is truly unhealthy.
Working out again might not be such a bad idea. I’ve actually been asked if I’m expecting twice now. That only tells me one thing. I have gained so much weight that I’m beginning to look pregnant. By resuming my gym membership I might just kill two birds. We haven’t decided to renew our membership yet. I’ll keep you posted.
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After Marriage Separation on June 2, 2007
After Marriage Separation…
I found some good free help at Susans site. Good marriage information….