How do you identify job burnout?

[Rachel]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I have visited my doctor about this - she ran some tests and everything looked normal. I am sure it's entirely psychological - I just need to learn to deal with anxiety. I get the whole bit - feels like my heart is racing, shortness of breath, unsettled stomach, loss of appetite. I know I have anxiety issues, and am working on fixing that issue...it just seems to come and go with no particular trigger.

The lack of focus is relatively new - within the last few months - and the overwhelmedness (is that a word?) has occurred in the past, but it's an anxiety symptom, I think. I just don't know how to get out of it. My main problem is that I think too much...and the thoughts turn to worry in no time.

 

[jmp4429]

I can totally relate, as you can see from this snippet from an email I sent to a friend yesterday:

I’m thinking about how I wish the machines behind me would shut up, and do they really need to dump those metal parts into that metal tray from 18 feet up, and how expensive can a couple of pneumatic silencers be, and dang am I hungry, and how trying to keep on people to respond to NCR’s and complete their corrective actions is like trying to collect ants with chopsticks, and is it freezing in here or is it just me, and I wonder if it’s still raining and….

I second that a doctor's visit might not be a bad idea, but it does sound like work-induced burnout. I suffered from that a lot at my old job, for exactly the same reasons you describe (combination of data-entry type work and work where I felt I was in way over my head).

Honestly, at that job I found the best way to deal with it was to slack off some at work. And I mean really slack off. It's nice to say "after work I"ll take some me time" but what usually happens is you crash as soon as you walk in the door, so you don't eat dinner, the house doesn't get cleaned, the bills don't get paid, and your dreams stress you out. Then you wake up the next morning hungry to a messy house and bills that are going to be late if you don't take care of them soon, and you just feel worse.

I found that on those days when I just couldn't concentrate on even the easiest tasks, the best thing to do was take an inappropriately long lunch at the best sub shop across town, or go BS with the IT guys for an hour or so. Okay, so I was slacking off, but really goofing off for an hour on company time and getting several hours of work done was way more productive than sitting at my desk all day saying
"Okay, now to write a procedure on how to hey there's a ladybug crawling across the floor! Anyway, 'this procedure is meant to provide a standard method for' I wonder if Bob got back to me on that NCR yet? 'method for entering' where the heck is my chapstick?"

 

[sal881vw]

My main problem is that I think too much...and the thoughts turn to worry in no time.

All of the above suggestions should help you out. Get involved in something innovative that you really enjoy doing.........something that you always wanted to do and never got the time to do.


Have a great weekend........that should be a start

 

[Rachel]

...was way more productive than sitting at my desk all day saying
"Okay, now to write a procedure on how to hey there's a ladybug crawling across the floor! Anyway, 'this procedure is meant to provide a standard method for' I wonder if Bob got back to me on that NCR yet? 'method for entering' where the heck is my chapstick?"

This made me laugh out loud. It fits me to a T. Seriously - I can start working on one task, and five minutes later I find myself doing something totally different. Scary thing is that most of the time I can't remember when the focus was lost. Yesterday, I spent the better part of three hours filing - this morning I have been trying to tie up the loose ends of calculations for a report, the bulk of which has been excruciatingly painful to complete. That's the kind of black/white contrast I see here - it's either (and no offense intended to anyone) relatively brainless work, or it's work that exercises grey matter that doesn't exist. In the end, I'm left feeling either bored or completely incompetent.

When I'm always thinking, I analyze - and any kind of grey areas in my life (i.e., am I pursuing the right career? is my marriage going to be successful? what if there's something wrong with my health and I don't know it?) leave me in knots. When I manage to stop thinking, I feel normal (i.e., I can accomplish tasks at work, I can enjoy time with my fiancé, I can...um, not worry about my health). I just don't know how to stop thinking. The 2 hours of solitude in the car every day certainly doesn't help...but there's not a lot I can do about that.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It's good to know at least that I'm not alone...I just wish I knew how to deal with it. The suggestions are good, though, and I intend to look into them.

 

[Cari Spears]

The 2 hours of solitude in the car every day certainly doesn't help...but there's not a lot I can do about that.

Maybe listening to audio books would keep your mind occupied during the drive time - give you something to follow instead of letting your mind wander.

It's ironic - just a little - but I do my best "introspection" when I'm alone in a vehicle. I reflect on things like the day or my relationships, decide whether I handled this or that the right way, etc. I like it - I feel like it's my "decompression" time. Kind of the opposite, huh.

 

[Rachel]

It's ironic - just a little - but I do my best "introspection" when I'm alone in a vehicle. I reflect on things like the day or my relationships, decide whether I handled this or that the right way, etc. I like it - I feel like it's my "decompression" time. Kind of the opposite, huh.

I used to think of it that way - but now it just consumes me, it seems.

 

[wolfnature]

The biggest advice I can offer is laugh at everything. There are a number of people that are burned out around here, and they all think I am the weirdest guy they have met. But at the same time they appreciate it when I come around at the right time and make them laugh and put everything into perspective.

As far as the getting sidetracked there is something you can try. Everybody goes through high and low energy cycles during the day (usually at the same times everyday), so plan your day according to your cycle. But the trick is to do it opposite of what you would think. When you have plenty of energy and are able to focus better, do the menial tasks. When you are feeling low in energy and having trouble focus, do the stuff that requires a lot of mental activity. I know this sounds completely backwards, but it actually works.

 

[Cari Spears]

...they all think I am the weirdest guy they have met.

That could be because of the smell of paste on your breath.

 

[jonny O]

wow

Thanks for the input, everyone.

It's odd - I waffle between feeling numb and feeling totally overwhelmed.

There's so much going on right now - at work and at home - and it's just a lot to deal with. Combine that with the fact that all of my tasks at work are either (a) piddle-work (i.e., word-processing and chart-making - not unimportant, just not a challenge) or (b) so over my head that i am sinking and having to swim up from the bottom. There's very little that's in that grey area in between - it's either "retype this for me" or "complete this challenging task with little assistance". To top it off, for some of these projects, I am the only one involved - i.e., I am considered the "company expert" and I don't feel overly competent.

Sometimes I think I just need a vacation...other times I think it's more than that.

Do I ever feel better! I thought I was the only one feeling that way lately. Sometimes I feel like I have been fooling the whole world and I don't really know anything. And then I pull my head out of my *** and get back to work. It's a strange feeling.

 

[Wes Bucey]

Burnout has been around long before the current emphasis on running "Lean" and double-loading employees with mountains of work.

In my opinion, once your doctor has ruled out any and all organic causes, it is not "demeaning" in any way to ask for a referral to a psychologist or other therapist to help you personalize a coping program which will work for you.

I struggle with "burnout" often, ranging from dealing with pesky and "needy" relatives to dealing with incompetent managers who just don't "get" that they are the cause of the problems in their organizations, not the employees.

I even get burnout when working on my book, something I am very passionate about.

My coping mechanisms have a long history. When I was an investment banker with a high pressure job, I used to close and lock my office door for an hour at about 3 pm every day, forward my phones to a staffer, take off my shoes and lay on the sofa in my office for a nap. At 4, I'd rise and work until 7 pm to catch the end of the business day on the west coast.

In the manufacturing mileu, I made it a point to stop whatever activity I was working on whenever I felt the symptoms of burnout starting to hit. If I was poring over paperwork in the office, I'd go out in the plant or vice-versa. Generally, the change of pace was enough to revive and renew me.

In long meetings, I'd simply ask for a bathroom break;

• go splash cold water on my face;
• swap some jokes with other participants;
• make a phone call;

come back refreshed and renewed to begin again.

When at the computer, I stop and go through some meaningless maintenance rituals just to take my mind off the task at hand. Rituals range from clearing cookies and temporary internet files to randomly running a virus scanner while I go have a cup of coffee (or now, sit on the deck with a margarita or a caipirinha [a new drink Sidney introduced to me]) and watch the wildlife.

The essence, I think, of coping mechanisms, is to stop the activity driving you to burnout and substitute something, anything else, to change the gears in your brain for a short time. Once you know the relief is in your control, you have a sense of a light at the end of the tunnel. Psychologists might use the term "displacement" to describe the mental mechanism.