The Burnout Battle

"Once you find and/or realize your contribution, you have found your purpose."

We have all experienced "burnout" within a job or two at one point in time. Or maybe you are experiencing it right now. According to Wikipedia, occupational burnout is "a phenomenon resulting from chronic work-related stress with symptoms characterized by "feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job, and reduced professional efficacy".

It can be real easy to let the negative situations you deal with and/or your least favorite parts of your job get you down if you let it. We all have bad days every once in a while, of course, but the real issue is if you let that bad day linger for the next few days or even the rest of the week. Having one bad day every once in a while does not equal burnout; what does is if you have a bad day and hang on to that same mindset for the next day and the next and the next until you become so fed up with anything and everything you deal with or have to do. Not only does it effect how you view your job on a daily basis, but it also effects your job performance. If you don't feel energized or motivated at your job, you will not perform at your best.

One of the most influential ways you can prevent burnout is to rewire your brain to see things from a different perspective and to train your brain to take a moment or a pause to let your emotions catch up with your brain. Our emotions seem to overtake our brain most of the time, because that's how we are wired; but if you give your emotions the chance to catch up, it will drastically improve how you handle certain situations and how you feel as a whole.

Here are three ways you can rewire your brain to think more positively, which will in turn help you stay motivated, keep you focused on what truly matters, and prevent you from experiencing burnout:

1) REMEMBER YOUR PURPOSE: What do you contribute to your organization? Have you ever sat down and thought about the particular skills you have or what you actually contribute to society and/or your organization? If you haven't, I highly suggest you do that now. If you remind yourself of your purpose and what other people are counting on you for, it will help ground you and will calm your thoughts to think more positively instead of having a "woe is me" mentality. Having a purpose creates a sense of innate motivation that energizes you to not only get the job done, but to do it well.

Staying focused on your purpose will make burnout near impossible.

2) THINK OF OTHERS: We all have a natural tendency to think about ourselves and to react selfishly, but if you stop to think about others involved, it will help you see the situation from a different perspective and will give you the chance to realize you are not in this alone. Every single organization has a purpose, so as long as everyone keeps that in mind and helps each other conquer whatever you are facing, there will be no need for burnout. When you realize that you are a part of a team instead of going at it alone, it takes all of the burden off of you and you are able to ask for help, to help others, and to put forth energy and effort into something positive.

Thinking of others automatically reminds you that you are a part of something bigger than yourself.

3) SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE: If you are facing an issue that immediately causes you to get upset, take a second to think about the bigger picture. Ask yourself, "Is this really going to matter in 2 hours or even 2 days?" "Will this alter what we are trying to accomplish in any way?" If it is not something that will matter in the grand scheme of things, then there is no need to let it control your emotions or even the rest of your day. 

When you see the bigger picture, you will naturally see what matters and what doesn't.

I hope these three tips help you prevent burnout and keeps you on the path to success!

- Dean