We get burned when we stay too close to the heat source for too long. Wise folks move away before they get burned, but, some are so focused on other things that they fail to feel the heat! When the heat finally gets their attention, they can barely crawl away to safety. They suffer from burnout.
Too much, too little, too late, too long. Those are what define 'burnout'.
TOO MUCH
You do and you do and you do. You are the one who can be counted on to stay late, come in early, skip lunch and pick up the pieces when others let them fall. In fact, people begin to count on you to do just that! This is a recipe for burnout.
You've read in my other articles that you are one-hundred percent responsible for teaching people how to treat you. Have you taught them to treat you like the safety plug?
Oh, and you thought that 'indispensable' was a sure-fire strategy for promotion? Wrong. It is a strategy for burnout.
You thought that going the extra mile was just good exercise. It's exhausting done daily. Save it for times when you will be appreciated, not taken for granted.
TOO LITTLE
I was working with a coaching client recently and she said, "I've given my life to this company and my reward is a pink slip." Oops! Mistake. She only has one life and she needs to keep it for herself. Work is only a part of life and it must be kept within the confines of values and goals.
I don't know one person who has consciously set the goal to be the first in the company to experience burnout. Yet, paying too little attention to maintaining healthy balance is the equivalent. Any good manager wants you to be living a balanced life. Why? So that when a little extra is required, it's available. If you're running as fast as you can every day, you have nothing left for an occasional sprint to a deadline.
TOO LATE
Sometimes you don't realize all that you are giving until it's too late!
The greatest weapon you have against burnout is a simple one. Gently pucker your lips, open your mouth and speak that self-saving word. Whether it's work-related, family-related or expectation-driven, you have to learn to say 'NO!' before it is too late. You cannot be all things to all people all the time.
Practice on small things. If a person asks you to go somewhere that you do not want to go, thank them for wanting to do something that includes you and say, 'NO!". If you haven't tried this, it takes a little practice...and no one has ever died from doing it. Just practice. It gets easier. Remember, too, that you never need to give a reason or an excuse. A simple 'NO, THANKS!" is all that is required....with a smile.
TOO LONG
The body and mind are resilient and forgiving....to a point! You can push on through a whole night's work and recover quite quickly in a day or two of rest. No problem. Burnout occurs when pushing becomes a lifestyle. Do more. Be more. Have more. Rescue more. Work more. Accommodate more. Push, push, push. The body simply cannot handle the demand and the fuses blow.
A medical dictionary says that burnout is "An excessive stress reaction to one's occupational or professional environment. It is manifested by feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion coupled with a sense of frustration and failure." Those feelings come from the blown fuses.
Physically, you can go into seeming meltdown. Your adrenals are distressed. Your skin is rebelling. Your stomach produces excess acid. Your sleep is disturbed. Everything is stressed beyond reason and all you want to do is crawl in a hole and pull the hole in after you for a long, long rest.
GOOD NEWS! You can avoid all this. It's a choice.
So, if you recognize a too much, too little, too late, too long kind of build-up in yourself. STOP! Choose health instead.
Expert facilitator, Dr. Rhoberta Shaler, makes it easier to talk about difficult things. She trains & coaches organizations & entrepreneurs who want to master the 'people skills' that grease the wheels of business & life.
Visit her website for a half-hour free coaching consultation. www.OptimizeInstitute.com
To reprint this article, please contact info@OptimizeInstitute.com
Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
