Guidelines help reduce burnout blues

Many authorities define burnout as unrelenting job-related stress.

Individuals most prone to burnout are those serving others in some capacity. Much of the dynamics of the problem seems to occur in individuals suffering from a high need for control, an inordinate need for approval, with strong tendencies toward overcommitment and the inability to set boundaries and limits in their work life.

Professions such as teaching, religious ministry, health care, law enforcement and those committed to rearing a family with few support systems and little recognition for their efforts are likely to experience burnout. Certain personality types are prone to burnout, but the pattern does not always follow set guidelines and it is difficult to say which types will fall victim to this difficulty.

While the problem is complex, I have found the following guidelines and suggestions useful for those wishing to diminish the likelihood of burnout or lessen its negative effects.

• Avoid living by the credit “I live to work.” Instead, try a healthier outlook, “I work to live.” Because nothing goes perfectly all the time, especially in work-related situations, many perfectionists experience a sense of failure and disappointment at the day’s end if work is their primary source of satisfaction. Instead of deriving positive feelings and a sense of accomplishment from being a spouse, a parent, a civic volunteer or hobbyist, they put all their “self-esteem eggs” in the work basket.

Burnout victims often suffer from exhaustion not only at the end of the day, but also may feel tired in the morning as they prepare to go to work. An interesting test for these individuals is to see how they feel while on vacation.

• Next, attempt to maximize variety in your work, especially as the years go by and you feel you are getting into a rut. Vary your routine, minimize the things you like least and maximize the ones you like best. Vary noon-time activities.

• Increase the number of long weekends away from work. A number of short vacations instead of one long one has been found to be helpful.

• Look honestly at your need to please everybody. See if you are thrown into a pattern of perfectionism which is obviously doomed to failure. Work at building relationships and trust with individuals outside of your work. Focus more on broader issues such as family, friends and spiritual commitments.

• Consider your career as having multiple components with each component yielding possible yet independent satisfaction. For example, I once knew an airline pilot who developed a second source of income from his art work. The income from his art was far less important to him than the satisfaction he felt in creating something others enjoyed. A physician friend raised exotic flowers in her greenhouse and wrote short stories and essays in fields unrelated to medicine. During the times I spent with the pilot and the physician I never heard statements expressing feelings similar to those of burnout victims. Instead, they seemed to feel renewed energy and vigor and had an attitude about life that was inspiring. As one said, “I am more than just my work, a lot more.”

Copyright c 1991 Harold H. LeCrone, Jr., Ph.D.