A few years back, I talked with one of my professors who happened to tell me about the beginning of his career. He told me that he was a pretty talented software engineer who had been put in a management position in almost no time. As a software engineer, he was a competent and satisfied individual. After his promotion, he became really stressed out, and he no longer liked his job. He confided in me by saying that he had felt obligated to take the promotion.
He faced myriads of challenges of his own, like facing and dealing with chronic under-performers. Always struggling to control, motivate and hold them accountable. He found himself in a spot where he was spending a great deal of his time sorting people-related issues. Knowing he was a trained software engineer and not a people manager. He soon started to feel stressed about his job and lost the flow as he could not do what he did the best: writing software.
Being good at something is just one factor of many that you should consider before making decisions. You need to take many other variables into account before you finally make the decision. If you are good at something and diligent with what you do, things will inevitably fall your way. You need to assess what to accept and what to reject instead of accepting what is seemingly good and waiting for things to reach their breaking point.
Saying “No” without hurting others
Learn to say no to people if you have things on your own plate. It is essential to realize and understand what the other person is asking from you. Suppose you think that the other person will not contribute any value to you against your commitment. Probably it is best to say NO.
Most people make mistakes when they overestimate their potential. They take up voluntary projects and tasks without paying heed because they already have their hands full. From a distance, it may seem right that you are taking the initiative and taking up tasks while pleasing people by not saying ‘no.’ This can sometimes fall back on the person. When you overcommit, you become susceptible to burnout.
It is just impossible to do everything and please all the people. It is important to protect your rights if all it takes from you is to say “NO” wherever necessary. When you know that you have to say ‘No’ to someone, find common ground where you both can have a win-win. Therefore, you must learn to say no to people and focus better on the work you already have.
Taking the time off
Regardless of your position and the number of zeroes on your paycheck, I highly doubt if someone is thrilled to go to the office every single day. You might love your job, your boss could be the nicest human being on the earth, or you genuinely believe in the mission, but there is a limit to everything. There are signs out there to reflect if you are coming upon the breakpoint or towards the potential burnout.
These signs can be anything. One day, you feel all good about things in general until something minimal and insignificant begins to nag at you. You find yourself unreasonably angry and furious for no reason. You need to make a line and see if it is fleeting frustration or lingers. If it is just momentary, then there is nothing you should worry about. If it lingers, then probably every small thing will start to get on your nerves. You will have all the trouble focussing, and there will be a high chance of burnout.
What is a burn out?
Burnout is classified in the International Classification of Diseases (11th Revision) as follows:
“Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Three dimensions characterize it:
- Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
- Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
- Reduced professional efficacy.
Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.”
Studies have shown that people who experience burnout in the early phase of their career tend to recover easily compared to people who experience it in the later stage of their career. Therefore, you must acknowledge your condition and recover from it.
Strategies to reduce stress and prevent breaking point
The following are ways to help immensely eliminate stress and prevent adversaries like burnout or reaching of breaking point.
1. Look for the ‘WHY’
Suppose you do not know the ‘why,’ it is almost impossible to recover from it. In some instances, you will have the cause right in front of you. Other times, it will take time to dig a bit deeper into yourself by introspection. One way of doing it is by looking out for things you resent from work.
For example, if you are managing a halfway team around the world, chances are your workday would start much before others in your office. That probably should not be a problem since you love the work and your team. But you often resent when your boss forgets about the fact that your work starts early and expects you to stay late. Because of staying late, you miss out on spending time with your family. In this case, you will feel discontent not because you do not like your job but because you hate missing out on your family time.
You must find the much-needed why(s). You can think of the possible causes and write at least one way you can tackle the cause against that cause. The ways you can fight out the root cause of your stress and unhappiness could be by delegating your work to others, adding some anonymity, trying to work from home once a week.
2. Taking breaks in between
Often people commit this mistake of considering the breaks as a waste of time. It is really cool to think that you can work for 7-8 hours at a stretch. But it is impossible to work continuously for hours and produce high-quality work, especially when on a deadline. It is essential to take a downtime and unwind. It is vital to take a break, think creatively, and work effectively. Although it can be a little hard to take a break when in the flow of work, you can set the alarm or schedule a break right in the beginning. You can do anything in break time, go on a walk, have a cup of coffee, or sit and practice deep breathing.
3. Take a vacation
One great way to tackle the problem of burnout is by taking a real vacation. Take the much-needed space and time away from work. Get enough time and distance to relax, unwind, and de-stress. You can use this time to think about how you can tackle burnout and get some rest.
4. Create a “stop doing” list
You can minimize stress and achieve clarity to focus better by creating a “Stop making” list. We all are always encouraged to make a “to-do list,” and most of us even make one for ourselves. But we never think of making a list of all the things we should not do or stop doing. These are typically the things that need to be isolated or halted because they are not serving us or has stopped serving us in the long run. To make a list of this sort, you first need to identify your energy drainers. Things that suck the energy out of you in exchange for nothing. These could be things like blocking the obsessive offenders that cause perpetual stress in your life. It would help if you distanced yourself from toxic power struggles, fragmented boundaries, unprotected me time, useless networking, and never-ending one-way favors. The question now becomes what you can do to address these drainers. Please make a list of things you should stop doing, put it on someplace like on your fridge from where you can look at it, and remind yourself.
5. Focus on your strengths
It is important to focus on your core-tenets and your strengths to maximize long-term growth in you. By focusing on what you do the best, it becomes easier to spot in-efficiencies. If you fight all the battles at all the places, you will not win any. You necessarily need to bring your activities down to the fundamental core from which you can grow.
6. Focus on priorities over other things
The quality of work takes a huge hit when we are not able to prioritize things well. You will see yourself delivering work later than the promised time. Probably you will have to walk that extra mile almost every day to fulfill the expectations. Working for long hours may appear to be effective, but it will just add to your stress level and pressure in the long run. This way, your performance level will also take a hit and make stakeholders unsatisfied with your work. It can also lead to you missing major opportunities down the line, like new projects/ assignments.
7. Do not fight all the battles
We often hear the phrase that we should pick our battles wisely. But do we really stop and think peacefully if we really want what we are fighting for. Or if we even stand a chance of winning the battle. A prevalent example of a no-win situation in most workplaces is the fight behind the throne. Getting into things like these can drain non-renewable energy and can put you on thin ice. Sometimes back, I read a phrase that said, Maturity is when you are content knowing that you are right without having to wrong. Imagine how much time and energy you will actually save if you invest in things worthy of your attention. This way, you will be able to be more productive and feel much less stressed.
8. Tackle things one by one
Though people think that we humans are great multi-taskers, the scientific truth is that we are set up to handle a single thing. Hoping from one task to another is often exhausting. When there is a shift between two tasks, our mind gets into a ‘lag period.’ It requires a lot of focus to disorient itself for the brain. Disorientation can lead to the accumulation of stressors, which are lead due to multitasking in the first place.
9. Take a walk
This one is my favorite. The best way to collect yourself in a hard situation (in the workplace) is to take a break and go for a walk only. Nothing clears my mind better than an outdoor walk. Along with the walk, you may also try the above-prescribed meditation techniques by keeping your thoughts from wandering and focusing on one thing.
10. Meditate
It only asks you to focus on one thing that is your current state. It just expects you to stick exclusively to the thing that is in front of you. Experienced meditators can do it just anywhere. But to start with, you will have to keep yourself away from a crowded place for you to practice. A good way to meditate is to focus on one thing, which could be your breath. Just zoom on it and stay focused.
11. Ask for help
If you have tried all of the tips mentioned and nothing is really helping you, it could mean that you may have to seek professional help. Anxiety is a serious issue, and it can negatively impact your entire life, be it your marriage or employment. You can start by talking to your regular doctor about it. The doctor may prescribe you some lifestyle changes or some medications if needed or refer you to a specialist.