5 Ways to Combat Job Burnout
Job burnout happens when the stress or prolonged frustration of a job or career contributes to emotional and physical exhaustion. The ability to cope with general life stressors outside of work is strained. This combination results in a lack of motivation, fatigue, irritability, and sometimes depression. Job burnout presents a significant challenge for everyone supporting the burned out individual.
The challenge of burnout can be especially taxing for creative, goal-oriented people. When these people blame themselves for their situation, the feeling of exhaustion only gets worse and they feel helpless. Their efforts seem to get them nowhere. The cycle of working harder, seeing little or no results and getting increasingly stressed out is extremely disparaging.
As a career coach specializing in helping people through this exhausting cycle, I've found tools that help combat burnout. If you suffer from burnout, applying these tools will help you increase your energy and incremently take your life back from your draining job.
1. Create an emergency escape route
An emergency escape route takes some of the paralyzing stress of burnout off you. You facilitate the planning for your next step. Some first steps in creating your escape route are: find ways to create a money reserve and prepare a current resume.
2. Design support environments
Environments are the circumstances, objects, or conditions which surround you. An environment can be your eNetwork (email, web, electronic community) or your vocabulary.
You can increase your creativity and inspiration by setting up supportive environments that constantly trigger inspiration. If your morning drive to the office finds you discouraged by listening to negative morning news, consider creating a new environment by listening to your favorite music or to inspirational talks.
3. Eliminate drains
A drain is anything that wastes your time, drains your energy, and has some negativity around it. It could be circumstances, habits, things or people.
Drains have an opportunity cost. When you focus on a drain, you don't have time to create, respond to opportunities (or even notice them), or do what you really want. You miss out on opportunities which might be more fun, lucrative, creative or significant.
4. Uncover your job values
Your values are the behavior and activities to which you are naturally drawn. When engaged in these activities, you feel most like yourself: connected, excited, glowing. Your life has a feeling of effortlessness. Most of us lead lives which do not grant us the chance to feel this way. If you take the time to identify your values, you will be more aware of why there are conflicts between you and your job and be more able to identify the needs you have sacrificed.
5. Define success for yourself
Until you take the time to define success for yourself, it will be defined by others (your boss, your parents, your partner), your culture, the past, or advertising. One way to define success for yourself is to complete the sentence, "I know I am being successful by . . ."
Krista Regedanz specializes in working with professionals struggling with the drain of job and career burnout. She coaches, writes and speaks about the challenges of getting unstuck from meaningless work and reorienting around inspiration, growth, and evolution. For more information contact Krista by email at Krista@ExperienceEvolution.com or visit her website at http://www.ExperienceEvolution.com
MORE RESOURCES:
 Los Angeles Times | April job losses end state's eight months of gains Los Angeles Times Some of those who are discouraged by their job prospects have gone into business for themselves. (Francine Orr, Los Angeles Times / April 11, 2012) By Ricardo Lopez, Los Angeles Times California's labor market stumbled in April as employers in a wide ... Fla. April jobless rate drops to 8.7 percent, state loses jobs but thousands ... South Bay adds 3600 jobs, strongest employment gains for April in entire state Stanislaus County still losing jobs |
 Boston.com | Report: Wisconsin lost 5900 jobs in April BusinessWeek By TODD RICHMOND Wisconsin lost nearly 6000 jobs in April according to preliminary monthly data state labor officials released Thursday, putting Republican Gov. Scott Walker on the defensive as he faces a June 5 recall election. Recall Roundup: Jobs back in focus as new report shows losses Walker, Barrett continue sparring over jobs Walker and Barrett keep fighting over jobs number |
 IBNLive.com | Steve Jobs TV movie to film at the original Apple garage CNET The garage where the first Apple computers were built will be used in the upcoming TV movie about Jobs. by Josh Lowensohn May 18, 2012 4:48 PM PDT Follow @Josh For those wondering how authentic the upcoming made-for-TV movie about Steve Jobs will be, ... Steve Jobs biopic to begin filming in garage where Apple was born Steve Jobs Movie Begins Filming in the Original Apple Garage 'jOBS' biopic starring Ashton Kutcher will shoot in Apple Garage and childhood ... |
Proposed arena a job killer, say Port of Seattle leaders The Seattle Times Seattle and King County leaders say the Port of Seattle can thrive next to a new NBA and NHL arena, but the Port sees potential damage to its plan to expand and add up to 100000 new jobs to the area. By Emily Heffter The sky is falling! |
Best and worst jobs for your health Fox News A healthy job is about more than just avoiding hazards, like dangerous material and machines. Employees need respect, benefits, wellness incentives, and control over their work, says L. Casey Chosewood, MD, senior medical officer for the Total Worker ... |
 Hollywood Reporter | Sorkin says Jobs movie won't be straight biography Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin hasn't yet figured out how to put the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on the silver screen, but he is certain it's not going to be a straightforward biography. Sorkin, who won an Oscar for his ... REFILE-Sorkin says Jobs movie won't be straight biography Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Hired to Help Aaron Sorkin on Steve Jobs Biopic Aaron Sorkin Says Steve Jobs Film Won't Be a Standard Biopic; Apple Co-Founder ... |
 IGNN | Utah's job growth slows, unemployment rate up Salt Lake Tribune Data show that a sluggish labor market still has some vigor as nearly all sectors of Utah's economy added jobs in April. By paul beebe Job growth in Utah slowed in April for the fourth consecutive month and the unemployment rate rose, suggesting the ... Illinois jobless rate drops but job growth slows Illinois Adds 140700 Private Sector Jobs Since Recovery |
 Bloomberg | Who is the real jobs killer -- Obama or Romney? Fox News When it comes to the audacity of trope, it is hard to top President Obama -- a big time jobs killer. One of the president's re-election campaign websites features a new attack ad in which a steelworker brands Mitt Romney as a person “like a vampire” ... Mitt Romney's claim that 100000 auto jobs have been lost under Obama Fact-Checking Romney's Jobs Stats The Austerity Trap and the Jobs Deficit |
Santa Cruz County adds 3500 jobs in April San Jose Mercury News By JONDI GUMZ - Santa Cruz Sentinel SANTA CRUZ - Santa Cruz County saw a spurt of growth in April, adding 3500 jobs compared to March, and unemployment fell to 12 percent from, 13.7 percent in March even as the labor force grew. |
Summer jobs introduce kids to Uncle Sam, taxes Kansas City Star By STEVE ROSEN Expect to hear those words from exasperated teenagers or college students over the next few weeks as they set aside their calculators and toss their textbooks to start summer jobs. For many young workers, this will be their first time ... |
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