Career Burnout Can be a Sign for When You Should Change Jobs…
If you are feeling like something is missing in your career or you are entering / in burnout, you’re not alone. One in five highly engaged employees are at risk of career burnout1.
I have had a great and long career yet in the process I personally hit severe burnout several times myself over my career.
That’s why I offer career advice for mid-career corporate professionals and IT professionals. I have been there – overwhelmed, under engaged, under appreciated and not knowing how to easily get back on track to a successful career that fulfilled my talents and filled my wallet.
Great careers can still be stressful
Mine had ups, downs and sideways curves that felt sometimes like a multi-year rollercoaster. I didn’t recognize the symptoms of burnout quickly enough and it took a major car accident for me to finally have to listen to my body and mental health.
Unfortunately by that time I was on short term disability and not able to go into work for 6 months.
Time doesn’t heal an un-recognized burnout.
What is Career Burnout?
Let’s start with a definition of any burnout:
“Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands”.
Career burnout reduces your productivity and drains your energy. It can leave you feeling increasingly hopeless, cynical, and even resentful. Eventually, you may feel like your work always sucks… even if you used to enjoy it.
However, a career burnout doesn’t happen suddenly. You don’t wake up one morning and all of a sudden “have burnout.” It is a gradual process. It creeps up on you. The signs and symptoms can be subtle at first, yet become increasingly worse as time goes on.
Think of the early symptoms of any burnout as the red flags that something is wrong that you need to address. I didn’t and it cost me my health, my relationship as well as progression in my career.
It is only if you pay attention and actively reduce your stress and overwhelm that you can prevent a major breakdown. If you ignore the symptoms, you’ll eventually burn out.
Our bodies and minds give us warnings. If you know what to look for, you can recognize burnout before it’s too late.
The Signs of Career Burnout
So why are more career professionals feeling this way?
- Fewer “UNPLUGGED” Hours:
Since 2007, when the first iPhone was released and the term “CrackBerry” was the term for the addictiveness of BlackBerry usage, being online and ‘plugged-in’ has become epidemic.
Social media as we know it, is really only a 10+ year invention.
On September 26, 2006, Facebook launched to everyone over the age of 13.
Less than 15 years ago we were much less aware and plugged in. Pagers were still used!
The staggering fact is that being constantly online is mostly a 10 year phenomenon. Being online has become very convenient and makes much of the world very accessible. In many ways, too accessible.
There’s a dark side to our convenient technology. We’ve grown less patient, more demanding of instant responses, plus much more willing to carry our work into our non-working hours. We are therefore more stressed.
Full-time employees in the US work an average of 47 hours, almost a full weekday longer than the 40-hour standard put in place more than a century ago.
Is it time we put a law in place like France did with their good idea that allows workers to disconnect when in off-hours?
2. Timing:
This winter has been arduous.
Chicago has been colder than the Antarctic and Siberia and it was -63F with the wind chill in Minnesota!
We are just over a month into the new year and I am hearing the same refrain from a lot of people – “I feel like I am at best going sideways in my job. I work so much and I feel burnt out”.
Statistics say January and February are, combined, the most depressing months of the year. So now is when burnout can really show up – especially in the form of depression.
3. Corporate cutbacks:
Many corporate organizations are tighter on staffing and you may be working more hours than ever. One of my clients clocked 96 hours last week at work. (68 hours a week is his usual right now!).
How long can he keep that up for?
5 Tips to Combat Career Burnout
Solutions to Career Burnout
Career burnout can be devastating. It affects you, your team and your family. It isn’t simple to fix, and no one solution will be the perfect solution for everyone. However, here are some things to start with:
#1 Know YOUR long term and short term career goals.
Become aware of what you truly need to feel fulfilled in your line of work. Be honest with how ambitious you really are. We are not all built to become CEOs or entrepreneurs. Society seems to always be encouraging and pushing us to want bigger, ‘better’ roles. Many of us can be completely fulfilled and contented (as well as decently paid) with less stressful work lives and with more work-life balance.
#2. Proactively acknowledge the signs of burnout before it gets the better of you.
The sooner you notice some of the potential burnout signs, the sooner you can fight against them:
- Your “passion” level for anything is low to non-existent.
- You emotionally feel flat much of the time.
- You can (and do) easily get upset at little things.
- Despite the hours you are putting, in your productivity is low.
- People drain you.
- You don’t laugh much anymore.
- You feel more cynical or jaded than you used to be.
- Nothing seems to really satisfy you anymore.
- You have a hard time thinking straight or focusing on things for any length of time.
- Rest and time off no longer seem to recharge you.
In combination, these can be many of the signs of burnout.
#3 Consider a job or career change.
Your specific job may be a cause of your long term burnout.
Another of my clients said:
“… it feels like I am living in a constant Game of Thrones episode”
{She was referring to the constant ‘warrior – kill or be killed stance’ that she felt she had to evoke to hold her own in the company}.
She was very ready for a job change!
Should you change jobs?
Leaving your job may be the right thing for you.
It has become customary in the past 25 years (as opposed to workers in the late 70’s and 80’s) that when we are young we change jobs more often. It’s when we start our careers, figure out what we really are good at and what we enjoy. Yet burnout after 40 can be quite common.
Career paths are long. We often have 25-30 year careers. In fact though, burnout is starting to happen earlier – there is now the term “quarter-life crisis”.
The corporate job market in reality, still doesn’t really like job changers who move every year or two. Yet if you have had a steady and progressive career you may be a perfect candidate to do a successful career change.
Note that a job search can in itself be quite stressful. Informational interviews take a lot of preparation and stamina to find a better career or job fit. So leaving your job may not be the best initial solution.
#4. Shift your perspective.
Burnout is a mental and physical overload. Physical activity could be your life saver.
A research review published recently in the Journal of Occupational Health* found moderately to strong evidence that physical activity can reduce burnout incidence. ‘Strenuous’ physical activity once or twice a week was found to be a most effective buffer against burnout, particularly for workers with sedentary jobs. Physical activity benefits both mind and body. So does any form of meditation.
So get moving!
#5 Get help.
“Communication skills are only half the battle in leadership and in life. If we’re honest, the real struggle happens inside our hearts and souls.”
~Carey Nieuwhof (Pastor)
Don’t try to do it alone. Get help.
Support from a boss, from your friends, or from a professional can be a life-changing event when you are facing burnout.
My major burnout was back in 1995 to 1996 and it had a different stigma back then in corporate. There were no (few) career coaches and sabbaticals were not de rigueur.
Yet I was fortunate to be working with a naturopath and spent every second week in her office on a massage table getting re-tuned and de-stressed. I had to learn (painfully) to slow down, meditate, take time away to recharge, and construct a healthier working environment. I was one of only a few women in my industry in tech. This disrupted my company. It ‘freaked out’ my bosses. I actually became one of the first ever ‘telecommuting’ individuals in my industry. This was long before there was any “work from home” policy.
I had to find new ways to function healthily. My mortgage payments and my long term career depended on it.
So ask for what you need. You are worth it.
The work world needs your unique talents and skills.
#askacareerexpert
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None of these articles are intended to replace the advice of a trained psychological or medical professional. All readers are advised to consult a qualified professional regarding treatment. The author and publisher specifically disclaim liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use or application of any of the contents of this website, content or information.
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Hi there! Such a good article, thanks!