End of year countdown...with burnout!
Some thoughts on how to pre-empt burnout
As the end of the year rolls around, a topic that keeps coming up is burnout. It feels like a tricky one to define because anytime I’ve read about burnout, I’ve only felt that bits and pieces of the descriptions resonate. It definitely leaves me wondering about the extent to which I’ve truly experienced burnout.
That said, here’s my two cents and what I do to try to avoid burnout. I hope some of it is helpful!
[Importantly, I’m thinking about this in the context of work, though arguably some of this can apply in other domains of life as well.]
Here’s how it all starts:
When I take on a task at work, I gauge my attitude towards it. The range is roughly from excitement to dread. When a task starts to slide towards dread, I ask why I feel that way. Is it because it’s hard? I’m bad at it? I don’t enjoy it because it’s tedious? Or is there something deeper, or is it simply situational?
A concrete example of this is the “updating trackers” sort of task. (In a Strategy & Operations role, there are many trackers to be updated. Sometimes I make them and have to chase people for updates and sometimes I have to update other people’s trackers.)
I pretty regularly have to do this type of work. If I’m not time-crunched or feeling overwhelmed, this sort of task falls into fairly neutral territory. However, the moment it’s sitting on a to do list that’s way longer than the time I have to work, the task plops straight into The Dread End. In contrast, some tasks never make it out of The Dread End, no matter the context. And other tasks yet, no matter how busy I get, remain in The Excitement End.
But also:
I think about the broader set of tasks I do at work—how many of them fall into The Dread End? It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem in that when there are too many things to do, more of them start to pile up at The Dread End. But in general, if things are fairly well-paced, do I have a balanced plate of work? Are there some bitter green vegetables (“dread tasks”) to balance out the delicious carbs and the deep fried meat on the plate (“excitement tasks”)?
As soon as I feel the balance slipping, I start to watch out for burnout.
There’s obviously a lot more nuance to it than simply “how do I feel about the tasks I’m doing?” but this sort of framework has generally helped me pick up on the warning signs before it’s too late. Most burnout scenarios I’ve been in have consisted of either:
Too many unfulfilling, unrewarding tasks that take up too much of my time (all “dread tasks”)
Not enough time to tackle the tasks at hand, and having to neglect or do a poor job on the “excitement tasks”
Notably, even though burnout is often correlated to intense work, the two do not have to share a causal relationship.
I’ve seen time and time again, countless friends work incredibly intensely without burnout. I’ve also seen people who get burnout without working intensely. Over time, I’ve distilled it down to a few things to get right:
Enough of their time (subjectively defined by each person!) is spent on work that excites them – this could be because the work itself is interesting, they believe the work is meaningful/purposeful towards a greater cause, or something else altogether.
When things get stressful, they anchor themselves in calm; this could be by having sustainable outside-of-work hobbies/activities/routines, but can also be the ability to take a step back and see things holistically with perspective. But overall, they maintain a low level of stress.
They never reach a point of overwhelm. Some of this is again tied to being calm, but it’s also about being self-aware and knowing when to take a step back. That could be making changes about your role and what you work on, taking a sabbatical, changing jobs altogether, or working through some internal reframing of what work should be.
tl;dr
Staying ahead of burnout is the best way to avoid it
Reflect on the tasks you do at work and plot them on a scale of Dread to Excitement
When too many things fall in The Dread End, investigate why you dread them
Pinpoint the broader balance of work you do to understand if there’s a healthy balance between The Dread and Excitement Ends
Check out my three observations above on how some of my friends avoid burnout