Burnout

Rate each of the following feelings from 1 to 10 as it applies to your life where values mean:

___ 1. overstressed, tightness in back and shoulders, having difficulty sleeping

___ 2. feeling of being ``under supported,'' sensing that others are ``uncaring''

___ 3. a sense of being lackadaisical

___ 4. chronic feeling of ``being sick,'' overtired, or having general fatigue

___ 5. state of ``having concerns on my mind,'' being worried

___ 6. asking ``Why do I stay here?''

___ 7. feelings of guilt

___ 8. disillusionment on the job or with home life

___ 9. feeling of being ``let down''

___ 10.speaking of work or home setting as if I am not the ``real me'' when there.

___ 11. feeling of helplessness, feeling like a victim

___ 12. desire to be allowed to be the ``real me'' at home or on the job

___ 13. feeling that many expectations are heaped on me

___ 14. blaming others for everything

___ 15. lack of caring for family, co-workers, others

___ 16. a feeling of self-righteousness

___ 17. feeling and acting very defensively

___ 18. maintaining an unapproachable attitude

___ 19. questioning personal values and judgments

___ 20. feeling of being intimidated by people

___ 21. asking ``Is this all there is?''

___ 22. lack of interest in the outside world

___ 23. cutting self off from family and/or friends

___ 24. saying ``I'm working harder than ever before but experiencing fewer successes.''

___ 25. feeling unappreciated

___ 26. escaping into increased workload

___ 27. desiring to run away

___ 28. continuous state of depression

___ 29. not willing to take time for a vacation because there is so much work to do

___ 30. frustration with the system

___ 31. feelings of paranoia

___ 32. not looking forward to coming to work in the morning

___ 33. daydreaming or fantasizing during the day

___ 34. sense of failure in everything you try

___ 35. tendency to catch more colds, and to stay sick longer; having psychosomatic illnesses

Each of the above feelings has been used to describe burnout. If you have rated three or more items 8 or higher, you are a candidate for burnout.

What are some factors leading to burnout?

Factors contributing to burnout, which is a loss of focus on the job or at home, include:

What beliefs contribute to burnout?

What are some tips for handling burnout?

What are some ways to prevent burnout?

Frustration reduction exercise

The following exercise is intended to help you think of ways to reduce frustration on the job.

The goal is to be able to respond to all situations with an active solution to prevent burnout as well as reduce your stress level.

In your journal write a creative, assertive, stress-reducing strategy of how you would deal with or respond to each of the following job-related situations:

1.You learn that a customer with whom you have had a successful relationship died in a car accident last night.

2.You have had a rough week at home. The kids have been acting up and your spouse has been complaining because you have been spending too much time on the job.

3. The noise in the office has been getting greater and greater over the past month. You have been unable to concentrate and when you have clients in the office the noise has become disturbing.

4. Last night a co-worker told you that he has ``had it'' working with you; he no longer desires to work with you, and would prefer if you never speak to him again.

5.Your supervisor has just asked you to write a report due at the regional office tomorrow.

6.You have had a series of impossible customers this past three months. You can see no movement toward the closure of sales with any of them.

7.You are convinced after this last staff meeting that none of the co-workers in your office understand you or your ideas. You are sure you have the answer to improving the quality of the work in your office, but none of your colleagues will listen to you.

8.You have just received your annual performance evaluation. You received an intermediate ``satisfactory'' in all categories. You feel that this seriously underestimates the quality of your work for the past year.

9.You have just realized that you have no power to change the things in your company that you feel need changes. You see no open channels through which to express these concerns.

10.You have been averaging fifty hours a week on the job and in job-related work at home. You arrive at work this morning and listen in staff meeting about how your office has been falling behind in its report writing and recording. You feel like you are being singled out as one of the ones most deficient.

11.You have been feeling that the harder and more conscientiously you perform, the less likely you are to be recognized and rewarded for it.

12.You are convinced that you will never be as good at the work in your office as one of your more experienced co-workers whom you admire. You are filled with dread whenever anyone in the office asks to discuss a work-related situation with you.

13.You have been having problems at home. You have tried not to bring your problems to work. Last night you broke into tears and couldn't sleep all night. You arrive at work this morning red eyed and still in a daze.

14.You had a bout of flu last week, yet you came to work every day. You had a lot of work with action pending, and you felt you could not miss that week. Today you are called in by your supervisor and informed that you have been reported by her superior. It seems that the week you were ill you filled out your travel form incorrectly and charged $114.30 rather than $11.43. Your honesty and integrity are in question, and you must clear this matter up with your supervisor's superior.

15.You avoid bickering at all costs. The office has been in a turmoil this past two months because of ill feelings between two of your colleagues. You have found the office unpleasant, and today you are about ready to blast these two for the tension they have been creating.

Steps for handling what bugging you on the job and a debugging plan

Step 1: Read through the following items and rank them by what bugs you most. #1 is least bothered; #10 is most bothered.

Step 2: Now that you have ranked your frustrations on the job, prepare an action plan for your top five frustrations designed to lessen the stress they create for you on and off the job. In planning to overcome your top five priority frustrations, utilize brainstorming. Write as many alternative solutions as you can think of in your journal. Do not try to evaluate any of them initially. You will not be able to think of many solutions if you criticize them before you get them down on paper. Quantity is the desired outcome; quality will follow in the next step.

Step 3: When you have exhausted your brainstorming for the top five frustrations, evaluate each possible solution by putting it into one of the following categories:

Category		Description
*1. Status quo solution*		If you do things no differently what do you think will happen? Usually the answer is, "I'll go on complaining and nothing will change.''
*2. Fantasy solution*		The "magic wand'' solution, where you indulge in a fantasy. For example, "The offending party will disappear from the face of the earth.''
*3. Realistic solution*		An example, "I'll write a memo to the manager documenting my co-worker's unprofessional conduct.''
*4. Old solution*		This may include steps that have been tried previously without success. Example: "I'll have a talk with the supervisor about the harm she is doing.''

Use value judgments here: "Do I want to do this? Is it worth it? What consequences am I willing to risk to resolve this frustration?''

Steps I will take to overcome this frustration on the job by the following dates: (List and date each step.)

Steps I will take to overcome this frustration on the job by the following dates:

Step 5: Once your actions have been chosen, make a commitment to act within a definite period of time. Set realistic time limits that allow for no excuses, no procrastination.

Caveat: If there is something you can do about the frustrations that bug you, yet you choose not to do it, then you lose your right to complain. You have decided (whether explicitly or through subsequent failure to carry out the plan of action) to go on living with the problem. No "yes... but's'' please.

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