Five techniques for handling your work burnout

Five techniques for handling your work burnout-syndromFive techniques for handling your work burnoutChances are, youve experienced career burnout at some point. It makes you feel listless, unsure of the value of your work. You go through the motions and count the hours.Personally, Ive been burned out twice in my career.Once, I welches finishing my medical residency and was unsure if I really wanted to continue in medicine. The second time, I was at the end of my tenure at the biopharma company Cubist Pharmaceuticals. In both cases, I accomplished what I set out to do- and it was time to move on.All burnout starts with a sense of wanting to move on.Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer- authors of The Progress Principle Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work- studied that what motivates employees isnt necessarily the money or the work hours. Its the feeling of making progress. When you feel stuck, youre in the wrong environment. You long for something else, some thing new, and you lose motivation.Not sure if thats you? One tell-tale sign of burnout, besides frustration with work, is putting more energy into other areas of your life. People do this because consciously or unconsciously, they realize its futile to keep focusing that energy on their job when nothing is happening.If youre feeling something similar, here are a few ways to get yourself out of that funk1. Understand whether your burnout is clinical or environmental.I immediately think of burnout from a clinical viewpoint. Depression, weight loss, anxiety are serious issues that need to be taken seriously. If youre suffering from any of these, get professional help.But the burnout Im talking about in this article is environmental.Its the type of burnout that can be immediately alleviated just by changing your environment- a new role or new company, for instance. This type is what people generally talk about when theyre stuck in a job and not making progress.Before you start looking for relief, know what youre actually getting relief from.2. Work toward any type of progress.When I was experiencing burnout near the end of my time at Cubist, it wasnt because I hated my job. I grew up there. I loved the company and the people.But I did think it was time to move on because the place had become too familiar, and I wasnt learning at my ideal rate. So I started looking around for new opportunities. It just so happened that the company got acquired at that exact time I was experiencing a lack of motivation. Immediately, I started thinking about what I could do next. It was amazing how quickly my energy levels spiked when I started considering the future- starting from scratch, new experiences, new environment. It felt like progress.If youre experiencing burnout, take some time and examine whether there are ways to get that feeling of progress back in your current role. If you cant, its time for a change.3. Find the right timescale for your projectsPeople only stay exci ted about one goal for 24 months beforetheir motivationstarts to dwindle. Ive seen this repeatedly, so I alfruchtwein instinctively think of hard projects in 24-month periods.If you know a project is going to take longer than that, you need to find metrics and smaller goals that help you feel like youre making progress. Otherwise, the wait for that long-term payoff will cause burnout. You simply wont be able to sustain your momentum.If you cant find those smaller achievements, then its up to you to create them for yourself. You will likely have to look to personal, intrinsically motivating goals such as the acquisition of new skills.4. Find your place in the big pictureOne of the most common complaints in white collar jobs is that people feel like a cog in a wheel, and theyre not really sure what theyre turning.When you cant see how your job is affecting everyone else around you (and the company as a whole) in a meaningful way, burnout is imminent. Even the most stimulating tasks be come downright tiresome.Unfortunately, most managers dont instinctively understand how important it is for their reports to see the value of their work and how it relates to the purpose of the company. If youre in that situation, map it out. It typically just takes a few iterations and feedback. Often times, you can be re-energized by a single conversation.5. Motivate yourself by keeping track of the end goalAt the beginning ofa long-term project or goal, encourage yourself by tracking how much progress youve made. This lets you look back and think, Okay, Ive come this far in a relatively short amount of time.Toward the end of a project, your motivation has to switch gears. Youre looking forward to finishing at that point, so you have to start focusing on how little is left to achieve.I think of it like running a long-distance race. In the beginning, Im focused on the miles Ive put behind me. Thats the motivation. But the closer I get to the finish line, the more I envision crossing it- and thats what gives me the energy to kick it into high gear.No matter your job, youll feel burned out at one point in your career. But if you recognize whats happening and deal with it in a healthy manner, then it doesnt have to become a lasting state that drags you down.This article was originally published on Quora.