Do you feel like you have a "burned head"? Keys to avoid Burn Out Syndrome
Surely you have heard of Burn Out syndrome and perhaps you have heard that it is very frequent in the hierarchical positions of companies or in owners of their own business due to the excessive pressure they receive.
If not, I tell you that it is also known as the "burnout syndrome" and is familiarly attributed to it as "burn from work" or "burned head." Basically it is said to be born in response to prolonged exposure to stress, work overload, and has symptoms such as excessive tiredness, headaches, insomnia, and lack of energy. Behavioral symptoms such as emotional exhaustion ("I can't give anything else from myself"), personal or work dissatisfaction, loss of commitment and even loss of ability to enjoy also begin to appear.
Many professionals and entrepreneurs no longer enjoy their careers and have become slaves to their business. The stress, emergencies, the changing context, the emotional pressure of interacting with various actors and diverse expectations, and the economic and financial problems of their companies, among others, leave these professionals with little less than energy to get out of bed every tomorrow to take the hard road to set the course.
Like many other professions, a healthy mind with energy and enthusiasm is a prerequisite for an entrepreneur. Without ideas, without the ability to reason, without the vision to make decisions, the job cannot be done. Do you feel identified with this situation? Does your work cost you more when you used to enjoy it before? Do you have these symptoms of constant stress, of never having time for anything and feeling mentally exhausted, burned out? No need to go to the extreme of being diagnosed with this syndrome. Get down to work now to resolve that situation. Here are 4 strategies that I usually use (and recommend!) When I feel that stress is taking over my body and smoke is starting to come out of my mental processor:
Get some perspective: First of all, stay away from the problem. It is not escaping, it is what is known as taking perspective. You can get up to have a snack, you can go talk to a colleague or make a social call to talk about another unrelated topic that led to the state of stress. If possible, leave your office for a short time. Maybe a block walk, or shopping for something you're needing, is going to take your focus away from the point that led you to stress and give you some rest. When you come back, try to approach the problem or situation in a different way than you were trying to.
Remember, first of all, what your main motivation was: if you find yourself in a situation that stresses you so much that you are rethinking the basis of your business, don't panic. Try to be objective and look in your memory for what motivated you in the first place. What attracted you to this profession that you have today and cannot enjoy. There is nothing wrong with changing your profession, your job, your career. But it is advisable to have a better reason than a specific stress situation. Your main motivation may be something that you have completely forgotten today. A walk through memory and remembering what motivated you to seek this profession, will give you back the control you needed and perhaps also make you realize that you have to make other decisions: how to take a personal day to gain perspective and return with more energy,or give priority to certain organizational activities that you are overlooking because "the urgent covers the important".
Seek Help: It's not just about looking for a coach or mentor, psychologist, or doctor. It is about seeking help in your own professional field. Sharing the situation with a colleague with whom you have a good relationship and respect her opinion, can lead to all these things that I think are very fruitful:
- You take the problem out of the system (sometimes just talking about it helps to find the solution or lower the “emotional rigor”) You listen to the opinion of someone who you appreciate and respect (and who is probably not so involved and can give you an idea that you don't know) had happened) You also have the possibility to listen to a constructive criticism of that person that you appreciate and respect You cultivate a good professional relationship (that person can then look for you to get the same from you and you will also feel valued and you can give your partner advice) You feel more connected with someone around you. You will not feel alone battling in the market.
Another option that is also very beneficial is to consider someone from your team to do this "professional consultation". Here what you should do is change the format a little. You can tell him about the situation and ask for his opinion (try to avoid the emotional component because you shouldn't burden your team with these more personal factors). Ask him how he would resolve this situation, what options he envisions and what decision he would make. In this way you not only get an honest and different answer, but you can also be evaluating your possible successors to delegate some tasks that today take up a lot of time and are not strategic at all.
Get organized: we all have dozens of things to do every day. The difference between running all day after things and ending the day with the important thing resolved, is in your organization. The advice here is:
- Determine what is important and focus on it: what is essential, what seriously affects your function or business and that you cannot in any way postpone or delegate. Learn to delegate: do not delegate the task, delegate the objective to be accomplished. There is the key. Plan everything, even the interruptions (do you live answering emails? The phone? Having an open door policy does not mean that you have to have a number vending machine at your office door for people to line up as if Give them away! Organize them! Believe me, you are doing them a favor too, nobody likes having to wait for their boss to attend to 10 more people before hearing your situation).
