The ability to earn an income and control your risk throughout a deadly pandemic should not be taken for granted, but that doesn’t mean it’s not challenging in its own ways or that you shouldn’t feel burned out, says the Vancouver-based productivity expert Melissa Steginus, author of Self Care at Work and Everyday Mindfulness. Workplace burnout isn’t a medical condition or disease, but it is widely recognized by psychologists and the medical community as a phenomenon that can very seriously affect our health and well-being. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress, characterized by:
Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustionIncreased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job, andReduced professional efficacy
A few weeks or even a couple of months of major adjustments — like changing work, home, and school setups; new or modified modes of communication with colleagues; isolation; lack of privacy; and increased nonwork burdens, like childcare and other additional household responsibilities — can bring a level of stress. When those changes are short-term, they tend to be easier to manage, says Steginus. RELATED: Your Work-From-Home Survival Guide for Self-Care But when it drags on (and on and on) with no foreseeable endpoint, that’s when stress can easily tip into burnout. After more than 10 months of this new reality, it’s no wonder it’s taking a toll. How can you know whether you’re just under normal pressure or are actually in crispy burnout territory?
Cynicism or being overly critical about workTrouble getting started with work tasks and feeling like you have to drag yourself to the home office areaImpatience with coworkers, customers, or clientsLack of energy to be consistently productiveDifficulty concentratingNo satisfation from achievementsDisillusionment about your jobUsing food, drugs, or alcohol to feel better or numb outChanged sleep habitsUnexplained headaches, digestive problems, or other physical issues
Recognizing the signs of burnout is the first step to addressing it, says Steginus. That’s important, because studies point to significant health concerns if burnout isn’t addressed. For example, some research has found that burnout can considerably increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, including high blood pressure. A study published in October 2017 in PLoS One found links between burnout and gastrointestinal issues, prolonged fatigue, higher pain levels, respiratory problems, insomnia, musculoskeletal pain, and even a shorter life span. As Steginus notes, burnout doesn’t just affect you, either. The old adage “You can’t pour from an empty cup” applies here — if you’re completely depleted, it makes it much harder, if not impossible, to take care of those around you. “Burnout has a ripple effect,” she says. You may be pressuring yourself to flourish through this crisis — or cope with the stress you’re under better than you actually are, says Travis Westbrook, PhD, a clinical psychologist from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus who specializes in depression, anxiety, and life transitions. “But it’s okay to not be doing fantastic right now. What matters is focusing on ways to nourish and support yourself, and sometimes, that might take less than you think.”
7 Ways to Help With Work-From-Home Malaise
Note: If your symptoms do feel like burnout and are significantly impacting your functioning and happiness, it’s best to let a loved one know and seek help from a behavioral health provider. Burnout can impact your productivity, but when it is more severe and chronic it may be associated with depression, spiritual crisis, and suicidal ideation (particularly among those in caregiving occupations, like medical professionals and health science students, as documented in many studies, including a 2018 review in Behavioral Sciences). If you have thoughts of harming yourself or others, seek help immediately. If your symptoms are milder and you’re finding yourself in an unmotivated work-from-home funk, there are steps you can take to come to the table (or couch or kitchen island or wherever you work) in a more focused and motivated frame of mind every day. Here’s where to start.
1. Outsource What You Can
If you have the money, hire the dog walker again, keep the grocery delivery coming, figure out day-care and babysitting options, enlist more tutors, get house cleaners who follow rigorous pandemic protocols, or hire a personal trainer who encourages you to exercise outside. Not only does it help other workers at a time of extreme economic insecurity, but outsourcing also frees up your work time in a serious way. Just because you’re home doesn’t mean you have to do it all, says the North Carolina–based productivity coach Tanya Dalton, author of The Joy of Missing Out: Live More by Doing Less. Taking on too much because you feel obligated is the path to burnout, whatever combination of work or household tasks is adding up to “too much,” she says. “Your time is finite. Stop trying to get more done in the same few hours.”
2. Go Back to Phone Calls
There’s no doubt COVID-19 has ushered in a new era of video calls and teleconferencing. Months in, this era can be summed up in two words: Zoom fatigue. While these tools can help with social isolation, they can be exhausting because people feel they have to be “on” the whole time, says Dalton. Unlike an in-person meeting, when you can have moments of zoning out, most people feel the need to be very focused and present on a video call, and that means no micro-rest attention breaks. Also, even the minor delays caused by the online connection for videos make our brains work slightly harder than they would in person to process what’s happening and respond. If you’re finding that you feel depleted after a day of Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, and other video meetings, Dalton suggests going retro and asking for phone calls instead.
3. Define Your Work and Non-Work Boundaries
Whether the lines you previously delineated around work and non-work have blurred or you never drew them in the first place, these boundaries deserve some thought and attention, Dalton says. Are you sticking to them? Are they helping you be productive and happy? Are they wearing you out? In either case, she suggests finding new ways to freshen up the strategy. Maybe it’s as easy as changing everyone’s workspace to different locations, or starting a new habit, like having lunch together, being diligent about taking a lunch break every day, or creating a “commute time” that’s on a consistent schedule. Setting boundaries can be challenging; it can be helpful to get support from a trusted friend, therapist, or mentor. RELATED: 6 Alcohol-Free Ways to Unwind at the End of a Long Day
4. Try the 90/20 Rule
Add structure within the workday, too, Steginus says. She’s a fan of the “90/20 rule”: Work with focus for 90 minutes, then take a 20-minute break. The key to this method is to really stick to the task at hand for 90 minutes. And then take an honest-to-goodness no-social-media, no-email 20-minute break. Perhaps you’ll walk the dog (without checking your phone en route), do a mindfulness meditation exercise, fix yourself a nourishing snack, or have a conversation with a roommate or family member. Steginus says she won’t even read a magazine or newspaper during that time because it involves mental consumption and processing. Instead, she does nothing — as in, she sits in a corner of the room away from her workstation and just lets her brain have a complete rest. The point is to feel refreshed when you come back for that next 90-minute session. It might take some time to find what rest and refresh means for you, but play around with it, Steginus suggests.
5. Find a Job That Works for You (or Find the Work That Works for You Within Your Job)
Many factors contribute to burnout, but working in a field that is out of alignment with your values and goals can definitely be a big one. Maybe you’re working in a field you don’t find fulfilling. Maybe the office culture isn’t supportive. Ask yourself, Westbrook suggests: Would a job change help? Would it help to shift some of the responsibilities you have in your current job? “Strategies that don’t address the roots of your work burnout will be successful only in the short term,” he says. “They can be helpful as a reset, but you want to prevent that burnout from creeping back in.” Talk with a manager about being taken off a stressful project or added to a project you find exciting. Take some time to learn different professional skills you’ve wanted to try. Be realistic — it’s not always an option to walk away from a job or change a job even if it’s not working (and stressors will come with any role) — but every step toward a position you’re passionate about will help. Exploring the contributing factors to your burnout in a current or previous role can help you determine the type of work you really want to be doing, Westbrook adds.
6. Take Time Off
In our old normal, vacation days often meant travel, sometimes multiple times throughout the year. You’re likely not alone if in 2020 you put off your vacation days for when everything got back up and running (and may or may not have used them). But the point of vacation is not to get some Instagram-worthy pics or do something fabulous, says Westbrook — it’s to get a complete break that gives you a larger reset. Just because you’re home and can work 24/7 doesn’t mean you should, Westbrook says. Take a whole week off where you can disconnect from work and reacquaint yourself with other interests and hobbies. Or try scheduling vacation days throughout the month instead of saving them up for a larger block of time. However you use the time, use it wisely, Westbrook recommends: No meetings, no answering email, and no last-minute projects that cut into your time off. Following these rules helps establish the structure and better boundaries that our virtual office walls too often lack.
7. Double Down on Self-Care Practices
There are many ways to care for yourself, and some of the things you found energizing or rewarding before (homemade lunch, a midday HIIT workout) may be draining now. Change it up, Dalton says — self-care routines aren’t meant to be set in stone. “How you nourish yourself and feel supported is a work in progress,” she says. RELATED: Self-Care Tips for Taking Care of You During the Coronavirus Pandemic Try swapping a high-intensity workout for a more restorative type of movement, like yin yoga or tai chi. Try virtual dance lessons or start listening to inspiring TED Talks as you do housework. Even just taking a different walking route outside on your break can be refreshing, says Westbrook. “It helps to think of self-care as play and adventure, rather than just recuperation,” he advises. “You’re not a robot. Just do one thing today that makes you feel healthier, and then keep that going.” If you’re struggling with suicidal thoughts, go to your nearest emergency room or contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 (TALK). For help finding a therapist, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)’s National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) for a free, confidential referral for treatment.
