Ban Burnout!

The CELEBRATION news"E"letter

Number 5, July 1999

by Laura M. Stack, MBA (formerly Woloch)

Published by Celebration Presentations

…your Personal and Professional Development Resource

The CELEBRATION news"E"letter is a monthly electronic newsletter distributed to our clients, human resource personnel, and colleagues. Celebration Presentations works with organizations that want more productive people and individuals who want to lead more fulfilling lives. Our programs provide the personal productivity, communication, and professional development skills needed to improve performance on the job and create organizational growth.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

* Article: Ban Burnout!

* Time Tips and Traps

* Words of Wisdom

* Featured Program: Keep Your Job, Your Family, and Your Sanity

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ARTICLE “Ban Burnout”

Are you overworked, overstressed, overwhelmed, and overcommitted? Are you constantly tired and irritable? Are you experiencing distressing physical symptoms such as crankiness, headaches, back pain, and intestinal problems? You could be well on your way to burnout. It’s important for you to recognize the signs of burnout before you hit the wall, so you can make some necessary changes.

Some experts believe that burnout comes from unusually high expectations that are, in reality, illusions. For example, you think you can do it all, but are overwhelmed by the reality that you can’t. We are all at risk. The people most susceptible to burnout are those who feel they either have no control over their work and/or have been given more responsibility with fewer resources. New statistics show that it’s young, front-line employees and middle managers that suffer the most. People with little control over time within their jobs (receptionists, assembly line workers) have up to 70% higher risk of heart disease than those who can control what they do and when they do it.

Learn to recognize the five stages of burnout:

1. Physical: Loss of appetite, extreme fatigue, back pain, tension headaches. Minor accidents and errors in assignments. If these persist for two weeks, burnout is likely the cause.

2. Social: Employee perceives a heavy workload with no time to finish work. Personal relationships decrease.

3. Cerebral: Employee is acting like a broken computer exhibiting strange patterns in writing and speech. Exhibits inattention and watches the clock.

4. Emotional: Withdrawal from friends and family. Person often escapes through drugs, alcohol, affairs, excessive spending, missed deadlines, and minimal productivity.

5. Spiritual: Person feels totally empty inside, seeks major change, career, spouse, home, often clinically depressed.

If you recognize any of these symptoms, what can you do to ban burnout in yourself or others? Start by lowering your stress level. You cannot eliminate all stress in your life; in fact, some stress may be positive. Positive stress is called motivation, excitement, and drive. However, when stress is constant and unrelieved, it can become negative and destructive. So stress must be balanced with relaxation.

You can break the cycle by learning ways to relax and cherish yourself. Take time out for yourself in SOME way on a regular basis. Give yourself a chance to unwind and get ready for life’s next challenge. Do whatever works for you. How about giving yourself mini-breaks every hour to relieve stress, stretch, and get a cup of coffee? Take a 1/2-hour bath every night, with candles, wine and soft music. The key is to learn to pamper YOU! Learn what relaxes you—whether it’s dancing, watching movies, walking, or deep breathing—and make time for it. Make an appointment with yourself on your calendar if you have to. You make time for everyone else in your life, and you are equally (and more) important. Controlling your time will help control your burnout.

Lastly, do the same old things to promote good health: eat well, exercise more, and get more sleep. Nothing has changed much in this area over the years. Unfortunately, many people look at these principles and believe they have to do them all at once. So they stress out and don’t do anything! Embrace the idea that health is not an “all or none” proposition. Do something small like climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Discover what works for you, and be focused about doing the few things that consistently reduce your stress level. Commit to it. Your productivity and your sense of accomplishment will increase, and you will ban burnout.

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TIME TIPS AND TRAPS

According to a 1991 report by Northwestern National Life Insurance, these are some of the top ways managers can reduce burnout with their employees:

1. Encourage open exchange among employees

2. Reduce conflict

3. Empower, give employees control over their work

4. Ensure adequate staffing, realistic budgets

5. Keep employees informed

6. Support employee efforts

7. Provide personal leave and vacation benefits

8. Maintain current levels of employee benefits

9. Reduce busy work and red tape

10. Recognize and reward employee contributions

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WORDS OF WISDOM

“I would willingly stand at street corners, hat in hand, begging passersby to drop their unused minutes in it.” --- Bernard Berenson

“The less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in.” --- Lord Chesterfield

“We must use time creatively...and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” --- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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FEATURED PROGRAM

Receive a 20% discount on the following program (keynote or seminar) by mentioning this newsletter through 1999:

Successful people don’t trade personal satisfaction for professional achievement. They know high performance depends on both. To avoid the peaks and valleys of productivity created by balancing the urgent demands of work and personal life, professionals must be able to balance both without sacrificing either. This program teaches behavioral strategies and lifestyle tactics to help you to work at a realistic level. Without these strategies, a lack of fulfillment will eventually impair your performance on and off the job.

Course Objectives

· Eliminate Ridiculous Standards

· Learn to Set Boundaries

· Get Rid of the Negative

· Evaluate Your Responsibilities

· Accept Appropriate Accountability

· Schedule Your Day Realistically

· Keep Success in Perspective

· Cherish and Care for Yourself

· Listen to Your Emotions

· Make Creative Use of Time

· Evaluate Your True Priorities

For more information about Keep Your Job, Your Family, and Your Sanity, please call 303-471-7401.

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http://www.laurastack.com

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