Burnout, Fatigue, and the Road Up and Out

What I’ve learnt about boundaries, workload, and performance whilst working from home for the past six months

Photo by Mikey Harris on Unsplash

Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve been working 18+ hour days, not meeting deadlines or quality expectations, and feeling utterly and completely overwhelmed?

I have.

I’ll start by saying this situation was completely avoidable, had I known what I do now through the guidance of many of my mentors and hindsight. I’m sharing some of the practical advice I was given in the hope that it will help you avoid the all too common mistakes that can contribute to excessive workloads and ultimately, burnout.

Have a clear overview of your workload now and into the future

Figure out how to map your workload, week by week, from now into the short-medium term. For me, my work is primarily project-based with clear milestones, deadlines, and expected time commitments. This makes it relatively easy to input this information into a spreadsheet and update regularly so I know when I have/will reach a 5-day working capacity.

If your day to day work is less structured, find ways to add this structure back in wherever possible. One way to do this, is to have regular sessions with your 1-up leader about your current and future workload and to record this in the most practical way for your situation (e.g. a spreadsheet, text document, or calendar).

Whichever method you choose to maintain oversight over your workload, ensure it is as accurate as possible and use this to inform your judgements about what you can/cannot take on. My experience has taught me that taking on too much and explaining your workload was unmanageable does not actually rectify the situation if deliverables have been late or of sub-standard quality.

Set expectations early

Once you know how much is on your plate, clearly set expectations for further incoming work. When taking on new work, make sure the deadlines are clear and always remember to negotiate if they are too ambitious to manage.

This sounds simple, but, in reality, it can be intimidating and uncomfortable to push back in these situations. You may be concerned about not being able to assist your team as much as you’d like to or you may have unrealistic expectations of how much you can achieve in a short period of time. It’s important to reflect and accept how much you can get done, to a high standard of quality, and work on practical ways to speed up your work over time. The worst thing to do in this situation, is to say yes to every piece of new work that comes up, fail to deliver in time and to a high standard, and let down your team when there is little time left to fix your mistakes.

Spot the signs of burnout early and act

Burnout can be characterised by three main indicators:

1. Exhaustion
2. Cynicism
3. Feelings of reduced professional ability (more detail here).

Essentially if you’re feeling prolonged exhaustion, resentment towards your work, and feeling less capable, you are showing symptoms of burnout as described in this research paper.

If these feelings sounds familiar to you, act sooner rather than later. Here are some practical steps to take to lift yourself up and out of this situation:

1. Seek immediate help if you you feel you are at risk of self-harm. Here is a list of hotlines you can call for immediate support
2. If you are not at risk of immediate self-harm, book in an appointment with a mental health professional (e.g. psychologist or counsellor) and talk through the situation
3. Communicate how you’re feeling with your manager(s) and look for immediate solutions (e.g. reallocation of work, extension of deadlines)
4. Book in some time off as soon as possible and commit to not touching your computer
5. If steps 3 and 4 are not practical or effective in your situation, start networking and job-hunting. It’s time for a change.

Please note, this article is for educational and awareness purposes only and does not replace advice from a registered medical practitioner.

Eresha is a health and wellbeing consultant who is passionate about professional development and improvement. She recognises the inter-relatedness of self-improvement and wellbeing and is constantly looking for new ways to save time, learn, develop, and improve her overall health, wellbeing, and quality of life.

Eresha also offers 1-on-1 virtual professional development coaching for early career professionals, enquire by emailing Eresha.Abenayake@chiefexecutivegirls.com.au

The views expressed in this article are my own and do not reflect any organisation for which I work or volunteer.

You can find more professional development inspiration from Eresha on Instagram (@chief_executive_girls).