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Abstract

ob; and reduced professional efficacy.”</p></blockquote><p id="b5cf">While I could improve my vacation planning to not fly in at midnight before I returned to work at 7:00 am, I knew vacations were simply a short-term solution. If I wanted to prevent burnout, I needed to make changes WHILE I was working, not salvaging my happiness after the fact.</p><p id="685b">Below are the changes I made to prevent burnout and improve my happiness.</p><h1 id="e4c3">1. I Initiated honest conversations with my manager</h1><p id="65e7">During one of my most important 1x1 meetings, I walked in, and bluntly told my manager, “I’m at capacity.”</p><p id="bc7e">His response? “Well, then we start hiring.”</p><p id="717a">I thought, well that was odd. That conversation went much easier than I expected.</p><p id="11a4">But during my previous 1x1 meetings, I constantly updated my manager on my progress and workload. We established long-term plans and laid a framework for future changes. Hiring additional help one year down the line was the plan. But with the quick increase in projects, that number needed to change, and my manager agreed.</p><p id="3d0e">Speaking to my manager about the struggles I’d face prevented any cynicism or negativity towards my job. I learned to let go of my past experiences and assumptions on what business owners would decide.</p><h1 id="56cc">2. I started prioritizing my health</h1><p id="cc49">My immune system suffered from my unhealthy diet, minimal exercise, and compounded stress. So I started looking for healthy outlets and surrounded myself with positive influences.</p><p id="2994">For someone who barely exercised for the past decade, I dedicated an hour to strength training each morning before work with my roommates. When the local gyms closed and we made the transition to work remotely, I allocated my last half hour of lunch for a neighborhood walk. The blocked out time cleared my mind and provided a physical break

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from sitting at my desk.</p><p id="8c3e">After watching a COVID-19 panel present in March, a nutritionist mentioned that right now it is important to change your diet. Alcohol can wreak havoc on your immune system. While I love wine, I cut out alcohol immediately. And besides the occasional sniffle from my seasonal allergies, I’ve been feeling healthier ever since.</p><h1 id="5de3">3. I learned that stepping back is not a weakness.</h1><p id="cd3b">Learning when to take your foot off the gas pedal is a difficult obstacle in itself. Professionals often feel the pressure in a new job to prove themselves and are willing to go to extreme lengths to complete the job, make the client happy, or whatever it takes.</p><p id="c304">For weeks, I was in denial. I kept comparing my current situation to prior difficult situations like the strenuous all-nighters in college. If I could study throughout the night, working overtime 60–70 hour weeks would be doable.</p><p id="d985">My colleagues begged me not to quit, a sign that I needed to take a step back. When others start worrying about you burning out, this is a time for reflection. If you keep grinding at the rate you’re going, your professional efficacy and happiness will decrease.</p><p id="5e15">Working in small businesses or startups can come with high stakes. It’s highly noticeable when you’re out of the office or not online. Coming to terms with your limits is a positive for your team. You’re useless if you’ve reached burnout.</p><p id="dc70">While taking time vacation is important to recharge, it rarely is an easy fix for burnout when you return to the office with more work than when you left. Staying late at the office to “wrap things up” right before vacation coupled with the “I have one hundred emails to respond to” upon returning to the office is overwhelming. Rather, I learned that changing my attitude during my work week is the best long-term solution.</p></article></body>

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

How I Learned to Prevent Burnout at Work

When taking a vacation isn’t the cure

Work crazy hours. Weekend. Work crazy hours. Vacation. This cycle for me continued like clockwork until I realized I returned to work each time exhausted all the same. Did I need a vacation from my vacation? That couldn’t be right.

I had never liked simply lounging on a beach to relax on vacation. First off, I hate the beach. But I’ve always had the mindset to make the most of my trip and squeeze in every possible adventure in case I never came back. My last trip to New Orleans had an itinerary jam-packed with the tourist traps to the hole in the wall restaurants.

I had to grow smarter. The growth of the company unexpectedly crept up on me and I had started my new job with a manageable 40-hour workweek. The regular 40-hour workweek turned into a few hours of overtime. Before I knew it, answering emails at 10:00 pm and working weekends to keep up with the demanding workload became the norm. And vacation was not going to fix anything. I almost reached burnout, a term often tossed around loosely. What exactly is burnout?

The World Health Organization defines burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.”

While I could improve my vacation planning to not fly in at midnight before I returned to work at 7:00 am, I knew vacations were simply a short-term solution. If I wanted to prevent burnout, I needed to make changes WHILE I was working, not salvaging my happiness after the fact.

Below are the changes I made to prevent burnout and improve my happiness.

1. I Initiated honest conversations with my manager

During one of my most important 1x1 meetings, I walked in, and bluntly told my manager, “I’m at capacity.”

His response? “Well, then we start hiring.”

I thought, well that was odd. That conversation went much easier than I expected.

But during my previous 1x1 meetings, I constantly updated my manager on my progress and workload. We established long-term plans and laid a framework for future changes. Hiring additional help one year down the line was the plan. But with the quick increase in projects, that number needed to change, and my manager agreed.

Speaking to my manager about the struggles I’d face prevented any cynicism or negativity towards my job. I learned to let go of my past experiences and assumptions on what business owners would decide.

2. I started prioritizing my health

My immune system suffered from my unhealthy diet, minimal exercise, and compounded stress. So I started looking for healthy outlets and surrounded myself with positive influences.

For someone who barely exercised for the past decade, I dedicated an hour to strength training each morning before work with my roommates. When the local gyms closed and we made the transition to work remotely, I allocated my last half hour of lunch for a neighborhood walk. The blocked out time cleared my mind and provided a physical break from sitting at my desk.

After watching a COVID-19 panel present in March, a nutritionist mentioned that right now it is important to change your diet. Alcohol can wreak havoc on your immune system. While I love wine, I cut out alcohol immediately. And besides the occasional sniffle from my seasonal allergies, I’ve been feeling healthier ever since.

3. I learned that stepping back is not a weakness.

Learning when to take your foot off the gas pedal is a difficult obstacle in itself. Professionals often feel the pressure in a new job to prove themselves and are willing to go to extreme lengths to complete the job, make the client happy, or whatever it takes.

For weeks, I was in denial. I kept comparing my current situation to prior difficult situations like the strenuous all-nighters in college. If I could study throughout the night, working overtime 60–70 hour weeks would be doable.

My colleagues begged me not to quit, a sign that I needed to take a step back. When others start worrying about you burning out, this is a time for reflection. If you keep grinding at the rate you’re going, your professional efficacy and happiness will decrease.

Working in small businesses or startups can come with high stakes. It’s highly noticeable when you’re out of the office or not online. Coming to terms with your limits is a positive for your team. You’re useless if you’ve reached burnout.

While taking time vacation is important to recharge, it rarely is an easy fix for burnout when you return to the office with more work than when you left. Staying late at the office to “wrap things up” right before vacation coupled with the “I have one hundred emails to respond to” upon returning to the office is overwhelming. Rather, I learned that changing my attitude during my work week is the best long-term solution.