At The Records Company we retrieve medical records for litigation and insurance claims, which places our clients at the intersection of two industries that exert high levels of pressure on workers: legal practice and healthcare. As the year comes to a close, it’s natural for employees in all fields to take stock of our working lives, our goals, and our progress in their careers. External stressors combine with these factors and the demands of the winter holidays to create conditions ripe for burnout. By understanding the warning signs and causes of burnout, we can determine whether we are experiencing a temporary downturn of spirits or something more serious. And we can look at ways to stave off burnout and feel re-energized going into the new year.
Signs of Trouble
Burnout is a term that characterizes a condition more serious and persistent than the day-to-day stress of working life because it builds up over time. Contributors to burnout include several factors, including but not limited to the following: long stretches with a heavy workload, especially if the outcomes of that workload carry high stakes; feeling unable or unwilling to say no to requests that may add to that workload; constant compulsion to check and answer emails, texts, and phone calls from work.
With burnout, the stress is chronic. Typical stress-relieving techniques can be helpful but they may not be enough. Early signs may include changes in sleeping and eating habits, including persistent exhaustion, overeating, or loss of appetite. Emotionally, burnout can manifest in continuous negative thoughts such as cynicism and self-doubt. These feelings lead to avoiding colleagues, avoiding tasks, or even avoiding the workplace altogether. You may have physical pain or find yourself getting sick more often. That’s the bad news. The good news is burnout is avoidable, reversible, and manageable—but it takes effort and the right strategy.
A Balanced Life
There’s an African proverb that says, “Work is always good, provided you do not forget to live.” Even though the term “work-life balance” borders on cliché these days, those symptoms of burnout indicate you may have forgotten to live. The basic tenets of stress-management—good sleep, good diet, good exercise—certainly play a part in staving off burnout, but a lasting strategy to manage or avoid burnout requires larger lifestyle changes. Set aside regular chunks of time for friends, family, pets, hobbies, new activities, even time to do absolutely nothing. Take those vacation days, and really use them. Log off and put the phone away when you’re off the clock. Set your boundaries and keep to them. The differences may not be immediate, but like the factors that cause burnout, they have a cumulative effect.
Coping with Perfectionism
A major contributor to burnout comes from within. Strong perfectionist tendencies tend to correlate with burnout. We live in a society and work in professions that demand excellence, but excellence and perfection are easily confused. They aren’t the same thing. Excellence is rooted in confidence, resilience, optimism, motivation. Perfectionism is rooted in fear and often brings with it a little voice that is critical of the self and of others, fixation on potentially negative outcomes, an inability to trust others and surrender control.
Overcoming perfectionist tendencies can be a lifelong process, but it begins with navigating challenges successfully and building confidence. Self-awareness and examination of beliefs, challenging those beliefs with tangible facts, and cultivating positive relationships builds the resilience necessary to overcome, or at least mitigate, perfectionism.
Managing Workload
Maybe your burnout stems from a work-life imbalance, or maybe it comes from perfectionist tendencies, but those factors shouldn’t discount a core reality: you have a seemingly insurmountable workload. If this is the case—and given the demands of the modern workplace, it probably is—you can’t avoid burnout without addressing the workload problem. In this realm, some changes may be feasible, some may not be. For example, it may be possible to automate some of your tasks with specialized software or apps. You may have the power to modify or change workflow processes within your office, making management of tasks more efficient. You may find it makes sense to outsource some specialized tasks—such as, say, records retrieval. If you become mindful of where and how your working minutes and hours are spent, you can assess the best ways to make your workload more manageable by setting achievable goals and discovering ways to achieve those goals more efficiently. In the long term, these steps will ease the stress and feelings of burnout.