Signs You’re Burning Out (And How To Stop It): Even the best jobs can lead to burnout. The harder you work and the more motivated you are to succeed, the easier it is to get in over your head.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/signs-youre-burning-out-how-stop-dr-travis-bradberry
Posted from WordPress for Android
1 Comment
Tomi Engdahl says:
IT freely, a true tale: One night a project saved my life
Staying human in an automated lifecycle
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/31/anonymous_survivor/
Everyone knows that IT is a byword for burnout. Admins, coders and hardware jocks frequently keep unsociable hours. Putting in 60-hour weeks is something of a norm. Such punishing workloads can and do push people over the edge. Everyone deals with stress in different ways.
Some people snap and end up taking it to the extreme, as we witnessed last month when one user ended up shooting his PC. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates that 72 per cent of workers in general suffer from stress that impacts their daily lives and wellbeing.
I have always been pre-disposed to depression but my newly landed job could hardly have pushed me any further. Things started out fine; I was happy. I did what was needed and my reviews were positive and I went home feeling I had achieved something that day.
But gradually, more and more work started being heaped upon the small team. Workload increases averaged around 100 per cent quarter on quarter.
This was compounded by the fact that in large-scale IT environments, stress is part of the job. Losses from downtime are frequently counted in the mid five figures per hour. When it is on you to fix it, you do tend to get a bit nervous. Some outages can cost a whole lot more, especially if financial penalties are included. Just look back at what happened to RBS not so long ago to see what can go wrong.
Quite serious failures can have duration of days and sometimes even weeks. Everyone working on such an event will be subject to stress. This is on top of normal day-to-day activities.
Some staff cracked under the pressure. Members of the team were there one day, gone the next. A few never returned.
Check yourself
Typical warning signs that people are suffering from work-related stress can include lack of appetite and lack of sleep – but more people will probably relate to drinking and potentially destructive habits.
Find something to call your own
This is without doubt what saved me. I think a lot of people find that part of the issue is repetition and nothing ever moving forward, stuck in endless bureaucracy.
Ignore(ish) what the boss says
A lot of the time part of the bigger problem is that workloads and expectations can be very ill-defined. Having a pile of tasks and no real order just adds to your stress and frustration.
Work on the priority items and fuck the rest. If something more urgent comes along, make sure management are aware of it.
Strike a balance and stick to it
Part of the issue that can contribute to the situation is lack of sleep and stimulants or depressants
Talk to your boss or HR department
If your workload is truly too much, you need to speak to your boss. They have a legal requirement to safeguard your health and wellbeing. If nothing comes of it, I suggest visiting your doctor. It may reflect badly on you, some may say, but your mental health comes first.
If not HR, then someone
If you really don’t want to talk to HR or the doctor, there are alternatives. Some companies have an independent counselling service