Co-founder and managing partner at the Netpeak agency Andrey Chumachenko runs the Sad But True telegram channel. Shares thoughts on marketing, business and teamwork.
We are publishing several of his life hacks on how to deal with burnout.
On the one hand, it’s funny for me, someone who has been working at the same company for over 13 years, to hear about burnout during interviews with 22-year-old applicants. On the other hand, this is a really serious problem.
Between banal fatigue and burnout there is the same gap as between sadness and depression, and it is important to be able to notice it. The seriousness of the topic is also evidenced by the fact that last year WHO included burnout among the factors affecting health.
Therefore, firing an employee because of emotional burnout is the same as firing him because of smoking - there is no reason.
Let’s agree right away: dealing with burnout is the responsibility of not only the employee himself, but also his manager. It is just as normal to support and help him in moments of crisis as during the period of adaptation to a new job.
Courses on the topic:
HR and recruiting
Corporate culture
Olga Tarasevich, HR Director at Work.ua
HR and recruiting
HR analytics
Three stages of burnout:
#1. Overstrain, fatigue that does not disappear after sleep.
A person may forget words, terms and working facts at the right time. Make mistakes when typing letters on the keyboard or replace some letters with others when writing by hand.
#2. Exhaustion, “inanimateness,” lethargy, nervousness.
A person’s productivity and interest in work decrease, he doesn’t want to communicate with anyone (even outside the office), he is apathetic and dissatisfied. I often have headaches and high blood pressure. The number of respiratory tract diseases is growing, and irritability is manifesting itself.
#3. Psychosomatic illnesses and depression, aversion to everything and complete apathy appear.
The employee does not see prospects in his professional activity, does not enjoy his work, and loses faith in himself.
Where does chronic fatigue come from?
Some doctors believe that a person has three health conditions. With two of them everything is clear - “healthy” and “sick”. The third state is borderline; it is not a disease, but a disorder of a certain system of the body. CFS is a disorder of the autonomic (sympathetic and parasympathetic) system.
Scientists have not yet established the causes of CFS, but they have put forward several hypotheses.
Violation of cellular metabolism. Patients with CFS have low levels of L-carnitine, which is involved in energy transfer - the less of this substance, the worse their health and lower performance.
Viruses - scientists consider this hypothesis the most convincing. Against the background of viruses, the body is weakened and gets tired faster.
Chronic diseases that impair the functioning of the immune system.
Psychological disorders, stress, depression, anxiety and fear can also be causes of CFS.
Wrong lifestyle. If you sleep little and restlessly, do not walk in the fresh air, hardly move and overexert yourself, you are at risk of CFS. Our life in a metropolis disrupts the biological regime. One night we work, the next we want to sleep, the third we spend with friends in a bar, and then we try to sleep again.
Hypoxia is a lack of oxygen, which is needed to transport energy. We sit in a stuffy office, travel in a cramped minibus - the body is not saturated with oxygen and the strength becomes less. When we get used to living in stuffy conditions, hypoxia becomes chronic.
Malnutrition and, as a result, a change in the balance of bacteria in the intestines. Compulsory regime occurs only in kindergarten, and adults must control the diet themselves. If a person eats little or overeats, does not receive the necessary vitamins, macro- and microelements, over time one of the consequences will be CFS.
Environmental factors - the risk of chronic fatigue syndrome is higher for those who live in metropolitan areas. Exhaust gases, smog, emissions from large enterprises - a polluted environment has a bad effect on the general condition of the body.
What to do?
#1. Let your colleague know that burnout is normal and common. You need to work and fight with him in order to continue your professional path, and not break down on the emotional “I’m tired, I’m leaving.”
#2. Help us understand the causes of burnout and choose measures:
- update tasks
- prioritize
- Explain the goals for each task and make sure the employee understands how to complete them
- discuss the reasons for overwork and ways to eliminate them
- show further development prospects
- hold regular meetings
#3. Analyze the employee’s performance over a long period (for example, over the last six months) and assess/change his workload.
#4. Find out what tasks drive the employee and in which he sees meaning. Set short-term goals (easily achievable) and describe long-term ones - the person must understand what his work will lead to in the future.
#5. Transfer the employee to another office or at least to another desk. If he works remotely, recommend that he change location. A change of environment distracts and has a beneficial effect on work.
#6. Send the person on vacation for at least two weeks. Prohibit him from going to the post office or working remotely.
#7. If possible, delegate monotonous and repetitive work.
#8. If an employee is irritable and confrontational, reduce tasks that require interaction with people. For example, in recruiting it is common practice to completely exclude people from interviews, because the recruiter is obviously negatively disposed towards applicants.
#9. Shorten the employee's working hours so that he can begin to devote more time to recreation, sports, hobbies, learning and communication with loved ones.
#10. Get him to exercise if he isn't already. Any monotonous physical activity is a great way out of emotional burnout.
#11. Give the employee tasks that he has not done before. This way you will switch his attention from everyday work to something new. If possible, you can transfer him to another department.
#12. Send your employee to conferences, courses, and seminars. This way he will switch from the work environment and engage in self-development.
Too much “comfort” food.
Carbohydrates are what makes us energetic, happy, full, kind and cheerful. True, not for long. Nutritionist Dr. Glenville says people actually get tired of the foods that should give them energy because they take a lot of energy to digest. Cookies, sugar, rice, pasta, white bread - all this quickly raises blood sugar levels. But then this level drops just as quickly, and then we want to sleep, we get irritated and feel tired. And we feel tired because we haven’t received enough nutrients. We got sugar, but we still don’t have enough nutrients! Foods that release energy slowly and are rich in nutrients really give you strength - fruits and vegetables are among such foods.
How Netpeak employees deal with burnout
#1. Discuss the problem with those who have already solved it
Most likely, your manager or one of your colleagues has already experienced burnout. Talk to them about it.
#2. Playing sports
If your hobby is not related to sports, look for the optimal sports hobby in addition to your hobby. At the very least, walk a lot - to work, on personal errands, just walk. If your work involves a lot of communication with people, you need to walk alone.
#3. Take regular breaks
Take vacation at least twice a year and at least a week. Spend your weekends outside the home, ideally going out into nature or traveling. Use gadgets as little as possible while relaxing.
#4. Get enough sleep
The recommendation for most adults is to sleep at least 7 hours a day.
#5. Set short-term goals and celebrate achievements
And not only work ones, but also personal ones. For example, run 5 km, do 50 push-ups, learn French, do a puzzle, grow a lemon tree.
We are demanding of ourselves, and inside each of us there is a critic who carefully evaluates all our achievements. It is important that we are able to praise ourselves in the same way, and not just scold. To do this, digitize and specify your goals.
#6. Reduce the number of decisions made
Making a decision is a serious strain on the brain. This is why many people want to go into routine or just stick to their phone, social networks, or TV. Try to avoid making decisions in everyday matters.
For example, my colleague threw away all his clothes and bought 10 pairs of identical pants, T-shirts, shirts, shoes, so that he wouldn’t have to worry about what to wear every day.
#7. Do not recycle
Set deadlines and schedule tasks on your calendar. Leave some time for unforeseen tasks, as well as time to relax, talk with colleagues, and drink tea.
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#8. Protect yourself from information noise
Don’t read the news and social networks, don’t delve into politics and don’t follow trends. If this is not possible, sometimes give yourself a weekly information detox.
#9. Communicate with the team
Chat with colleagues on non-work topics so that work is associated less with problems and more with a good team and loved ones.
#10. Analyze your growth in the company
Look at your work from the point of view of “me today” and “me when I first arrived.” By comparing yourself to yourself on your first day of work, you will find changes for the better that you can be proud of: salary, position, working conditions.
Bonus: useful apps, talks and books:
#1. Unroll.me - reduces information noise in mail.
#2. Calendly simplifies the process of scheduling appointments.
#3. LifeWheel - helps keep life in the right rhythm.
#4. Speech by the founder of Netpeak Group Artem Borodatyuk “How to burn with work, but not burn out.”
#5. The book “Jedi Techniques. How to raise your monkey, empty your inbox and save your mental fuel.”
#6. Book “Goal. A process of continuous improvement."
#7. Book "45 tattoos of a manager."
#8. The book “Wake Up! Or how to stop living on autopilot.”
Meditations and practices that help relieve stress
Meditation will help relieve tension and stress.
Many meditations do not require additional time; it is enough to take 3-5 minutes and just be alone. There is no need to sit in the lotus position or lie down. Just relax.
Recommended meditations:
- Meditation for inner peace “Don’t make waves”
- Exercise to restore the nervous system
Often a failure in the state of the nervous system is caused by a set of negative programs and information in a person’s energy (aura). They begin to provoke the release of emotions, irritability and other manifestations (signs when you need to clean your aura in the article “Why clean your aura?”
You can also cleanse your energy through meditation.
A chic cleansing meditation based on folk conspiracies removes a lot of negativity from the energy, from the power of the name, from the nervous system. You can get the meditation here
Stop hanging out on social networks 24 x 7
The endless scrolling of the feed is a real trap.
Contemporaries spend too much time aimlessly spending time on the Internet, although at most an hour a day is spent on really important matters in instant messengers.
The endless “I’ll spend another 5 minutes on Odnoklassniki or VKontakte and do something else” stretches out for a whole day. You can get rid of this habit quite quickly if you turn off notifications from all non-essential chats, so as not to go online in vain.
Don’t burden others with your own problems
Believe me, it is not easy for each of us. However, this is not a reason to dump a bunch of your stories, consisting mainly of whining, on anyone you meet. To get rid of certain annoying factors in your life, you need to stop crying into someone’s vest and take action.
The universe hears everything, and people are also irritated by negative comments and reviews. Absolutely no one likes whiners, and constant complaints lead to emotional burnout, first of all, of the whiner himself.
Time spent on sob stories could be used much more productively and pleasantly.
