Feeling stressed out, unmotivated, and burnt out at work?
You’ve probably heard or used the term “burnout” to describe an overwhelming feeling of mental and physical exhaustion triggered by stress. And with remote work becoming a reality for a lot of people, workplace stress is increasingly common.
Burnout is more than just feeling tired and it’s usually a direct result from feeling overworked or professionally drained because of your job. Some common signs of job burnout are anxiety, headaches, lack of sleep and feelings of tiredness, detachment from your job, and cynical or critical feelings at work.
At Juno, our Career Experts encourage our grads and full-time job seekers to ask questions related to work-life balance and workload management at the end of their interviews with potential employers. This helps them get a better feel for the company culture and hopefully avoid burnout, especially within their first web developer job.
Not sure if what you’re feeling is burnout? Try taking one of these three online tests to better understand the signs of burnout and if you’re experiencing it right now:
If you’ve been feeling a little burnout, here are six strategies and tips to deal with job burnout:
Avoid the Busyness Paradox
A lot of us struggle with the busyness paradox where we mistake constantly being busy with feeling like we are doing more, when that’s not always the case. Being in high-stress mode all the time isn’t a healthy standard for working. To avoid being plunged into a constant state of busyness try some of the following tactics to double back and reduce your stressors:
- Set realistic deadlines and achievable goals
- Communicate your workload with your team and say no to unnecessary requests that will continue to add to your workload
- Organize your tasks into lists to prioritize deadlines and keep yourself on track
- Use tools like RescueTime to time block your day and avoid distractions
Set Boundaries
Separating work from your personal life is essential, especially in our current remote-work culture. This can look like creating a routine where you work your regular 9-5 and then detach yourself from the work day by putting your work devices in another room and far out of reach.
Use the remainder of your day to spend some offline time with yourself and engage in self-care. Practicing consistent self-care recharges and resets your mind, allowing you to perform better in the workplace. Try out some of these self-care activities:
- Get a restful sleep
- Make time for physical activities like walking, running, biking, dance-cardio, etc.
- Try incorporating mindfulness through relaxing activities like yoga, meditation, or journalling
- Stay hydrated and eat nutritious meals throughout the day
Find a Hobby (Or a Few!)
Speaking of activities, hobbies are a highly effective way to set aside daily time for yourself, while also recharging your mind! Try tapping into your creative energy or using relaxation techniques to reduce your stress and cope with signs of burnout.
Here are a few hobbies that the Juno team have recently taken up and may be worth checking out:
- Write a letter to a pen pal
- Embroidery or cross-stitch
- Puzzling (The Juno team completes online puzzlestogether during some of our weekly remote game sessions!)
- Read! (Or take it up a notch and start a book club with your friends!)
Take a Break
This could be scheduling a daily 15 minute break each morning and afternoon or it could be an extended vacation to just get away from it all! Try scheduling breaks into your calendar and putting a reminder so that you’re forced to take a step away from your workstation. During your breaks try stretching, going for a walk, making a snack, or resting your eyes for a bit.
If you’ve been overly stressed out, it could be a sign that you need an extended break. Talk to your manager about taking some time off work and make it a priority to use this extended time off to rest and recharge. The key to this is leaving work at work, and taking the extra step to turn off your notifications and emails so you can spend your time off distraction free.
Find a Support Network
Talking to someone is always a great first step in getting the help and support you need to address the issues you may be facing. Consider having a conversation with your manager about your current workload or your discontentment in the workplace. Hopefully through an honest conversation you can build a solution that works for the both of you and will reduce the stress you are currently feeling.
If this doesn’t seem like the best option then consider talking to a friend, coworker, family member, or therapist. Talking it out with someone might help you discover new strategies and ways to cope with your stress that you hadn’t thought of before.
Think About Changing Careers
Sometimes job burnout is more than just your workload or a bad coworker. Workplace burnout can possibly be a sign that the industry or current role you’re in might not be suited for you.
Start by evaluating your priorities and figuring out if you really enjoy the work you do. Then consider some career options that you think might be better aligned with your personal and professional values and goals.
At Juno, we have students from a variety of backgrounds come to us with a shared goal of wanting to change their careers with a supportive network to assist them along the way. If you’re curious about the possibilities of a career in tech consider talking to a Student Success Consultant that will help you figure out if tech is the right career journey for you!
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