Let’s talk about Burnout
According to the World Health Organization, Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.
If you start feeling exhausted, detached from your work, and suddenly feel incapable of performing your tasks with ease, you might be experiencing burnout.
Why Do We (Inevitably) Burn Out?
The German Medical Association analyzed findings from years of research and found that the factors that lead to burnout fall into two categories: internal and external.
Here are some examples of internal traits that can cause “active burnout”:
- Holding idealistic expectations of themselves: overly ambitious or perfectionist.
- Having a strong need for recognition.
- Needing to please other people, suppressing their own needs in the process.
- Controlling and not being able to delegate.
- Often overestimating themselves, overcommitting to work, and becoming overburdened.
- Viewing work as the only meaningful activity, and allowing work to become a substitute for social life.
On the other hand, external factors are leading to an experience of “passive burnout”:
- Demanding workload, for example, lack of time or resources to complete a task, or scope creep.
- Problems with leadership or management are where there is a lack of role clarity, poor communication, or a lack of positive feedback.
- A toxic atmosphere at work, for example, bullying.
- Lack of autonomy and influence over work decisions.
- Lack of personal and professional development opportunities.
Being able to identify and name these various factors can help developers find solutions to manage stress and avoid burnout.
The 5 Stages of Burnout
It’s important to note the gradual progression between stages as it can help individuals identify symptoms earlier on, and ideally, find healthy solutions to manage them.
- Stage 1: The Honeymoon — Individuals are excited and energized by their work and experience high job satisfaction.
- Stage 2: Fuel Shortage — Individuals start noticing various ups and downs with their role, and job dissatisfaction and lower productivity begin to creep in.
- Stage 3: Chronic Symptoms — If the individual is unable to manage job stressors, their symptoms in Stage 2 will worsen. For example, they might begin to experience chronic exhaustion, physical illnesses caused by stress, and even anger or depression.
- Stage 4: Crisis — At this point, the various symptoms experienced in previous stages intensify or occur more frequently, possibly reaching a critical stage. Individuals might also begin obsessing about work frustrations, experience pessimism, and self-doubt, or plunge even further into escapism.
- Stage 5: Hitting the Wall — In this last stage, symptoms of burnout become so embedded in an individual’s life that they can be mistaken for emotional or physical problems rather than burnout.
How Should Developers Combat Burnout?
As I’ve highlighted earlier in this article, burnout can be caused by both internal and external factors. This means that the solutions we use should address both types of stressors.
As we continue to juggle responsibilities in and outside of work, there are measures we can take within our locus of control to better manage our circumstances.
- Acknowledge that burnout is not indicative of personal failure.
- Identify tasks that are energizing versus tasks that are draining.
- Say “No” more often.
- Keep track of positive events and small wins.
- Be realistic about what you can and cannot achieve with the resources you have.
- Ask for help from teammates and managers.
- Lower the unrealistic standards you hold yourself to.
- Make time to rest.
Conclusion
It’s important to stop for a moment if you notice any symptoms from this list. These first symptoms are the wake-up call for you — your body and mind are telling you to slow down. No job is worth losing your health for, so ask for a day off and analyze your condition.
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Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on June 21, 2022.
