Burn Out and How to Recover Faster

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20200219 Match Burnout

Career burnout is in no shortage in America, catch it early and recover quick with these tips.

Today’s post is by thoughtLEADERS principal Jon Wortmann.

How tired are you? I ask because even if you practice the best self-care, set boundaries with your time, and manage your exposure to the inevitable conflicts and stress of working with people, you get tired. Performers, leaders, and managers who want to succeed and win will inevitably have tired days. The problem with tired is that it can also go too far. Are you so tired you are burned out?

I have had the privilege of working with diverse school districts and education leaders over the past decade. In preparation for one of my workshops I came across this study. Summary: 93% of the elementary school teachers surveyed were stressed, couldn’t cope, and felt burned out. Only 7% of the cohort had low stress, high abilities to cope, and a low experience of burnout. Is it the same in every industry? At every level of organizations? Do professional athletes and musicians experience the same struggles? It doesn’t have to be.

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How do you handle distractions that break your concentration and focus?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: How do you handle distractions that break your concentration and focus?

  • I ignore them as best I can and press on: 14.75%
  • I accept the interruption, take a break, then get back to work: 76.75%
  • Nothing ever distracts me enough to break concentration: 1.89%
  • I completely lose focus and give up on the task for a long time: 6.61%

Deal with it and move on. Interruptions are a part of life and they’re pervasive both at work and at home (especially when working from home). The vast majority of you see them as a cue to take a break then get back to work. Just be careful that it doesn’t sap your productivity. Do what you can to minimize interruptions because you’re not only giving up the time of the break but also time to get your mind back in the mode of what it was working on. Find a dedicated work space and make an agreement with those who might interrupt you as to when it is or isn’t OK to interrupt. You have to take active control over your work environment lest it end up dictating how productive or unproductive you are.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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When you get stressed out, how do you deal with it?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: When you get stressed out, how do you deal with it?

  • I go exercise.  24.38%
  • I take time off from work. 5.48%
  • I throw myself into my work and push through it. 28.86%
  • I meditate. 13.31%
  • I do something else.24.12%
  • I never get stressed out. 3.85%

Find a productive outlet. While many of you have productive places to release stress (exercise, meditation, time off or some other activity), an alarming portion of you (29%) simply push through the stress. This can work in the short term, but over time, the cumulative effects of this stress can be tremendous. Whether it’s health issues, relationship challenges, decreased performance, irritability or some other damaging effect, your desire to “push through” can have catastrophic effects. Find an outlet for your stress. Channel it into something productive (outside of doing more work). Your health, your family and your team will appreciate your new habits and you’ll perform better, be happier and be healthier in the process.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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Balance is the Key You’re Looking For

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20200318 Balance

Achieving balance with your work is a difficult task. There are busy periods and slow periods. Many times we seek to make the busy ones less busy and the slow ones busier by adding work. If that approach isn’t working for you, perhaps it’s time to embrace the highs and lows.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, thoughtLEADERS’ Managing Director.

Sometimes life is frenetic. Sometimes it’s slow. We all want to achieve “balance” in our lives but it’s difficult to do so through all those ups and downs.

We falsely believe “balance” is a Goldilocks thing – not too busy, not too bored, but juuuust right. We try to manage the busy periods to make them less busy. We make the slow periods busier. We do all this in a futile effort to get our lives into that range of “just right” but it never seems to play out. Why?

It doesn’t play out because we mistakenly believe we have control over our lives. Control is an illusion. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to achieve a sane sense of balance. But it’s not balance as you might be thinking about it. It won’t be in that “comfortable range” every day. To achieve the balance I’m talking about, you have to look at balance differently and therefore approach it differently.

First, the busy periods will always be busy.

Second, the slow periods will always be slow.

Third, control is an illusion and you can only do so much to manage those busy and slow periods.

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How rigorous are the change management practices in your organization?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: How rigorous are the change management practices in your organization?

  • Somewhat. We manage change for big changes but less for everyday stuff. 37.1%
  • Not very. We don’t actively think about how to manage change. 23.3%
  • Not at all. Change just happens and we react. 21.8%
  • Very. We actively and effectively manage change. 17.8%

Change just happens. 45% of you say you don’t manage change actively or are purely in reactive mode. People dislike change and times of change are times of risk for your business. People get distracted. Morale drops. Productivity flags. These events need to be managed actively. While huge change projects usually get the resources for change management, it’s the cumulative effect of all the small changes that saps the will of your organization. Your change management efforts don’t need to be huge. It’s mostly about communicating clearly and directly. Invest some extra time in your change efforts for the next few months and see what the impact is. Hopefully it’ll be a more focused organization that moves through change more quickly so they can get back to business sooner.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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How many professional reading books do you read in a year?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: How many professional reading books do you read in a year?

  • None. I read other forms of content (blogs, magazines, journals): 39%
  • A few: 1-4: 33%
  • Several: 5-9: 13%
  • Many: 15 or more: 5%
  • A lot: 10-14: 5%
  • I don’t really do any professional reading: 4%

Short form doesn’t beat bookworms. Clearly a large portion (39%) of you eschew books in favor of short-form content. That’s a sign of the times for busy professionals. That said, a healthy portion (56%) of you are still hunkering down with a good business book on a regular basis. For those who aren’t reading books, I encourage you to pick up the habit. Short-form content is great but isn’t lasting. Books are more comprehensive in their thinking and can more fundamentally alter the way you look at the world because they give you a broader context and deeper insights into issues than a 600-word blog post can. Books are also a great way to decompress and get away from stressful screen time, bouncing from one site to another. The best way to get started on this habit is to ask your friends and co-workers for recommendations. They’ll know you well enough to recommend things you’ll enjoy.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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