Essentials

A little healthy stress in a workplace can be positive and teach you how to handle stressful situations. However, many people allow stress to go beyond a healthy level and reach a point where it negatively affects their lives and causes burnout.

Burnout is a response to high levels of negative stress that results in exhaustion and unhappiness. The symptoms of burnout vary. Often, people feel no satisfaction from the work they do. They are visibly unhappy and seem to worry more than usual. Sometimes, burnout affects people's physical health. It is important to identify these symptoms and alleviate them before they affect you.

Gerald Corey lists some causes of burnout in his book Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy, including a lack of positive feedback; tension with employees; the pressure to meet unrealistic deadlines; monotonous workload; not having the opportunity to progress or advance in the workplace; and personal problems beyond the job sphere.

The simple things

Burnout can be contagious and spread like wildfire through a work environment. To rid yourself of burnout and prevent its spread, try changing the little aspects of your life. The Web site www.inc.com offers the following tips to get started:

• Monitor what you put into your body. Don't skip meals or live on McDonald's cheeseburgers. Make sure you eat grains, fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water. This will energize you and improve your mood.
  
  
• Look for natural ways to energize. Something as simple as taking a walk can keep you in shape and clear your mind. And try to clear your mind at the end of the day, as well, by winding down and relaxing with a cup of decaffeinated tea—it will help you move past the day's worries and give you a restful night of sleep.
  
  
• Don't forget to breathe. Take a few deep breaths, and loosen up by stretching or doing yoga.
  
  
• Manage your time well, and don't take on too much too quickly. Learn to delegate your responsibilities. You don't have to do it all.
  
  
• Don't be afraid to have a little fun. Laugh; play with your kids; keep toys in your office. Also, make some time to separate yourself from work by taking a day off and going to a movie or using your lunch hour to go for a walk. Use the time to re-energize yourself. And calling into the office to check on work is not allowed.

Prevention

There also are ways you can prevent burnout. Tips at www.employer-employee.com include the following:

• Have fun at work. This doesn't mean all play and no work, but something as simple as chatting with an employee can decrease stress. Play music in your office, or just make sure you are doing some tasks you truly enjoy.
  
  
• Add diversity to your job. Throw something new into your average workday, such as by redecorating your office.
  
  
• Change your approach to stressful events. Instead of stressing about the bigger picture of finishing a project, take it bit by bit and designate time to complete each task. Also, try to eradicate negative words from your vocabulary when approaching a stressful event or project.
  
  
• Take advantage of your creativity. Wear an outfit that displays your individuality, or examine your work and continue to look for creative ways to improve it.

It is important to catch burnout or prevent it from happening at all. Burnout not only affects the individual—it also can affect the entire workplace by slowing down the completion of tasks or causing problems among employees. Watch for the signs, and strive to make your workplace experience a happy, healthy one.

Krista Reisdorf is associate editor of Professional Roofing magazine.