How to Overcome Job Burnout

Are you feeling tired and even a bit depressed when you go to work in the morning? Have you lost your enthusiasm for your job and even your co-workers? If so, you could be suffering from job burnout. Long hours of work and time spent away from family and friends can make you susceptible to this common syndrome. Not only can job burnout make your time spent at work unrewarding, it can also lead to physical problems such as high blood pressure, headaches, and digestive problems. Is there an easy way to overcome job burnout? Here are some suggestions to help you regain your enthusiasm for your job:

Alter your schedule

Sometimes a change in your work schedule can be a quick cure for job burnout. If you're not a morning person and you're arriving at the job at 5:00 A.M, you're fighting your body's natural biorhythm and reducing your potential productivity. If your job is flexible, see if you can change your hours so that you arrive two hours later. Likewise, if you're getting home late in the evening and missing time with your family, see if you can go in earlier to allow you more free time in the evening. Determine when you're most productive and arrange your work schedule around those times.

Plan mini vacations

A long vacation is not always the best approach to handling job burnout. Being away from the job for long periods of time can make it harder to return to your regular schedule. Try taking more frequent short vacations instead, such as a three-day weekend. This will give you just enough time to feel refreshed and ready to retackle your assignments, plus you'll be able to take them more frequently. Mini vacations can be an excellent job burnout treatment.

Learn a new aspect of your job

Sometimes job burnout occurs due to boredom and repetition. Is there a college course or seminar you could take that would help you gain additional knowledge and skill related to your job? This may be just the challenge you need to overcome job burnout. Plus, those additional skills may be a stepping-stone to a promotion or a salary increase. Education can be an effective job burnout treatment for many people.

Turn your job into a game

Give yourself fun challenges related to your job every day. See if you can get a certain job done in less time than it took you to do it yesterday or challenge yourself to approach a task in a different way. Experiment with new ways to increase your productivity. Give yourself points for completing certain assignments and see how many points you can accrue by the end of the day. Challenge and mental stimulation can be an excellent job burnout treatment.

Give yourself small rewards

When you complete a job-related task during the day, give yourself a small reward such as a quick coffee break or a small piece of chocolate. Congratulate yourself on a job well done. Positive reinforcement can be a great technique to help overcome job burnout.

Learn stress management techniques

There are a variety of effective techniques for conquering stress-related symptoms. For some people focused meditation or yoga can be an effective way to manage stress and overcome job burnout. For others, an intense workout at the gym may be an effective strategy. Explore some of the different methods available to help reduce stress and incorporate them into your daily routine. Be sure you're eating a healthy diet and getting enough sleep since these factors can play a role in exacerbating stress.

By making some subtle changes to the way you approach your job, you can overcome job burnout and reduce your level of work related stress. If you're still feeling blue after making changes, you may want to reconsider your choice of job or career.