If you take a closer look, it does not seem the situation is that bad.  Life goes on, the situation remains the same, and the ability to tackle the tasks is still there.  But sometimes, the panic attack would happen without a warning and suddenly you feel so much under the water, paralyzed.  At times, this feeling of burnout hits like a tidal wave in the Rondo of life, making you immobilized and wanting to call it quit.

What is Job Burnout?

The International Labor Organization pointed out in 1994 that the whole world is heading toward an “Overstressed World”.  From the standpoint of medical health, “overstressed” would result in fatigue, anxiety, depression, and under-productivity at work.

“Overstressed” is also called “Job Burnout”.  This is a situation when an individual maintains the knowledge toward a certain profession but is totally void of the passion.  The Western world already witnessed its impact since the seventies.  In the early stage, this phenomenon only hit those professions that deal constantly with serving people.  The individual starts by some negative psychological symptoms including long-term emotional or physical exhaustion, inhumane attitude toward the people he serves, and low sense of fulfillment at work.  But today, the impact is far-reaching beyond the work environment.

1.  Job Burnout  is usually divided into three areas, namely: emotional exhaustion, mental isolation and low sense of fulfillment.

2.  Emotional exhaustion:  The individual thinks as depleted of all emotional resources and energies.  Work becomes unbearably tiring, and full of stress. He also feels lack of energy and vitality. A strong sense of frustration, anxiety, and fear haunts him at work.

3.  Mental isolation:  The individual deliberately keeps a distance from his colleagues or work.  He is losing the passion or drive to deal with challenges.  He also begins to doubt the significance of work, and stop showing concern if his work can make any impact.

4.  Low sense of fulfillment:  This individual has a low self-esteem, does not think he can handle any tasks, and thinks his work can bring no contribution to others.

Some Symptoms of Job Burnout

In 1990, author He Ming Liao promotes the idea of finding balance between work and Life in the book “Walk out from Work”, causing a movement of “worker’s walk-out”.  The popular phrase in greetings then was:”When do you plan to walk out?”

In August 2007, the Psychology Department at East China Normal University did a research among the workers in Shanghai.  The study included manufacturing industry, financial industry, special services, educational, literary, physical education, science and technological institutes, and other governmental organizations. The survey found that 40% being studies had signs of job burnout.  And the formation of this burnout is gradual.  There are detectable physiological and mental symptoms:

1.  Physiological symptoms:

Feeling drained of physical energies, lethargic, extreme fragile, fatigue, lowered immune system, insomnia, head ache, back pain, neck pain and indigestion. The survey reveals a vast difference between genders and positions in an organization.  The rate for women and people in higher positions is higher to have this physical burnout.

2.  Mental symptoms:

A strong sense of emptiness, loss of purpose or incentives, low self-assessment, self-double, withdrawal, listless, and sense of failure usually result in weakened desire for involvement.  The study reveals that 88% employees never experienced the syndromes depicted above, but 10% more in managerial level have the syndromes than their subordinates.

3.  Evaluation symptoms:

The individual senses a decline in his evaluation of value for work.  Work becomes mechanical. The efficiency is lowered and the attitude is much more negative and passive.  The study reveals that the ratio between managers and operators who have such symptoms are 2% among managers and 10% among operators.

From Whence does Fatigue come?

Just as the students who take simulated tests would experience “Exam Burnout” and those that cohabit have “Love Burnout”, the low adrenalin excretion would result in “functional burnout”, and the long-term sleep disorder would cause “physical burnout”. All these are chain-reactions that would affect a person’s inner well-being and his work performance and are not to be taken lightly.

There is one axiom in business management:” There is no business that is not manageable, only people that is mismanaged.”

Job Burnout is related not only with personalities of workers but also whether affirmation is given at work. Author Beverly A. Potter addressed directly to the business managers  in her book “Overcoming Job Burnout: How to Renew Enthusiasm for Work”, that the two main factors of Job Burnout are the lack of affirmation from managers and the feeling of impotence at work. In other words, the virus of burnout is the lack of life purpose in a broader cooperate scope and the long-term brick-moving in a mechanical job without any blueprint.

For workers who are intellectual in personality, the tactic to avoid job burnout is to be flexible in management style.  Allowing workers to have room for some leisure is an art in itself.  If managers find their workers feeling pressed by deadline but are overwhelmed and lack incentives, when the vacations are not in sight for a long while, then managers should initiate a break to bring in the refreshment.  Spend some leisure to reflect on the ultimate goals, identify people’s  strengths and discover matches between people’s  inclination and the types of jobs that fit them would be helpful in the long run.

Overcoming Job Burnout

We might sometimes wish that burnout feeling can be deleted at our finger tips as easily as the push buttons of Ctrl+ Alt + Delete on the keyboard. In Taiwan, the problem of job burnout hits 30% of the work force.  Among them, the most common phenomenon is caused by “the uncertainty or feeling of powerlessness toward the prospect of one’s career and future”.

Living in a world where money talks, it is very easy to slip into the mindset of “ live for work”. The truth of the matter is that the unrealistic wish to become an upstart in a few years is very toxic to our mind.  The wish to compact life’s work into five to ten short years of stint, and using the rest of one’s life to retire and enjoy the fortune is actually neither sensible nor conducive to leading a purpose-driven life.

Oscar Wilde, the great British writer once said:”There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. And among these two, the latter one is more tragic than the former one.” The ‘ less tragic among the two’ refers to the incurable ‘burnout’ for the modern men.  Most of the time, the burnout feeling is not directly related with the financial reward of one’s work.  Usually, a person who is more melancholic or creative in nature tends to be more focused on his inner world and sense of significance that he could be more prone to get bogged down in the miry trap of burnout.

My own personal strategy in overcoming the periodic burnout is: Force myself to wash my face, brush my hair, and take a walk with someone.  Let the vitality of my husband, my children or my loved one to spill over me.  Seek to discover the joy in caring about others and realizing my personal responsibility through other people’s needs.

Life Burnout and Joy

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) For a melancholic person like me, being ‘joyful’ is not easy, and often short-lived.  The secret I adopt  to help myself remain joyful is to repeatedly recite and meditate on God’s Word.

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. (Hebrews 12:12-13)

"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15)

Rachel L. Carson, a contemporary author, ecologist, scientist and naturalist in literature wrote in her book “The Sense of Wonder”:” If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.”

How do we cope with the stage of burnout?  Below are seven secrets to burnout:

1.   Trace the origin of your distraction.

2.   Change you perspectives, allow your emotion to have some outlet.

3.   It is not impossible to ‘have joy at work’, the secret lies in “compare with yourself instead of with others.”

4.   Do not get fixated on the remarks of your boss if they are not encouraging.

5.   Respect individual differences.

6.   Nurture environment that is conducive to productivity.　

7.   Be patient and wait on the Lord.

Learn to work, and learn to rest.  Make sure not to let the  ‘caffeine-dependenc fad to affect the quality of your sleep, to the degree that you cannot recover from your burnout.

Remember, God’s advice to us is:”  Be still and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10)

        (Published on 《Touch Life》    Touch Life Mission    Touch Life    No.60    February, 2008    translated by:  Violet Chen)  

Scriptures sharing:

“Be still and know that I am God!”  (Psalm 46:10)

 “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15)

 “But they that wait on the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,  they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

“Be joyful in hope.”  (Romans 12:12)

“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)

“Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.  "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”  (Hebrews 12:12~13)

友情連結：        Dr. Beverly A. Potter

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