How communicators can stop the burnout cycle
It doesn’t have to be like this.
Mary Olson-Menzel is the founder and CEO of MVP Executive Development and co-founder of Spark Insight Coaching.
Since the pandemic, our lives have accelerated in unprecedented ways with layoffs, global unrest, political divide and more. This pace is leading to unprecedented numbers of people who are burned out. According to a recent study done by SHRM: “Burnout in the workplace is not new—but it is worsening. SHRM’s Employee Mental Health in 2024 Research Series, released for Mental Health Awareness Month in May, found that 44 percent of 1,405 surveyed U.S. employees feel burned out at work, 45 percent feel ‘emotionally drained’ from their work, and 51 percent feel ‘used up’ at the end of the workday.”
As someone who is driven by helping others succeed and find “what lights them up,” I’m on a mission to change this.
How do we stop this cycle and create more energy for ourselves and our co-workers?
Sometimes we have to stop, recalibrate and refocus to create more energy and help make our lives, our workplace and the world a better place.
When you are burned out, your work suffers. Right now, the world needs you to show up with your lights on. I’ve seen the difference between someone with their light on and someone who is burned out. It’s a game changer.
So much of how we approach every day depends on mindset. It’s easy to wake up and feel immediately exhausted by the day ahead if you don’t find a way to shift your outlook. What are the small things that you can appreciate and embrace in the beginning of your day? A hot shower, a good cup of coffee, a smooth ride to the office, the friend at work who makes your life easier. Starting the day with gratitude and appreciation for what you have is a great way to shift your mindset and begin on the right foot.
If you don’t like something, work to change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
You cannot always control what is happening in the world, but you can control how you react to it. I talk a lot with clients about fixed mindset versus growth mindset and what that means. Someone with a fixed mindset looks for reasons why it can’t happen and someone with a growth mindset takes the approach that there is learning in every situation and embraces the challenge as something to overcome.
Now from an attitude of appreciation and a growth mindset, it’s time to think about and focus on the small changes that you can start to make to help make your life better. Start small and take baby steps every day to achieve what you want.
