Dear PR Matters,
Like many of those in the communications industry, my job at a medium-sized agency involves a lot of writing and conceptualization. That is why I really appreciate your column’s inspiring articles, especially those on how to develop our writing skills.
This can be very exciting, but however, when I am swamped with work, I often feel overwhelmed and on the point of suffering a burnout. I will be happy if you can share some tips on how to overcome burnout.
Sincerely,
Hilda L.
Dear Hilda,
Most of us have days when we feel helpless, overloaded or underappreciated—when we find dragging ourselves out of bed. If you feel like this most of the time, you may be burned out.
This is especially true, Hilda, if you are doing creative work continuously, and deadlines are demanding. Burnout reduces productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling helpless, hopeless, cynical, and resentful. Eventually, you may feel you have nothing more to give.
But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way, and there are means to overcome this. The first, of course, is to pray, take a break and then take some advice from experts
In an article “If You Want to Avoid Burnout, Adopt this Simple Habit from 28-Year-Old Bill Gates,” in Inc. com, Julian Hayes shares with us a throwback from a 1984 NBC Today Show interview wherein a young Bill Gates shares his thoughts on, among other things, burnout.
When asked about the possibility of experiencing burnout before 30, he replied that he wasn’t worried about it. Here is what he said then: “Well, the work we’re doing is not—it’s not like we’re doing the same thing all day long. We go into our offices, think of new programs, we get together in meetings, we go out and see end users, we talk to customers. There’s so much variety and there’s always new things going on. And I don’t think there’ll ever come a time when that would be boring.”
In short, Hayes said, “Gates avoided burnout simply because he injected variety into his day. Doing this made boredom nearly impossible. Injecting variety into your day seems conceptually simple, but the difficulty lies in the execution as humans have a propensity to rigidness.”
Gates definitely practiced what he preached and over the years, we have seen how he has evolved from a tech master into a philanthropist. Variety indeed is the spice of life and it helps cure burnout.
Similarly, in an article “5 Books that will Help You Cure Your Burnout” also in Inc.com, Jessica Stillman lists five books recommended by psychiatrist and doctor Josh Cohen.
“Nearing your breaking point? “she asked. “Before you change your job or lifestyle, read these books,” which she said are a good place to start.
1 The Weariness of the Self by Alain Ehrenberg. The book takes a critical look at the relationship between depression and our over optimistic, can-do culture.
“Positive thinking always assures us that we can be more, that we can do more, that we can achieve and attain more,” he said. “This is supposed to be empowering. It’s supposed to make us feel very good about our own capacities. But in fact, it sets us up against an ideal of ourselves, in the face of which we always feel inadequate, and against which we’re always falling short of. In short, because we’re always told we can do anything, we frequently feel bad we’re not doing more.”
2 Hikikomori: Adolescence without End by Saito Tamaki. Hikikomori are young Japanese people who refuse to leave their rooms. The book “cements the idea of burnout as being a malaise of inadequacy and a sense of failure. These kids are in a way so overburdened by the prospect of not achieving, of not fulfilling the potential that’s been transmitted to them in the educational system, in the employment system, by their family. There’s so much anxiety about fulfilling the role that’s been legislated for them in their future that they’ve shut down.”
“They burnt out not so as a result of what they’ve done, but as a result of a burden of expectation that they’ve internalized.” In short, burnout is more about expectations than exhaustion.
3 Exhaustion: A History by Anna Schaffner. Maybe your burnout is bad, but at least, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re the latest in a long line of weary achievers, Stillman said. Schaffner traced the problem of exhaustion all the way back to ancient Greece and the Bible. Ecclesiastes is one of the great statements of weariness of the self: “Vanity is all vanity.”
4 Non Stop Inertia by Ivor Southwood. Don’t blame your burnout just on your own psychology. Politics, culture, and the modern economy all play a role, too, as Southwood explained in his book. Not only is work more precarious these days, but it also demands a lot from us emotionally. We not only have to get stuff done, but we also have to broadcast our achievements and out supposed joy in accomplishing them.
“Southwood really anatomizes the new culture of the workplace that ties the precarity of finding work and keeping work to this culture of enforced positive thinking and action,” Cohen noted. “That’s what he is describing as nonstop inertia, because you feel like you’re never really getting anywhere. You have to keep going at a pace that makes your enthusiasm visible.”
5 Against Nature by JK Huysmans. What does severe burnout feel like from the inside? You need to look to literature to find out. Cohen’s unlikely recommendation is this 19th century novel.
“Against Nature is hysterically funny in many ways,” Cohen said. “It’s about a languid aesthete called jean des Esseintes who retreats to his family villa in Fontenelle outside of Paris. The novel portrays brilliantly all the paradoxes and tortures of what we call burnout—arguably more accurately than any nonfictional treatment.”
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.
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