You Are NOT Burnt Out
Every couple of years I would get to a point in my career where I would feel completely dissatisfied, complain about being dead tired and on the verge of burnout. I blamed my burnout on working to too many hours, working too hard, too many patients, too many clinic days, etc. So I would solve for those problems by resting, scaling back, tinkering with my hours and schedule, and raising my rates. I would feel temporarily rejuvenated, but eventually I would fall back to that place of burnout. So then I would change something again. And again. And again.
People who express that they are experiencing burnout will most often complain about being exhausted. So they do the same thing I did - rest, scale back, change actions. But here’s the thing: Working very hard, working many hours, seeing a lot of patients… are NOT the cause of burnout. There are many people who can work very hard, work a lot of hours, and see a lot of patients and feel ENERGIZED. So those things on their own are not the root of burnout.
Most people who think they are burnt out are actually OVERWHELMED. Why is this distinction important? It’s because the way you solve for burnout is completely different than how you would solve for overwhelm. Resting and scaling back solve for burnout, but DO NOT solve for overwhelm. This is why I always fell back to feeling exhausted and dissatisfied.
One of the biggest culprits of overwhelm is failing to make decisions. If you are juggling a lot at once, if you’re starting & stopping with little to no follow-through, constantly doubting yourself, dreading, and worrying it means you are not picking one thing and sticking to it. You are allowing multiple choices to stay in limbo instead of saying a definitive yes or no, owning it, then moving forward. And because you have so many unmade decisions in your head, they accumulate in your brain and it starts to affect your ability to think. Your thinking power decreases to a point that you become so reactive that everything starts to feel like an emergency. Overwhelming yourself to the point of exhaustion is NOT the same as working too hard. Resting and doing less will not solve for your overwhelm. It will actually make it worse.
How do you solve for overwhelm? Through self-coaching and proper planning. Self-coaching helps you make the decisions you need to make and planning ensures that you follow through and that your primitive brain doesn’t trap you in survival mode.
Did this resonate with you? Are you burned out or are you overwhelmed?