Liz Garrett - The Opposite of Burnout: 5 Career Strategies to Feel Valued, Be Heard, and Make a Difference

The Opposite of Burnout

5 Career Strategies to Feel Valued, Be Heard, and Make a Difference

Liz Garrett

2016 Elizabeth Garrett

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

To the many teachers whose concepts wove into the very fiber of my being, thank you is not enough. You saved me. This includes David Allen, Joseph Campbell, Jack Canfield, Edgar Cayce, Deepak Chopra, Stephen Covey, Wayne Dyer, Byron Katie, Jack Kornfield, Eckhart Tolle, Ken Wilbur, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and many, many more. Your willingness to do the hard work of standing in your truth for the benefit of others, matters. With this book, I hope to pay it forward.

My deepest, heartfelt gratitude goes to Chris, who keeps me pointed toward my highest purpose, even when I cant see the way.

The path to this place has been long and convoluted. Every step was necessary. To the bad bosses and people left behind I owe a thank you and an apology. I couldnt give you my best, for that was yet to come. Thank you for helping me get there.

Imagine a seasoned log suspended above a dying fire. The embers below glow brilliant red, a coal heart: previous logs converted to carbon. The flames have died out. For the fire to be kept burning, to provide warmth and light to those who need it, it must have a constant source of fuel.

We can feed the log to the fire, energizing it in a flash of brilliance that serves many. The log will be consumed in the process. Maybe this is okay. Maybe it isnt.

There are other uses for the log. It can be used to build shelter, or a playground for children, or a pier out to a still lake. If we intercede early enough, the log could remain a living tree, preserving its potential for a future opportunity, or to serve its purpose as protection for the wild and shade for the weary.

What does the log want? Nobody asks it.

Until you decide otherwise, you are the log: a fuel source to be depleted for the communal fire. Your potential was recognized and harvested while you were still green, before you could weigh in on the choice. Very likely, you had test scores on the right end of a bell curve, and were directed down a path that, no doubt, opened doors, created opportunity, provided for you and your loved ones, and could consume you in the process. Its good work, but not necessarily fulfilling. Maybe your dreams, hopes and desires, recognized or not, have been suppressed to a persistent form of heartburn. You see yourself becoming increasingly cynical. You are dogged by unexplained exhaustion. Despite your resources, you feel stuck and strangely powerless. You are on your way to a coal heart.

This is your chance to jump out of the fire.

When you push yourself all week to reach a goal or deadline and then, on Saturday, are too tired to push your child on a swing, thats burnout.

When you begin your week in deficitnot enough sleep, energy, passion, or interest in lifeyet push yourself for full bore productivity, thats burnout.

When the spectrum of anger (which spans annoyance through rage) is the only emotion you can muster, day after day, thats burnout.

Or, when you build your life on a foundation of wishes, keeping your head down and blinders on in the name of work, until the first mean wind of life brings it all down like a house of cards, thats burnout. Thats what happened to me. To avoid facing what wasnt right in my life, I worked harder, ignoring red flags, until a health emergency made everything else unsustainable. I burned out. I left a marriage, a jobnoa career. The cost was enormous: relationships, salary, years of career advancement, all gone. I was back to a beginning.

I want to spare you that outcome. I want the opposite for you.

Whats the opposite of burnout? Thats the beautyyou get to decide! Its your career, your lifeif you dont decide its direction, who will?

This little book can help you figure that out, plus give you practical tools and actionable ideas to keep you on track for a meaningful, sustainable and lucrative career. Information is cool, but does nothing to improve your life. What you DO with the information makes a difference. This book emphasizes action.

There are reasons why certain professionals get hit hard by burnout (Check off factors that apply):

• You studied hard in a challenging curriculum.
• You receive recognition: licensing, social status, family pride.
• Youve never seriously considered alternatives.
• You feel the weight of your work. Your projects impact the future of society, but are mostly out of your control.
• Your work gets caught in the crush between too much and not enough.
• You cant just quit and walk away, especially if you are trapped by inertia, finances or lack of transferrable skills.

The modern work-style has eroded the quality of our personal lives. The digital invasion of home, blurring of work hours, and travel on weekends and holidays challenge life/work balance. People dont take vacations, or vacations are violated by phone and email. People dont feel safe taking personal time for self or family. Companies, pressured by competition and profit demands, may create fertile ground for burnout through:

• Chronic overload: understaffing, workload issues;
• Cultural unfairness: favoritism, privilege, the rules dont apply to all equally, pay discrepancies;
• Conflicting values: company stated values are not followed by leadership; employee and company values are not in alignment;
• Constraints: employees lack autonomy and control, they feel unappreciated or disrespected, that their time is wasted, their requests denied;
• Cultural breakdown: no team spirit, no cohesion, no recognition of accomplishments, no celebration of success.

Psychologists Herbert Freudenberger, who coined the phrase burnout in 1974, and Gail North have identified 12 phases of burnout. These can occur in any order. Which do you see in you?

• The Compulsion to Prove Yourself this looks like strong ambition