You have more influence over your workload than you realize.
I work with intellectually gifted and highly accomplished clients in my private practice as a psychologist. Many have big jobs and can’t take medical leave to recover from burnout without negatively affecting their careers.
High achievers take on heavy responsibilities in areas outside of their job descriptions. They identify problems in the company and then, without thinking about possible negative impacts on themselves, they charge in to tackle the issues.
Others around them appreciate their efforts. What they’ve done is often critical. The company operates better. But being superhuman comes with a cost.
You will be surprised by how many tasks you can put down.
In this post, I describe how five individuals were able to reduce their workloads so they could better navigate burnout.
Making the effort to pause before jumping in, and to pick and choose the projects they would allow themselves to be drawn into, gave each of them the space to recover from burnout.
Their recoveries took longer than going on medical leave would have taken, but each individual was able to protect their position while cutting back.
The approaches these individuals took are summarized in the five titles below.
<< Several client stories have been amalgamated under a single heading, and identifying details have been altered, to protect privacy. >>
1. Say no to work that’s inappropriate.
2. Stop solving problems that aren’t yours.
3. Delegate work to capable individuals.
4. Understand your worth and be courageous.
5. Set boundaries around conflicts.
Let’s start by looking at Betty’s story.
1. Say no to work that’s inappropriate.
Critically assess whether work that lands on your desk is yours. If it isn’t, turn it away.
Betty is a senior executive with over 20 years of experience. Her department is often short-staffed because of medical leaves and maternity leaves. Empty positions are filled slowly. Knowing this, Betty would put her head down and do what it took to keep things running smoothly.
When we met, Betty was tired. To reduce her burnout, she started analyzing how much of the work that landed on her desk belonged in her department, and how much should be redirected.
Look at every request with a discerning eye.
Betty knew that some of the work she was doing wasn’t appropriate. After we spoke, Betty started to look critically at every request that arrived before diving in. When something didn’t belong in her department, she asked people why they were bringing it to her. They all said something along the line of, “I know this isn’t your area, but the person I should ask isn’t good with follow-through.”
These conversations woke Betty up. She started to share that she could not take on work that fell outside her department. No one fought on her new approach.
Moral: If it’s not your work to do, turn it away.
People who bring you inappropriate tasks know they’re not yours. You won’t have to push very hard to clear this type of work off your desk. You will, however, have to be vigilant.
Let’s turn our attention next to Brian’s story.
2. Stop solving problems that aren’t yours.
Don’t tackle problems just because you can visualize the path forward.
Brian is a senior executive with 60 professionals reporting to him. His superpower is his ability to cut to the chase. It takes him zero time to identify the heart of an issue.
Brian was overworked in his last role, so he jumped when a good offer dropped in his lap. He was directed by his new boss to not make any major changes for the first six months.
Once onboard, however, he immediately saw changes that needed to be made. He knew he would be more efficient if he got things optimized quickly, so he implemented a series a of rapid changes during his first three months. He was lauded for his efforts, but he took himself further into burnout in the process.
Keep your eyes down and don’t raise your hand. It’s what your colleagues are doing who aren’t in burnout.
Brian knew he had to modify how he worked, so he stopped doing non-essential tasks. He continued to see obvious solutions to problems, but the skill he focused on developing was how to remain quiet and let chaos reign. Just because he can see what needs to be done doesn’t mean he has to share his thoughts.
See what needs to be done? Stop yourself.
Brian started to focus on his own needs. He asked himself, what if I only step in when I chose? When he did this, the number of hours he had to be on significantly reduced and he found the time and energy to look after himself.
Moral: You don’t have to be a workhorse.
If you’re selective, and you can complete your own work with possible time left over, then that’s all you have to do. When you’re in burnout, and even after you recover, choose when to stay in your lane.
Next up is Susan.
3. Delegate work to capable individuals.
Susan is a senior executive at a national firm. She oversees the activities of 70 professionals across the country. She rose quickly through the ranks, receiving eight promotions in eleven years. Only she and her boss remained standing after the pandemic.
When we met, Susan was going full out. She was exhausted and wanted to quit. She would have, except she felt responsible for the people under her. She had worked hard to build her team and didn’t want things to unravel.
Susan couldn’t take medical leave because doing so would harm her career. Her plan was to try to recover while on maternity leave. She reasoned that if she made it through the next couple of months, she could have six months off with her young family.
Hand off more responsibilities.
After we spoke, Susan decided to hand responsibility for running her department to her second-in-command three months early. Susan reasoned this would be a good training opportunity for her second because Susan would be around to help guide him as he adjusted to the position. Bringing in support earlier than planned gave Susan the opportunity to catch her breath before her baby arrived. Susan empowered her second to complete only essential work and to step away from everything else. Then Susan stepped out.
Of course, no one can recover from burnout with a newborn in the house. But reducing her workload before the birth gave Susan some much needed downtime.
Be discerning about what you do.
Susan was tired when she returned from mat leave. Her second didn’t feel ready to step into the role full-time, so Susan took back 40% of the responsibilities and left her second with 60%. This novel approach allowed Susan to do less work on a daily basis while keeping her department running.
Moral: Only keep what is required on your plate.
Susan received a good performance review during the period just described. She was praised for having her department run smoothly during her absence. This experience allowed Susan to hold the new status quo and not step anything up.
Here comes Elizabeth’s story.
4. Understand your worth and be courageous.
Elizabeth is a senior subject matter expert in a global field. When we met, Elizabeth was questioning whether she wanted to continue working because she had lost the joy. Too much of her day was filled with busy work. She had been reprimanded recently for not adhering to the new format for written reports.
Don’t waste your time.
Elizabeth was under constant time pressure to complete her work but instead of focusing her attention where she needed to, she sat through endless meetings that she gained nothing from, and where she contributed little.
In our work together, Elizabeth explored eliminating activities from her day that were soul-sucking. She discovered she could not attend meetings without consequence. With this realization, she explored what else she could eliminate. For starters, she didn’t alter the format of her written reports.
Act more on your preferences.
Elizabeth also stopped mentoring young employees because she doesn’t enjoy the experience. With these changes, the joy started to return to Elizabeth’s days. When she could focus her attention where she needed, she was able to get her work done in fewer hours, and her energy stopped being sucked dry.
You have more choice than you realize.
Elizabeth also chose to work more from home. From there, it was an easy transition to working from the cabin where she could walk out the door and hit the trails for 45 minutes with her dog.
Morale: Take liberties.
Be prepared to ask for forgiveness if you’ve stepped away from something someone deems to be important. You may discover that the liberties you take are acceptable to everyone and that you can keep it up.
Let’s finish with Jane’s story.
5. Set boundaries around conflictual relationships.
Jane is a partner of a successful start-up. She does what is needed to keep the company running smoothly. She’s really good at follow-through, so she addresses issues when others aren’t getting to them. The problem was that she was in total burnout.
Taxing relationships can lead to burnout.
Jane found the relationships between the other partners taxing because of constant in-fighting. When we first met, communication between many of the partners was poor. Two in particular would yell and scream when they became dysregulated. This was the part of her job that Jane hated. It made her fantasize about hanging up the towel.
We discussed stepping back rather than into the fray because a major cause of burnout is conflictual relationships. What if Jane let things play out between the warring parties? Would others fill the void if she stopped mediating?
You can’t control other people.
I’m not suggesting that Jane has reached a détente and that things are going better at her firm. But you don’t have control over the people around you. The only boundaries you can set involve what you will do if someone else behaves in a way you don’t like. To recover from burnout, Jane needed to do things differently. Inserting herself into the interpersonal dynamics had left her exhausted.
Moral. Let other people solve their own problems.
Extract yourself from interpersonal conflicts, especially when you are in burnout. Once you’ve stepped away, be strategic and decide what you will and won’t put up with in the behaviour of those around you.
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In sum, being superhuman comes with a cost. If you’re in burnout, its necessary to take better care of yourself to recover.
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Dr Patricia Turner, PhD, Registered Psychologist in Private Practice in Calgary, Alberta