Burnout Blues
I've recently read the Global Workplace Burnout Study which found employee burnout has increased by more than 5% over the past 12 months. Middle Managers and women are reporting higher levels of burnout within organisations.
Does that shock you?
Burnout has a seriously negative impact on a person's overall wellbeing, productivity, and quality of work, and COVID and the changes which have occurred in workplaces, as a result, has been a big factor.
COVID and its impact on women
During COVID restrictions we experienced an influx of information to support our self-care routines. I don't know anyone who didn't need this support through these challenging times. We've been working twice as hard to manage the juggle of working from home, homeschooling, doing the majority of housework, and staying connected with those around us.
I've recently read a study that found specifically how women are experiencing burnout at multiple levels which also supports the increased use of self-help strategies. It doesn't appear this has changed from the 2018 study which shows women are more likely to suffer from work-related burnout than men. The Global Workplace Burnout Study I mentioned earlier supports this fact.
Why do we experience it?
It's been discovered in studies by Jick and Mitz women demonstrate significantly more psychological and physical stress than men. Being in lockdown and having competing priorities has really brought this to our attention.
It's not only the current environment that has triggered us as women. Our unconscious thoughts have made it more difficult for us to cope. It's our unconscious thoughts that stop us from believing we can succeed, it also makes us feel like failures and puts a lot of pressure on us, thus triggering us when events happen in our life. After all, 95% of our thoughts are coming from our unconscious mind and there's little we can do to control it. I addressed the unconscious mind in my last post, you might want to check it out here.
For women, burnout isn’t the result of long work hours
Our unconscious mind is very powerful. Burnout isn't the result of long hours. It's our unconscious mind being frustrated because the workplace has changed, the work conditions are different and our unconscious believes we can't deal with it. It leaves us feeling lost, frustrated, a failure and we don't know what to do to get past it.
It's overwhelming. It's chaos. It feels 'out of control'.
When we are feeling this way we behave in a way that we aren't interested in work or new projects, resulting in us not being afforded the same chances to take on interesting, creative projects or advance to higher positions within our companies.
It’s true that men work longer hours than women on average, but it seems that burnout isn’t always the result of too much overtime. Women don't experience burnout because they work long hours; it is because they FEEL stagnant.
Feelings are part of our unconscious. It's based on our limiting beliefs.
When we feel like this we have “little latitude in decision-making”, a perceived lack of respect and recognition for our efforts and contributions, and the feeling our hard work won't open up future opportunities for advancement.
We are putting ourselves last because our unconscious is taking control.
Nobody wants to FEEL like they’re stuck on a hamster wheel at work - especially when you’re giving it your all. But when your unconscious thoughts doubt it’s going to pay off, you begin to wonder if it’s even worth it after all.
Are you feeling these 'feels'? Are you feeling lost, overwhelmed, and burnt out?
Let's start busting burnout and these feelings of self-doubt by connecting with me --> schedule a call to discuss how you can reset your unconscious programming to amazing success to bust the burnout so you can feel confident, successful, and happy.