How to Beat Workplace Burnout, with Eve

(graphics pinging) This is "Dear Headspace," a podcast where each week I sit down with a Headspace meditation teacher and we answer your questions. Sometimes we can be so consumed by strong emotions. Is not something that's being forced upon you. You want this change to occur. The practice is designed so that we remember what is already present. Check out this clip from one of our episodes. Are you ready, Eve? Yes, I'm ready. My name is Rooth and I'm calling from Dakar, Senegal. I'm currently working with a large international organization and I feel like I'm learning and growing a lot. But also, at the same time I'm struggling a lot and I think I'm getting angrier at the bureaucracy. And I'm now at a crossroad where I need to decide whether I want to stay with this organization or I want to move on. I was just wondering whether you can help me identify whether I'm just growing through struggle or whether I'm burning out. Any advice would be most welcome. Thank you. Oh, Rooth, thank you for this question. You know, when we are taken out of our comfort zone and we're learning and growing that can feel very uncomfortable. Yeah. So I obviously don't know your situation in depth but it could be a bit of both. I was just gonna say that. There's a lot going on in this question. You know, the thing with burnout is, I was reading the other day, the World Health Organization officially declared burnout as a workplace syndrome. Ooh. If you are feeling like there might be a little bit of burnout, there probably is. Yeah. The signs that you are potentially burning out might be some cynicism, negativity, feeling complete emotional overwhelm, not being able to feel like you can manage and cope with your workload. And of course, in an environment where there is a lot of hoops and a lot of bureaucracy, that can build up over time. So if you are starting to sense that you are really dreading going to work and that anytime anyone says anything, you're feeling very negative or critical or just generally feeling quite cynical, that is a definite indicator that some burnout is present. Have you ever heard that whole thing of like, when you start to feel thirsty, it means you're already dehydrated? Yeah. You're burned out. Let's get you back to a baseline. There's three ways in which you can help to manage burnout. Taking macro breaks, meso breaks, and micro breaks. And so the macro is, can you prioritize yourself for a day, couple days, a month. The meso break, sure, you may have to still be a little bit available but can you say, on a Friday afternoon, where it's no meetings, and start to just scale back and help you wind down before the weekend so that you're not taking the whole week with you. And then the micro is, looking for those little...