Burnout or unhappy with job?

There is a lot of info on the web about stress and burnout that may help you decide. This link has some definitions of stress and burnout and what the difference is.

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htm

I had a situation at the end of my last job where I felt like I was very stressed. Although looking back now I wouldn't say this was burnout . My manager was an angry and demeaning boss and nothing I did was ever good enough. I was always trying my hardest to get jobs done, but found it hard to finish anything as I would have too many other priorities given to me before I could finish the first task.

My solution was to find another job. My boss also made my job redundant while I was looking for another job, but I found another job very quickly (thanks to MT!) and it worked out well. I now have a very similar job, but I am appreciated and supported by my manager and am much happier and more productive too!

If you're having problems in your role, then it could be that a change of companies is what you need. Or maybe a prolonged relaxing break could help. Getting another perspective and talking things through with a close friend (outside of work) or a family member, may also help. I found it was hard to see at first what was happening to me in my old role and that I was always trying harder to please and work harder & longer hours, and getting more and more stressed. My husband helped me realise that the problem wasn't me and that I was best off getting away from a destructive situation.

Good luck getting things sorted out.

Jane

Kaystr,

I would suggest taking a step back from your work if possible.  Speaking from very recent experience (read: this week), I've found it to be helpful to take an actual day off.  No phone, no email, no quick check on the intranet.  The sum of my accomplishments were sleeping an hour later than I normally do and spending time with my family.  It doesn't matter what you do, really - as long as it's not work.  

The point here is that proximity clouds objectivity.  The closer I am to any situation, the more my objectivity goes out the window.  In a situation like you're alluding to, I won't even talk about what's worrying me until I take a long step back.  The reason for this is that I've talked with my spouse or with friends prior to taking the step back and realized that I've said some rash and, quite frankly, silly things prior to regaining objectivity.

I think that's probably a good starting point.  That being said, taking a day away isn't always possible depending on what's going on at work.  If that's the case, I've found that listening to the casts on email management (if that's an issue for you) and time management help drastically in getting some distance from my work when I'm not at work (and I work from home, so that's not an easy thing to do).  They're all here.

Hopefully, that can give you a leg up on getting out of the rut.  Other than that, I've found that going on a Manager/Career Tools marathon helps me get through these type of things.  I don't necessarily have to get something actionable out of every cast but immersing myself in listening to a couple people who give very good advice about organizations helps me to recalibrate my professional compass if the readings are getting a little off.

I hope this helps.

--Steve

 Hi Kaystr - I notice form you other posts that you seem to have been promoted recently, and seem to be making an impact (for example you mention the issue of how to avoid being helpful to colleagues to the extent that it encourages them to come to you for help when they could perfectly well solve the problem themselves).

Tackling new responsibilities with a lot of energy might well make you feel temporarily jaded and tired. It can be hard to tell whether that's it, or whether you've given more than your all & been left feeling burned out.  I agree with Andy - take some actual time off & have time to think. You may not be able to solve the problem to the satisfaction of an analytical person (if you are one) but you may be able to come to a provisional conclusion.

If you have introduced a lot of change & innovation, perhaps now is the time to slow down the pace of change & allow you and the organization to digest what you are doing?  And maybe to reflect on whether there are changes you feel are really important but which the organization really shows no sign of swallowing - constant  frustration is really tiring!  If that is how it is, then MAYBE you will be wanting to do your best for the current employer & learn from it, but save some energy for ramping up for the next career move once you've had a reasonable time at your current post? Your current post & employer probably doesn't have to be the be-all-and-end-all.  Not more important than you happiness and health, that's for sure. But a nasty aspect of burn-out (if that is what it is) is that it leaves you lacking energy & self-confidence to move on.

In an earlier time in my career I may have spent to long at an employer that kept promoting me within a department that was quite likely going to be shut down. My loyalty to my team and my feeling that a few more innovations would sort out the situation kept me there, but I had a lot of periods of tiredness, frustration and unhappiness, and lack of energy to have a proper go at finding another job. In the end, the situation was resolved by the closure of my department and my redundancy - sounds a bit like what SOLITAIRE said earlier in this thread. I guess I'll never know whether I should have left earlier - you never find out the answer to these questions, but in a happy life the answer comes to matter less. But I think that I would now be less tolerant of a situation like that happening to me again.

 Just want to say that your suggestions will be considered greatly.A couple of steps back is i think the best move to take. 

I am, just like Kaystr, in a somewhat similar situation where i want to know whether im just burnout or unhappy with the job. There's just one phrase i remind myself that Mark and Mike talks about frequently, we're not paid to do what we like. We're paid to be effective. 

But, Kaystr's point of where and when to draw the line. Is it the environment, people, processes, compensation, workload? A lot of factors are involved and it's really hard to distinguish one from another. 

 "More Secrets of Consulting" by Gerald M Weinberg  (Dorset House, 2002) has a very good chapter on burnout (Ch 15 - the Oxygen Mask). It seems that it is a risk that consultants run!